Soundbar question

[Seeker47]

I've been generally pleased with the one from Polk that I bought several months back. It seems like a good compromise for the dual-use room where I thought a full, multi-speaker HT setup would have been unsuitable overkill. The setup there has been that I generally use the soundbar + subwoofer for movies, concert type broadcasts, some shows, and anything else where I feel it provides an important audio improvement. For most other routine stuff like news, I leave it OFF, and let the minimalist speakers in the plasma panel provide the sound. The soundbar there is probably off a majority of the time, with my turning it on only when I choose for it to be. (While it is possible for both sound sources to be active at the same time, I find that result to clearly be a net minus. So I opt for one or the other.)

[I'd have to say that the one failing I've noticed with the Polk is that its "learning" capability -- so that it could instead be controlled by the remote for the Panasonic plasma -- is pretty useless.]

A relative just switched to a flat panel at their house and on my advice got the same Polk model that I have. Their intention is to leave it and the subwoofer ON all the time, as the default sound source for that main room. They wanted me to inquire about this for them here: apart from the extra electricity this will consume, is there any reason why this might not be such a good idea ?

[yoda313]

apart from the extra electricity this will consume, is there any reason why this might not be such a good idea ?

Well for my subwoofer on my 5.1 setup it hums really loudly as soon as I turn off my amp (it hums if I turn off the amp and leave the subwoofer on with no input source - no humming while amp is on). Its a sony from about 10 years now I guess - 50watts. There might be something similar if the units are left on without an active input source. I don't know for sure of course but just a warning there - it might need an active signal all the time.

Also I know there is still a debate of whether or not you should leave your computer on all the time or turn it off regularly to save wear and tear. I would hazard a guess that leaving stereo equipment of any type on all the time might shorten its lifespan regardless of brand or reputation.

Just my thoughts....