Warm Up Times

[jantheman]

I have come to the conclusion that it takes about 2 hours for my system to come 'on song' from switch on. I would have expected 1/2 an hour or thereabouts but 2 hours it is, absolutely no question.
Has anyone else noticed a 'warm up period' when switching on from cold.

[Reid Malenfant]

A few bits of kit i have are meant to be permanently left switched on ;) The power switch being on the back panel in both cases, my DAC has a class A discrete output stage & this is permanently at it's operating temperature, likewise my pre amp.

The KSA250 comes on song after about an hour, couldn't afford to leave that beast switched on :lol:

[DSJR]

My system is such an odd-ball of stuff it's difficult to say. The Croft preamp is pretty well "there" within minutes, although I switch it on around 15 minutes before serious use. The AVI preamp needs a couple of minutes to stabilise the hot running class A line drivers, but the phono stage needs a fair bit longer, the impression of true spatial depth only "happening" after around 45 minutes or so, quite suddenly and obviously to my ears using two different preamps over the years. The race-tuned Quad 33 seems ok from switch-on, yet the hot-rodded X10-D needs a few minutes I think. Of the power amps, the Crowns are mainy Class B (with AB driver stage) and with local circuit regulation. They come on song immediately. As for the Quad power amps, the II's have no warm-up issues except for the valves of course and the 303 is pretty good from startup.

Lastly, the old 1541 based Micro-Seiki CD player needs a couple of hours to fully become "agile" in the bass. The noises and thumps on sound output have almost gone now, and after a couple of hours, everything is stable.

The one thing I do take issue with is the Naim thang of leaving the stuff on 24/7. Once run in and re set up, their products tend to stay stable (until the stressed caps wear out again) and don't seem to need more than an hour or so.. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Avondale versions of these old "Wireless World" circuits don't come on song from cold even quicker ;)

[Macca]

Yes - I leave my power amp on all the time, CD player in standby also the Linn pre left in standby if I'm using that (which I am at the moment as my Croft is in the shop:() - don't know how much lecky it uses but my bills are prety small so not much I guess.

[Welder]

A very interesting subject is this imo.

Most electronic components are specified at a temperature. A change in temperature usually results in a change in performance characteristics. Apparently this applies to your hearing as well. Sound waves travel at different speeds at different temperatures.
Add to this the conjectures that the brain reacts differently to differing lengths of exposure to sound and imo it gets very hard to say whether it’s the components altering the sound or your hearing and brain; possibly a combination of them all.

Listening habits may also influence the perceived sound. I for example tend to start listening at a lower volume than my normal listening level.

I gave up on this one a long time ago. There are way too many variables for me to conclude that my kit sounds better or worse after a given period of time because it had “warmed up”.

[Alex_UK]

My "finger in the air" (read half-arsed) theory a long time ago is that light bulbs only ever blow when you switch them on, so for that reason as well as sound I've not turned my system off in 20 years (although granted, everything has changed in that time! - longest standing component was an Audiolab 8000S which was only switched off a handful of times in 14 years...) All my kit is solid state, I should add. I have no idea if it was just in my head, but on the occasions when it was running from cold it never sounded as good for at least an hour...

[Alex_UK]

Double Post - blame the forum problems... :(

[Pete The Cat]

I usually have a few beers when I'm in a full-on listening session and the optimum sound is from the one hour mark. I think my system is probably just the same and it's me that's warmed up :glug:

Pete

[Ali Tait]

Having had a lot of different valve amps, all have exhibited warm up to my ears. The rest of my kit is left on 24/7.

[Marco]

Same here (valve amps should never be left on when unused)... Transistor gear is a different matter.

However, if you don't switch your solid-state gear off in the first place, you won't have to wait until it warms up - simples! ;)

Marco.

[Macca]

All my kit is solid state, I should add. I have no idea if it was just in my head, but on the occasions when it was running from cold it never sounded as good for at least an hour...

Do you think you could tell the difference in a blind test, Alex?

I'd like to think I could but I wouldn't put any serious money on it - if it makes a difference it is a small one, but its a small difference in all areas of the sound - that's why we notice it (or think we do).

[Alex_UK]

Do you think you could tell the difference in a blind test, Alex?

I very much doubt it! I've struggled to tell the difference between amps and speakers I've owned, let alone sources, cables and mains - temperature is well beyond my abilities! :lol:

[Macca]

I very much doubt it! I've struggled to tell the difference between amps and speakers I've owned, let alone sources, cables and mains - temperature is well beyond my abilities! :lol:

That's not true:lolsign:

I'm a miser and I switch everything off but not the hi-fi...money & mouth etc

[chris@panteg]

I find with my current solid state set it takes quite a while to come on song !
compared to my old valve system , which was about 30-40 minutes , i leave my phono stage on mostly but the 740A gets turned off , wifey hates the blue light .

[DSJR]

I very much doubt it! I've struggled to tell the difference between amps and speakers I've owned, let alone sources, cables and mains - temperature is well beyond my abilities! :lol:

Psssst - you need some new and better speakers Alex, then all will be revealed, I promise :) :cool:

[Haselsh1]

My system is such an odd-ball of stuff it's difficult to say. The Croft preamp is pretty well "there" within minutes, although I switch it on around 15 minutes before serious use.

This is quite interesting as I have a Croft pre and a Croft power and it definitely takes an age to warm up. Although I am not sure which unit is responsible I guess it must be the Series 7.

[Alex_UK]

Psssst - you need some new and better speakers Alex, then all will be revealed, I promise :) :cool:

I know, but I also need 4 tyres, an MOT and service on my car, wifey has decided we have to have wood flooring in the living room which of course means completely changing all the decoration and furnishings, and I doubt we'll be getting our customary bonus in this month's pay packet... If by any miracle we do, speakers will be top of the list! :) (Well my list, anyway - subject to Management intervention of course!)

Actually, maybe if I started turning all the hifi off when I'm not using it I could use the savings for new speakers!

[Haselsh1]

I know, but I also need 4 tyres, an MOT and service on my car, wifey has decided we have to have wood flooring in the living room which of course means completely changing all the decoration and furnishings, and I doubt we'll be getting our customary bonus in this month's pay packet... If by any miracle we do, speakers will be top of the list! :) (Well my list, anyway - subject to Management intervention of course!)

Actually, maybe if I started turning all the hifi off when I'm not using it I could use the savings for new speakers!

Like me Alex you maybe should have become a banker. That way we could have done everything with just the bonus alone and not even got off our arses.

[Techno Commander]

My system takes a good 15 minutes before getting its act together. Half an hour is better though.

[jantheman]

Some interesting responses. Differences between SS and tube were quite marked on the whole. Not wanting to get into the ambient temperature and phases of the moon type of thing but it was interesting to note that similar types of kit 'apparently' warm up at quite different rates. Thanks for the input.....

[quickie]

My power amp takes a good 25 mins to reach operating temperature,but no real difference in sound from cold.

However after a couple of hours the system does sound better.............strange.

Paul.

[Yiangos]

Hey guys !

Most components need some time to warm-up and perform their best and some need to be "on" permanently such-as-my-old Tomm Evan's "the groove" phono stage and my Jeff Rowland "synergy 2" pre-amplifier.neither have an on-off switch,but the most weird component in my system is the power amplifier.A Jeff Rowland model 8ti. You just don't know how many times i've swaped interconnects/power cables/speaker cables etc thinking that something is wrong with the system only to find out that the amp need hours and i meen HOURS to warm-up.To give you a clue,i didn't manage to hear it sound ok withing a day.The thing needs over 10-12 hours to sound its best,so,i leave it on permanently.

[electric beach]

I used to leave everything on 24/7 (believing that repeated start-up would do more damage, like a light bulb), but this is no longer practical with valve gear.

I find 20 minutes from cold start is minimum, but 1-2 hours for soundstage and instrument tone to fully achieve their potential. I also agree that it can be the room warming up, me relaxing, etc. but lately I've noticed that there is a sudden jump; I'm not electronically competent and don't understand the mechanics but it seems like something's charged up or reached a certain state that it comes on song like a switch has been thrown. Any thoughts why this might be? :confused:

I had previously thought that warm up was a gradual thing and the consequential improvement was gradual, putting any sudden change down to a change of recording quality between discs, but I've recently disproved that when the jump happened midway through one of my better recordings (one that I use as a reference and know intimately).

[keiths]

Russ Andrews has always suggested that stuff should be left on all the time and that if a component is switched off, it will require a warm-up time of around twice the length of time that it was switched off for (eg. off for 24 hours, it will take 48 hours before it's warmed back up again).

I've always found that leaving things switched on is beneficial.

[WAD62]

Most of my main kit is audiolab, which I used to leave on all the time, under the assumption that it was better for it, then my 8000s burned out (mind you after about 10 years or so), as they run quite hot...

Given the cost of electricity these days, I leave my main amps switched off, a Audiolab Q, an SX, and a P, however I do leave my DAC (Audiolab DAX 8000) on most of the time, I figure there're little savings to be made from switching it off, and it's probably less destructive.

I'd say it about 40 to 50 mins before things start performing properly on the amp front...:)

[synsei]

I leave all my equipment either on or on standby if it has that facility. I tend to be quite impulsive as to when I want to listen to music, and I'm also impatient. I guess I'm not about to get an invite to Greenpeace or Friends Of The Earth anytime soon... :lol:

[MartinT]

My Chord power amp needs a good hour or so to come on song. For that reason, I leave the whole system on all the time as I like to play music when I get home from work. There are no class A components sucking enormous power so I don't feel too eco-unfriendly.