Hi Roger,
Well done. Hopefully things will have simmered down a bit by the time you need to find a new deal.
Contrary to perceived wisdom my gear is always powered down after use as power cuts can happen anytime not just during storms. As to the cost of keeping gear on standby it’s not really possible to calculate is it ?
As I have a smart meter so daily readings online, I’m going to average night time consumption before and after switching it all off for a week or so… it should give a good indication of consumption.
If the cost of the system is not an issue surely the minimal cost of keeping it powered up shouldn’t be an issue either?
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Cost can refer to environmental costs as well as the financial kind.
If we are talking monetary cost, it’s perfectly possible. Either use the published consumption numbers in the specs if you don’t need precise numbers to the penny, or buy a cheap meter that you can plug between device and wall socket, which shows you the consumption. Add up the consumed watts, multiply by the number of hours per day, divide by 1000, and you have the kWh per day. Multiply with the price in your contract.
Lots of stuff including measurements and calculations here:
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So, the moral in that is to do those things, together with turning off gear instead of leaving on standby and the combined saving (of both money and energy, and associated pollution) really starts to add up.
Of course, some of us already avoid driving except for journeys not possible by any other means, otherwise opting to cycle or walk as whenever possible, and have invested in a high level of home insulation reducing the cost of the last 1.5 degrees to which they heat their homes to probably considerably less than £120. No doubt there are people who, as the weather gets colder, wear thermal underwear and thick jumpers to avoid putting the heating on until necessary, and only heating to such temperature as sufficient to be comfortable in their homes. For these people saving standby costs is a greater percentage of their potential to save.
That is the same fallacy as saying if you can afford to buy an exotic car you don’t need to worry about the cost of running it.
Some with very expensive systems may have bought it using only a fraction of disposable income, or perhaps with more limited means may have only been able to afford an item a year, upgrading regularly to get where they are, usually buying new, but still have a good amount of disposable income. However, others will have saved for long periods to get to the system of their dreams, avoiding expenditure on anything non-essential to do that, and only buying secondhand for best value, with every penny making a difference.
People on an expensive hifi forum complaining about electricity cost while their kit is on stand by never fails to deliver the comedy.
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I think Covid has resulted in some winners, and many losers. Some have lost their job or businesses, and in no way can you blame them for not having been prepared for something like this. Sadly there will be people on a financial knife edge at the moment. I’ve certainly seem people admit here that they sold their Naim kit to bring in funds for basic household bills.
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There are two reasons to switch off the Naim; one is to save money as the other is to do the right thing for the environment. While we leave our Naim on - there are only three boxes of it these days - we do as much as we can to reduce energy use, exactly as @Innocent_Bystander says above.
I really do hope that all future Naim equipment has proper standby functionality that allows it to reach peak performance instantaneously or at least very rapidly, whether forced by legislation or done voluntarily. With the impact of global warming on weather patterns being seen every day, it’s really not right to be making stuff with toroidal transformers that need to be powered up 24/7 to work at their best. Of course, it’s a relative drop in the ocean compared to powering a ship or flying a plane, but that is no excuse for avoiding making these changes.
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Can anyone enlighten me on the pros and cons of switching off my SN3 when not in use? I started switching it off at night a while ago but after 2 weeks or so the left channel failed - presumably a relay and it’s off with Naim now for repair. On the basis that was an unfortunate one-off component failure what is the feeling re caps in the psu - do they suffer from switching off and on? I’m not really concerned about sq as I hear negligible difference when turned on from cold.
Why do we care?
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I’ve read a few times that heat cycles (power up & down) wear components down quicker than a constant temperature. Although this seems logical to me, I’m not sure if it’s actually true.
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Because we do?
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The more significant question is, if anyone doesn’t care, why not?
Understandably the financial aspect may not be something for personal concern if someone is fortunate enough to have plenty of disposable income, such that the rapidly rising cost of living is of no concern, or for whom the adage “look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves” means nothing, However, why would someone feel the environment is not something to care about - an environment they, their families and friends, and all other people, share?
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Nail, hammer, head.
On a point of detail does the Uniticore have a standby mode?
Ignore that guys, I’ve done what I should have done in the first place and read the spec.
To me, that seems to be the exam question.
If you are into saving money (and given the prices quoted above who could blame you!) then inadvertently bringing forward, or promoting, the onset of replacement/servicing of our expensive black boxes will surely outweigh electricity costs. If you are into the environment then the environmental impact of more frequent shipping and consumption of parts could massively outweigh what is saved by turning these systems on and off twice in the 24-hour cycle. I would add that I don’t personally know whether that on/off cycle effect theory is sustainable; it would be interesting to know whether Naim have any data they could add so that users can make an informed decision.
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