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Listening after your entire system was powered off cold for a week+

Have you ever had your entire system completely unplugged-powered off for a week+, turned it all on, sat down for a brief listen, and immediately became disappointed with the sound after a cold startup?

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With temporary amnesia, rediscovered again today for the 100th time there were no problems with my dac or tubes or any component failures going on.

@4-5 hours warmup, a radical transformation with the sound. Transformers on the dac, preamp, amps, all warmed up - - woah, here comes the missing tone, texture, soundstage, opening up nicely, and musicality. "There it is!".   Email this link to self, revisit periodically as prescribed. Maybe an isolated case :)

 

decooney
drmuso's avatar
drmuso
76 posts
 

I leave my solid-state preamp on all the time.  The solid-state AB-class amps need 15 min. to sound right, and perhaps improve with more time on.   I would expect the system would need some time to warm up if the preamp were turned off, even if just a day or two.

terry9
2,240 posts
 

My system sounds good after 12 hours, better at 100. Pre-amp only goes cold for extreme weather.

The OP’s system needs more time to warm up after a complete shutdown. Perhaps some of his equipment has a ’stand-by’ function, which ’sort of’ keeps it warm.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,199 posts
 

Most class A or class A/B amps and preamps need time for their capacitors to charge up and stabilize. The same for most tube devices as well.

 

wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
893 posts
 

Yet one more report of 1/2 to hour for better sound on a class A tube integrated. (If house AC isn't on all the better too due to white noise.)@decooney A whole house surge protector is your audio, AC and a raft of other electrical things in your house's new best friend. I also yank plugs... why not be better safe than sorry. A brown out once fried all our ACs and a few other goodies. 

wolf_garcia
6,628 posts
 

I was gone for a week and when I returned today my system sounded amazing immediately, likely (obviously) because I hadn't heard it for a week. My Pass XA-25 always take an hour or so to sound its best, and I had a new Julian Lage album to enjoy...highly recommended by the way...he has Bill Frisell along on this one.

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