Warm up time?

afterburnt

I am using all of my amps less and less. I have I guess 7 channels on amps, the AVR is only driving the presence speakers. I have everything except for the P5 on triggers. But mostly I am running 2 channel through the A31. I should probably stop firing everything up all at once huh?

MrBuhl

I like to do a good hour warm up, though I do think SQ improves with a longer period so on weekends I basically flip em on and leave em on...

Speedskater

Seems like we have two questions here:
1] Turn-on. If big power amps are on the same AC circuit, then turning them one one at a time can bee a good can be a good idea. Just a few seconds in between.
2] Warm-up. With modern equipment, warm-up should only be a minute or two.

heiney9

Speedskater wrote: »

2] Warm-up. With modern equipment, warm-up should only be a minute or two.

Wrong answer in many cases. Many good amps are biased to run a certain amount of class A (exceptions of course). It can take anywhere from 10-60 minutes or longer for an amp to fully come into the best listening scenario. (exception being class D or H amps)

Many high end designers recommend leaving (solid state) gear powered up for best listening results. Obviously if you know you won't be listening for an extended period of time one might want to consider powering off to save $$$.

Tube amps are for another discussion

My single ended Class A amp takes about 30-60 minutes to get going and the longer it's left on the better it sounds to a point. After about 6 hours it's hit it's mark.

H9

JPete

I can hear my Adcom getting into the zone after 45 minutes, give or take, from a cold start. Wish I trusted it enough to leave it on when I'm not around so I didn't have to wait, but at 31 years old, I'd rather not... Just in case.

mikeyb128

My Cary takes at least an hour of warm up, you can hear the soundstage start to widen and open up. The manual recommends leaving it on 24/7 for best results. I leave everything on at idle for at least an hour before I listen. I shut everything off because I don't get much of a chance during the week to listen as long as I would like.

heiney9

I got a little irritated with my rig last week because I powered everything up and sat down a was "WTF, why does this sound so closed in and lacking dynamics"

Duh, it always starts sounding better after about an hour warm up. Two hours and it's sublime

H9

mikeyb128

heiney9 wrote: »

I got a little irritated with my rig last week because I powered everything up and sat down a was "WTF, why does this sound so closed in and lacking dynamics"

Duh, it always starts sounding better after about an hour warm up. Two hours and it's sublime

H9

Same thing happened to me on Sunday, I thought I had everything dialed in tube wise. But after relaxing for a bit latter getting mad, things opened right up.

And I agree, the 2 hour mark magic starts to happen. Seems as though music has to be playing, sitting idle doesn't seem to help us much as I thought.

notified

I get the same results as Mikeyb with my vintage Bryston 4b. From a cold start it takes about a hour of current drawing [listing time] for the large transformer to warm up and allow the electrons to move freely enough to allow the ghost into the machine.Otherwise it just sounds like a decent quality amp,but after the warm up it really starts to show its price point worth! [they also recommend leaving it on 24/7 but with it being out of the 20 warranty period and the long times between sessions I prefer to power it down]

afterburnt

I was thinking to set the amp to auto so they turn on when the see a signal (I think they all will do that). I guess that would be fine for movies like Skip said but if I want to listen to multi channel music I would want them warmed up first. Damn I am lazy, I dont want to push 5 buttons!

Jhayman

I leave my McCormack DNA-500 powered on 24/7 on Steve's advice..
Since adding a Bryston BDP-2 and Bryston BDA-2 my gear is at an unreached Pleasuredome to which my ears melt, it's kind of like cleaning your ears with Velvet q-tips..feels so nice..

mikeyb128

Jhayman wrote: »

I leave my McCormack DNA-500 powered on 24/7 on Steve's advice..
Since adding a Bryston BDP-2 and Bryston BDA-2 my gear is at an unreached Pleasuredome to which my ears melt, it's kind of like cleaning your ears with Velvet q-tips..feels so nice..

Why does it make me nervous leaving my amps on 24/7?

The next amp on my radar is a McCormack.

tonyb

mikeyb128 wrote: »

My Cary takes at least an hour of warm up, you can hear the soundstage start to widen and open up. The manual recommends leaving it on 24/7 for best results. I leave everything on at idle for at least an hour before I listen. I shut everything off because I don't get much of a chance during the week to listen as long as I would like.

Well heck man, send it to me Monday-Friday. lol

erniejade

My Joule in standby mode keeps the tubes warm but just at a lesser voltage. Within 5-10 min, it sounds good after turning it fully on but, around that 20 min mark is where I hear a little more out of it.. slight but noticeable.

11tsteve

Jhayman wrote: »

I leave my McCormack DNA-500 powered on 24/7 on Steve's advice..
Since adding a Bryston BDP-2 and Bryston BDA-2 my gear is at an unreached Pleasuredome to which my ears melt, it's kind of like cleaning your ears with Velvet q-tips..feels so nice..

mikeyb128 wrote: »

Why does it make me nervous leaving my amps on 24/7?

The next amp on my radar is a McCormack.

my DNA 0.5 was on for 5 months straight, barring nasty weather or extended absences... and the first thing I did when I got home was turn it back on.
I also had to fight a certain OCD aspect of leaving it on 24/7. But think of all of the devices in your home which are never truly powered down.... and then consider a well constructed, fused amplifier.
With the upgrades, the bias on the DNA 0.5 was actually reduced, running cooler and drawing less idle current. I was told it should draw less than a 60W bulb at idle.
I love this planet, but I can live with that for full time audio bliss.

11tsteve

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mikeyb128

tonyb wrote: »

mikeyb128 wrote: »

My Cary takes at least an hour of warm up, you can hear the soundstage start to widen and open up. The manual recommends leaving it on 24/7 for best results. I leave everything on at idle for at least an hour before I listen. I shut everything off because I don't get much of a chance during the week to listen as long as I would like.

Well heck man, send it to me Monday-Friday. lol

Aw man, I've been slammed with work while half this province gets laid off with the cr appy economy. I need me some money for audio upgrades!

afterburnt

Do yooz warm of every piece or just amps?

kevhed72

I think for HT save the energy....the more important thing is proper heat ventilation of the gear....IMO. I have one of those low voltage mini fans built into my stand which constantly blows the hot air off the top of the AVR/amp.