Hi guys,
Saw a comment yesterday elsewhere that piqued my interest. The OP had asked the question “when should I power down” and got the usual replies of thunderstorms and holidays.
One guy posted “the “new” advice from Naim is that the system should be powered down for a day each week”.
News to me, I asked him who had told him this and he replied “from correspondence with Naim engineers, in particular Flynn Charter”. Could perhaps @NeilS or @Richard.Dane confirm the validity of this claim.
Anyone else heard of this?
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I saw the same post: raised eyebrow here.
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It’s new to me, although I do recall there has been some anecdotal evidence on here to suggest that members have found that after many days of items being powered up, if they start to sound a bit under par then switching off for a bit then powering up again can get them back on song. Maybe someone at Naim will know.
I power down every couple of weeks or so anyway, usually if away I’m in London or there’s a threat of an electrical storm (becoming much more of an occurrence these days it seems), and also power off the power amp at the end of a listening session, and then power up an hour or so before hand, mainly to minimise my energy usage.
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The conventional wisdom in these parts has always been that an occasional power cycle is beneficial for sound quality. I’ve found that the optimal interval is about a month, after which a brief power cycle audibly refreshes the sound. Any more often than that and the benefit isn’t really noticeable to these ears.
It’s not necessary to turn everything off for long. A few minutes is sufficient, so there’s no issues with waiting for the system to come back “on song” like you would if you’d turned it off for hours or days.
Cannot justify leaving my gear on 24/7 when it’s only used occasionally what with the risk of power cuts etc. Hoping the fuse in the back of the 250DR doesn’t blow again although last time it was after some changes to the set up
In my experience in L3 IT support If you had a windows XP pc you would ideally reboot every 1-7 days, windows 7 would ideally be weekly, and 10 onwards might be a couple of weeks, but at least monthly. Linux based devices are generally ok for several weeks or even months.
As streamers are based on PC devices, this might be where the rumour came from, however as the latest Naim streamers are based on Linux, I can’t see a weekly reboot would have much effect
While these are known and reasonable things, I don’t know if they have anything to do with the supposedly cited “new advice” saying
I wonder if this is down to replay preference in that, IME, when first switched on, the kit tends to be bass-lite and it can take a few days with power amps, much longer with pre-amps and sources (due to the PS(s)), to appear and stabilise.
I’ve had this numerous times. Initially (from switch on), the replay sounds detailed, accurate – but with not much punch. When the bass delivery arrives a few days/weeks later, this can sound like a backward step, probably because the listening environment isn’t handling the bass well, and once that occurs, the whole replay gets compromised (as has been widely discussed on the various room treatment threads).
I always find my kit sounds fresh as a daisy after a thorough strip down and a spring clean. It all looks cleaner and smarter so therefore sounds better.
The same thing used to happen when i had my motorcycle. After a deep clean, polish, wax and lubrication, i felt sure it gained a few horse power after doing so. It certainly cruised better when the sun came out…
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I use to power down my system about 2 or 3 times a month. I found it’s better for sound quality.
If I had a Naim Statement, not sure I would do that, because owners said that their Statement or Statements come on song after 2 weeks, if power down.
At this rate we’ll all have a few brief days of anything sounding half decent between the various power cycles and rebuilds.
The best advise is to use it often enough so that you don’t have a need to turn anything off.
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Surely you don’t really mean that. Connectors in and out and making sure all is setup properly, yes i can imagine this helps.
Well yes, it all must count. Sometimes it’s hard to nail down what’s really going on. But then there is always the placebo effect, regardless…i do apologise for my sarcasm.
P.S. i find a complete strip down and re-build makes things happen, as apposed to just a lazy power down.
Fair enough if that does it for you fine. Yes there is a pleasing visible effect not to see dusty boxes. I would not do it in these temperatures though. The last time i stripped everything down and rebuilt, i paid attention to cable runs while cleaning the contacts in the suggested way and it did sound good after the usual couple of days or so after powering up. Needless to say other members of the household appreciate the efforts and not necessarily the sonic ones 
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A horse hair attachment on my Henry vacuum cleaner (on a low setting) can work wonders whilst dismantling. Then the rebuild, and only when i’m happy with everything in it’s place, and only by a gnat’s eyelash, the big sequential switch on commences. In all all my years of owning Naim kit, it requires being pampered, if so then WOW! This is it! If not, then Meh…
You have HORSES in your living room? 
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I found that if the system loses it’s sparkle, a power cycle of the power amp is all that’s needed to wake it up. Every month seems to do the trick.
Life is too short to ponder why though.
Then again with a busy and really hot and intermittent stormy week, i powered up on thursday evening.
I’m no expert on any of this, my system remains on 24/7, but it does strike that much of what is being said on this thread is anecdotal.
Regards,
Lindsay
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As opposed to the rigorous testing that is usually the norm on the forum?
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