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

The last time my system sounded bad, it had been off for 24 hours. I had forgotten about it when I sat down to listen, it had been on already a couple of hours, but ugh. I kept asking myself "why does it sound so bad?" until I remembered.

So, it's not entirely the beer.

This and my really random/erratic listening habits keep me away from tubes.

@erik_squires , When I ran a solid state preamp many years ago (Fulton modified Bravura), it really didn't sound right until it had been on for about 24 hours. This was so consistent I wondered why it was equipped with a power switch since it drew so little power.

We consistently hear changes in our gear as it warms up and its easy to demonstrate. But only an hour is needed- and really its only the first 15-20 minutes in which the gear shouldn't be taken seriously.

In terms of warmup, it sounds like tubes can do that faster than solid state; so I'm curious how that keeps you away from tubes?

My cat can tell me when my pream/amp has reached its optimal  temperature for best sonic performance. He has this look on his face as soon as that point is reached. My ears are too old to tell the difference.

With the Lamm ML 2 amps, you can definitely hear a difference as you play music for the first 45 minutes-1 hour. A gradual opening up in almost all aspects. If it is something else, then it must be the tube line stage or the tube phono stage, or perhaps the cartridge; they are part of a system that noticeably improves in sonics after the first hour of playing. I think it gets better by smaller degrees after that, but it is noticeable, and repeatable. I’ve been using these amps for about 11 years. And many previous amps I’ve owned, all tube, were the same in that they changed sound character for the better after warm up, though perhaps not as dramatically as the Lamm.
The Lamm line stage I had- the L2- had a solid state audio circuit and tube power supply, and Vlad recommended keeping it always powered on; I did that (though I never really liked running tube gear when I wasn’t home). I would pull power during electrical storms, and it seemed to take days for that thing to come back on song after it had been unplugged for a while.
I gather that solid state gear benefits from warm up too, but have less ownership experience in high end solid state gear. Switched to tube amps and preamps around 1974 and have soldiered on with various good tube products since then, none of them poorly made or designed- mostly early mid era ARC stuff.

 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!