Four Hour Tube Amp Warm-Up

My Elekit 300B sounds better than most of the other integrated amps on earth after 20 minutes.  But after 4 hours they’re magic.

Had a pair of Gryphon SS Class A monoblocks that peaked at 12 hours even though I kept them in standby all the time.

Go figure.

That seems rather long---that wouldn't cut it for me since I rarely listen to my music for 4 hours straight. I don't have tubes but my Sugden A21 sounds pretty sweet after about 15-20 mins.

Maybe it’s your tubes. My tube amps, both vintage McIntosh, get with it pretty quick, like less than 20 min.

My CJ Premier 1B takes about 20 minutes.

@hilde45 wow -- 4 hours -- wow. So, tube life is, in effect, one quarter of their expected life for good listening? That will sound like an argument for solid state to many.

And if you like your tube amp(s) more, keeping spare tubes around is an option. With extended long term use, and not a common situation, one of my former/older SS amps expired too. Kept a spare SS amp around for back-up parts.

Simple point-to-point tube amp design won for me - - no extinct circuit boards or extinct SS output transistors to keep spares for any more.