Is it the beer or do speakers/electronics really need some extended warm-up period?

 For many years my big system needed about 20-30 minutes of playing time to sound its best even with everything powered on 24/7. I believe it was the tubes in my preamp and dac but the Sumo Nine Class A & Audio Alchemy transport warm up as well. The transformation was fairly subtle, mostly image but I'm sensitive to that. It went from closed in sounding to a very open and deep soundstage.
  Now that I am computer based playback, solid state dac, and a Levinson power amp it sounds the same turned on fresh as it does hours later so it really depends on the gear itself

So it turns out from legit scientific studies that alcohol has a ten fold influence on sound than thermal effects on electronics. You can try it yourself at home! It kicks in about 20 minutes, coincidentally about the same time the amp is running optimal and the cables have opened up :) It’s awesome!

It is the beer. Over the years, I have found that the more beer I drink, the louder I can turn up the volume to get the best sound. Alas, I had to quit drinking when replacement mids were discontinued for my speakers. I also had to limit Maynard Ferguson to my old system with electronicly activated speaker protection.

That makes sense to me since almost all systems distort the sound like crazy 😜 when turned up past moderate levels. I’m not hot doggin ya. Beer numbs the brain to the gross distortion.

In all seriousness (is that even possible?), I think the desire to turn up the volume is sometimes a desire to get 'more' you are there-they are here/immediacy/verisimultude (great word) out of the system. The trick for me is getting the volume/gain/amount of loudness just so for the particular recording on my system in my room. Turning it up too loud doesn't make it better. I also tend not to listen at super high db, but like the dynamics when they are there; the other side of it is that dead quietness on soft passages that is no so easily achieved on old records.