How long daes it take your gear to warm up?

I never understood the logic to leave equipment on all the time. However I do appreciate the posters that state that their sound is wonderful if equipment is left on. Life is short enough and if this helps make life better and your music is great and this is painless for you, then by all means, leave it on. Except for tube equipment which does have a specific life. equipment that does not have heat issues (class A amps, etc.) really won't have a drastic effect on components. Don't misunderstand me, there will be a long term effect by leaving it on. equipment life will be shortened. But, if it sounds good and it is worth it to you, the by-all-means. It takes my system about 20-30 minutes to have great sound. However, I really haven't noticed bad sound with 10 minutes warm-up. it still sounds great. I typically turn my system on when I know I'm going to do quality listening, go do something else,like cook, open a good bottle of wine and let it breath, get a good book. by then, it is good to listen. experiment. Turn the system on and listen immediately to your favorite music. Take notes. Is it flat, no dimension? how's the sound stage (assuming there was one in the first place), etc. Then next day, turn it on and listen after an hour, to the same music. take notes again. Then, leave it on all night and day and then go back the next day and listen again and take notes. Compare and see if there were major differences. That is a true test. Also, if you can get others to help with the listening test, that would be better.

But, unless you want to replace tubes more often, I would not leave tube equipment on.

enjoy

Minor1, you say that leaving equipment on all the time will shorten equipment life. Do you have proof of this or is this just your theory?

I ask because I know some capacitor manufacturers who recommend cycling (turning equipment on/off) to help speed up break in and extend the life of their product. On the other hand, many other electrical components like switches, relay's, resistors, etc are more prone to failure due to the in rush currents that come from cycling. So it would seem to me that leaving equipment on 24/7 may shorten or may extend the life expectancy of your audio gear. I have no charts or graphs to back up my theory, just my $0.02.

I leave solid state components on 24/7 whether in stand-by or full on. SS phono pre is 'full on' 24/7. SS CDP is in standby 24/7. Tube pre-amp and mono-block amps get turned on about 30 min before listening to music. After 1-2 hrs. playing music, something magical seems to happen. Acoustic levitation, I call it.

Jmcgrogan2,

I suppose it depends on the particular components and the particular environment based on the specific implementation. If you look at specification sheets for capacitors, transistors, diodes there is always a difference in life expectancy based on the exposure to heat. Heat shortens life considerably. If one has equipment that runs hot, it is best not to keep it on continuously.

You do have a good point about relay and switches--life time is specified for the the number of on off cycles.

I keep my cd player on all the time because that is what the manufacturer recommends. I am sure that is based on sound quality and NOT a recommendation for extended life (the separate power supply stays fairly warm all the time). The manufacturer says it takes more than a day for the equipment to sound its best if it has been turned off for any significant amount of time. I do, however, turn things off and unplug them from the wall when I am away or when there is an electrical storm in the area. I turn off all tube gear when not in use (everything has a rectifier which means no great inrush current or a soft start cicuit).

The first 15 minutes or so sounds somewhat stilted, then my amps and preamp goes through a nice change and starts sounding like music. By the first hour there are no worries :)

I leave it off when not in use. The stereo gets turned on first thing when I get home. The amps are put in Standby if I step out for a little while. They will retained their warmed up character all day in Standby if need be. But if I am gone all day I turn everything off.