Does leaving a sound system on use a lot of energy?

Cheetah Designs

Cheetah Designs

Cheetah Designs

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For instance, I have a logitech 2.1 system with a powerful base.

Does leaving it switched on without it actually playing anything use a lot of energy/electricity? The only reason I ask is that is has a powerful base?

Sometimes it picks up static or something and you can hear a buzzing noise from the speakers and base....will that be using a lot of energy/electricity?

Thanks.
 
my onkyo tx-sr805 uses 110w doing nothing at all, just switched on. i doubt a set of 2.1 speakers use anything like that but yes, they will be sucking up juice when switched on, even if they arent in use.
 
My old Rotel amp draws load, around 30W when it's on. Best to switch amps off at the mains when not in use.
 
I think my Audiolab amp uses 40w. My old Sony stereo used 43w while in standby, the same amount of wattage whilst on at half volume, which I thought was intriguing. One would expect less power to be used whilst in standby.

Standby is not a good thing when trying not to have large energy bills.
 
It's cheaper for the manufacturer to make the amp use it's full power draw all the time and the signal is a lot cleaner. The downside is obviously a massive power draw even when idle or at low volume. Some of the more expensive amps have the circuitry to lower power draw but I'm not sure if there is any way of checking.
 
There is no standby on this system. There is simply a switch to have it on or off.....its just PC speakers....put they have a big "wattage" on them.... especially the base.

Guess they should be off when not in use. Thanks.
 
The power block (transformer?) on my T20's is warm even when the speakers are turned off, so yes, it uses juice when 'off' - it's a farily common thing with audio stuff.

Which reminds me, I need to put that on a seperate power block to my router so its not wasting my Jigawatts!!!

EDIT: just done it :) thanks for the thread! generally my router is the only appliance in the house that doesnt get switched off at the mains when not in use.
 
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Some transformers do use power, even when the device is off. Some don't though. I've been using some switched extension leads for a short while now, so I can have the router on and use my netbook to browse the net, without having to constantly pull plugs out, so that the PC, TV and god knows what else isn't drawing power needlessly.

Damn to the evil buggers of this world who would have us pay extortionate monies for energy. :mad:
 
they wont be consuming that at idle. you'd have to get a power meter on them but it wont be anything like 800w at idle. they would have to be class A amps to do that and afaik they are not, they are class AB.
 
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