🚀 go-pugleaf

mdm@netcom.com (Mark Miller) writes:
> salman@sungear.mame.mu.OZ.AU (Salman SHAMI) writes:
> >I like to leave my TV and VCR in standby mode. My CD player amp and tuner
> >switched on. 

> I'm not too familiar with the "standby" mode on TVs and VCRs, but I do
> know that the power from your stereo is neglible because there is no
> existing signal to amplify.  Most (if not all) amplifiers will only be
> using a significant amount of power during regular listening conditions.

In the USA, the total power use from devices in standby is in the hundreds
of MegaWatts. TV's and VCR's use about 10-15W each in standby, cf nothing
in `off'. Since you gain nothing by leaving them on, be green and turn them
off. (assuming you are getting up to leave the room anyway...).

High Fidelity Audio equipment varies - some ($5k+ bracket) CD players take
as long as an hour to warm up and have the sound stabilise, most other
ancilliary equipment is fine. Power amplifiers which run noticeably warm
on standby probably are better off left on, simply because otherwise
you'll eventually get frost fracturing from the expand/contract cycle.
Purists will argue the merits of this approach, claiming they can hear
the difference, so do some double blind testing with a pair of identical
X, one of which has been left on for 24 hours. (yes, double blind is
the _only_ method that is accurate. If you know what's being tested
you will inevitably bias the results.)

As a committed `green', I bought a timer switch for my stereo, and all
except the power amp are only on between 5pm and midnight, unless I
turn them on specifically. You'll note that many CD's etc have a `timer'
mode to automatically play or record when turned on. This is to counter
the idea that it is `bad' for them to be turned on at the wall.... Look
inside one sometime - the on/off switch is usually the first thing that
the power line from the wall goes through, so whats the difference where
in the wire the switching happens...

*love* and *hugs*
___ moz - moselecw@elec.canterbury.ac.nz
\X/         a: most sets only come with white males.
            b: Goodness, most of the Lego people I have seen have been **Yellow**
                  (from a revealing discussion on alt.toys.lego)