Mono blocks that can provide that golden sound...

I think warm-up time is a constant for any piece of equipment. One or two hours is relatively short compared to other solid state amplifiers. I had the X.5 series, and those required 6-8 hours, and really sounded their best after 12-24 hours. The XA.5 is considerably less dependent upon time for me. Even tubed equipment can benefit from 1-2 hours.

I would recommend the Tripoint Troy, which is an external grounding system for all your components. You will not complain of your system sounding 2D, flat, and non-engaging. This is precisely the effect it has. Your system will sound great at start-up, it will only get better after that hour.

With all the care required for quality connectors and power, I would not use a timer.

while a step back, the mac 501s provide very good sound with no warmup. i had the xa60.5s, which were better, but not much. 501s have less transparency, top end extension, or microdetail retrieval. but again, not much. the immediate gratification of instant good-enough sound and not having schwetty balls while listening in houston in july tipped the decision for me.

I like the Ayre MX-R. I do not have any experience with the Pass so I could not give you a comparison and I do no know if it will work with your pre.

However, the MX-R needs to be warmed up as well. I can listen to them when turning on from standby but they sound their best after warming up for 3+ hours. Listening cold they are a little brittle.

Will it seems like any Reference class amp requires a bit of warm up time to perform their best. I tell you these Class A mono blocks just do their magic that not too many amps can even for double or triple their cost. The sound quality of theses amps are so incredible they just put me in the state of nirvana every time I listen to them. I’m afraid if I sold them, that state of nirvana would be very elusive for a long time searching for replacements. Heat they generate is not an issue as I have AC. I guess it’s like this, you can’t have a 10sec ¼ mile car and get 40 mpg too. That’s why I don’t drive mine every day.

As Peterayer said, when I plan on listening to my system in the evening during the week I'll just let them warm up for 2 hours just before I set to listen and for the weekend I'll turn the amps on Friday afternoon and turn them off Sunday evening. A plan like that I can live with for sure.

NIRVANA HERE I COME! :)

I just want to say thanks for the response I recieved here. You guys are great!