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Is there an average life span for a power amp?


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My friend was discussing with me that all things wear out after some time. I agree...as nothing lasts forever. I am aware that there is no moving part in a power amp...so theoritically a power amp should last 20 or more years?....if I take precaution never to drive it above red always.

 

I dont know what makes a power amp wear out. Is it the transformer? If not, what then?

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20 years is reasonable, I would expect some professional maintenace including a fan replacement. I just retired some amps that were well over 20 years old.

 

10 years for caps is pretty rough, maybe if you use poor quality parts or exceed their ratings. 20 years is a reasonable expectation IME.

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agreed, quality caps can last a long time. i've seen many a leaky oozy cap in older equipment though, and some of the new lower quality caps fail in short order (like on cheaper computer boards and other cheap pcb equipment). if the supplier delivers good quality i dont see why they wouldnt last a long time.

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that said i have a couple old amps that are from the 70's that still function well. marantz must have done something right.

 

 

Some of that Marantz gear used to be VERY pricey back in the day. I had a Marantz tuner,amp, and pre-amp, which I unfortunately lost in a burglary in the mid 70's.

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Is there any way to prolong the life span of the power amp?

 

 

Absolutly. If it's fan cooled, pop the case open every so often and blow it out with some compressed air. Whether it's fan cooled or just convection, make sure it has adequate ventilation (room temperature and even a bit cooler is ideal).

 

The biggest killer of electronic gear is thermal stress. There is some controversy as to whether it's better to turn on a piece of equipment and never turn it off or to only turn it on when you use it (I ride the fence on this one - I've seen both work well and both fail). The biggest thing to remember is thermal stress, so If you need to cycle it on & off (which is always the case in portable sound and even often the case in installed commercial sound), Don't bring your equipment in from a cold truck and fire it up immediatly (let it warm up slowley).

 

Probably the second biggest killer is corrosion (I live in the desert so it's not too much of a problem for me). Try to keep your equipment out of humid or wet environments.

 

A few other tips would be, when you blow the dust out, every few times squirt a shot of contact cleaner into the pots & switches & exercise them vigorously. Even if you don't use the contact cleaner it's not a bad idea to exercise all of the controls & connections every so often (plugging in & out connectors several times will "burnish" them and in effect keep the corrosion down to a minimum (it can also be fun (Opps wrong subject sorry :>))).

 

These of course are ideal circumstances which can rarely be met every time on the road but they are some practices that will make your equipment last much longer.

 

A quality piece of equipment, not mistreated, should last 20 years plus.

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Absolutly. If it's fan cooled, pop the case open every so often and blow it out with some compressed air. Whether it's fan cooled or just convection, make sure it has adequate ventilation (room temperature and even a bit cooler is ideal).


The biggest killer of electronic gear is thermal stress. There is some controversy as to whether it's better to turn on a piece of equipment and never turn it off or to only turn it on when you use it (I ride the fence on this one - I've seen both work well and both fail). The biggest thing to remember is thermal stress, so If you need to cycle it on & off (which is always the case in portable sound and even often the case in installed commercial sound), Don't bring your equipment in from a cold truck and fire it up immediatly (let it warm up slowley).


Probably the second biggest killer is corrosion (I live in the desert so it's not too much of a problem for me). Try to keep your equipment out of humid or wet environments.


A few other tips would be, when you blow the dust out, every few times squirt a shot of contact cleaner into the pots & switches & exercise them vigorously. Even if you don't use the contact cleaner it's not a bad idea to exercise all of the controls & connections every so often (plugging in & out connectors several times will "burnish" them and in effect keep the corrosion down to a minimum (it can also be fun (Opps wrong subject sorry :>))).


These of course are ideal circumstances which can rarely be met every time on the road but they are some practices that will make your equipment last much longer.


A quality piece of equipment, not mistreated, should last 20 years plus.

 

 

These are all wonderful tips. I would like to add to them.

 

I have some Yamaha PD2500 amps over 25 years old and still work perfectly. My Yamaha 2201 no fans at all and is about 30 years old.

 

Every few years I take them in for a fan lubrication, cleaning, and Bias adjustment.

 

As a rule I do not run my amps into 4 ohms since an amp must produce twice the current at 4 ohms vs. 8 ohms. This creates more heat and heat is the enemy. An amp that produces less heat will last longer. Producing twice the current on a consistent basis will breakdown insulation, ceramic resistors, capacitors, diodes, SCRs, and ICs more rapidly. It may still take a long time since the amps are designed for 4 ohm usage and the components are rated for the current levels required. It will still occur more rapidly none the less, due to greater demands on power supplies and output transistors etc.

 

I would only ever bridge an amp if I had to, due to a breakdown, but I have NEVER had an Amp breakdown. That should tell you something.

 

In the end, all electronic devices have a MTBF or Mean Time Between Failure.

 

If the MTBF for the product is 10 years, a very small percentage will go before that, slightly more as you close in on 10 years, the majority of amps will last 10 years, and as time goes by more failures will occur, given that they are all treated the same way.

 

The percentage of longer term survival shrinks as time marches on.

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4 ohm operation and even 2 ohm operation doesn't cause any significant shortening of lifespan in any quality amp. It all has to do with duty cycle, design approach, quality of parts and assembly. Audio amps have a very low duty cycle, hence a very long life.

 

Regulated linear power supplies are similar execpt with a much higher duty cycle and these can easily lasy longer than 20 years. Look at the linear power supplies that power the telephone network. Many have been in continuous operation for >30 years, 24/7. Same goes for the associated amplifiers used in the telco networks.

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