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Lowering energy consumption is an acceptable trade-off for the wait for my system to warm up.

Leaving on an NAD system increased my bill by $10 per month. I can live with that.

As a bachelor, I have left the equipment run 24/7 and I have turned it on/off for each use. My power-bill difference was approximately $7/month. That's five channels of Adcom 200Wpc. The waste heat keeps my living room at 68 degrees all winter long in Northern California.

The tuner stays in "standby" mode, keeping it's tube stable. Everything else is off.

Digatal always on. Everything else off. Amp powered up using Variac.

I turn it off only when I leave for more than 3 days!

Power amplifier left on all the time, except when out of town for a prolonged period of time.

Amp never goes off, but I will shut down source stuff sometimes. Preamp never has to go off as it is passive.

Listening to music at night when the AC is clean. Left on about 8 hours average. CD player is the most used source, Digital Cable Box or Video games. Video Games sound great through Rotel's top gear!! :P

I leave it all on, but most of my stuff goes into sleep mode when not in use. However, there aren't very many audiophiles out there. If just a thousand people bought more efficient refrigerators, it would make up for all the power we use to keep our equipment sounding good. Heck, most of the world is going to starve/freeze/sweat to death if we don't develop fusion power, regardless of whether or not we waste it on audio equipment. People who are concerned about energy conservation haven't looked at the numbers long enough to see the unpleasant truth: conservation is overly sensitive to the Law of Diminishing Returns and will never be enough.

My system needs about two hours to warm up, and I turn it on when I get home from work. It's on the whole time over the weekend, so I can grab some quality listening time whenever it presents itself. Once, however, I left my Linn Sondek on without realizing it. The next day, the cleaning woman plugged the vacuum cleaner into the Power Wedge (maybe she had always been doing it), and blew out the Linn's motor, leaving me with a $200 repair bill.

I warm up the tubes and the turntable for about an hour before listening. I've found out that my LP12 actually sounds better after turning around for a while.

During the summer when T-storms are a threat- -I unplugg. During the rest of the year--plugged.

When I'm home and awake, it's playing. Sometimes I even leave it on for my cats.

Line conditioner, preamp, and D/A converter always on. DVD player and TV in standby (off but receiving power for memory). Power amp goes off at night, as it buzzes if left on 24 hours; takes about 30 minutes to sound sweet.

I turn on my components about an hour before listening sessions and let them run with the volume at about 8 o'clock. I find no difference in sound between leaving components on all the time and a one-hour warmup at low levels. All I notice when it's left on full time is an astronomical power bill!

P300 Power Plant always on, Levinson 332 power amp and Audible Illusions L-1 tubed preamp on standby, CAL CL-20 DVD/CD player off. As noted, this system warms up to good sound fairly quickly. See Ya. Dave Duvall

without warming up for two days, system sounds too bad to be worth power cycling.

Amplifier and preamp sound much better when left on. Rega Planet CDP does not like to be left on. Will not play sometimes when left on.

I only power up my system to watch a movie or listen to music.

I personaly believe that power continually trickling through the system creates a sinergy between components

fire jonathon scull now and make the sensible readers of stereophile happy.His sarcasim is clearly the result of a limited mind.

I have my preamp, CD transport and DAC powered on all the time. The power amp is in stand-by mode when I do not use it. The record player is only powered on when I am using it.

15 Minutes warm up before listening

My electric bills accurately reflect how much I use the power switch. I used to leave the system on always. Now I turn off the amplification when it is not being used. The Rega stays on; if it gets cold, it takes hours to warm it up again. It is amazing how much a $250/month electric bill will change your switching habits. I am lucky enough to have components that warm up very quickly; thank you, Frank Van Alstine!

Always on, always warm & ready. All solid state system.

Things that use little power and are used daily I keep on. The rest are off untill I need them.

Let the system warm up for about an hour before listening.

I only turn my system off when there is a big storm or some other sort of electrical difficulty. Hasn't seemed to effect my power bill any to speak of.

All of my equipment has a "standby" mode. I usually leave my gear in this mode unless I know I'm going to be listening in the near future. In that case, I leave the system powered up. I never completely power down my amps unless I know I'm going to be out of town for over a month. While my amps reach optimum performance in a matter of minutes if they've been in standby, they sound downright terrible if they've been off and are forced to do a "cold start."