Tube warm up complicating my listening

Rogue CMII as well. Sounds good after the delayed power-up, sounds best after 15 min. The only issue during the first 15min. is that one side is slightly louder than the other.

 

Have you isolated the issue to your tube pre-amp or your power amp? It should be OK to leave your tube preamp on 24-7 with smaller signal tubes. See if that doesn't help with the warm-up time, waiting only for your power amps which should take no longer than 10-15 min.

 

Too be 100% honest, I do not notice any significant difference in sound quality after I return for another listening session. The particular tubes may be the reason. I rolled my original tubes with NOS Mullard 12au7's which I believe were military grade in the 1950-1960's. I got them from Upscale Audio. Maybe military grade tubes were designed and made to function at full capacity without significant warming because of thier intended applications. If you were using radar to track an enemy I don't think your excuse of "Sorry sir, my tubes weren't warmed up and I missed that Soviet Bomber" would cut it....

The only thing I do notice after about an hour, and my wife hates it, is the room is too warm for her.

 

Bill,

Check this thread out.
Warming up your cartridges - throwback - Vinyl Asylum
Any thoughts? What avg temp do you keep your audio room at?

 

I thought that too and once sat down thinking I would turn on the fan in about 15 minutes. I should have known better after 35+ minutes I was over 125 deg so I don't want to risk damaging the amp but if I work on a needle drop I get near 100% of the quality from my headphones out the soundcard with no warm up time. I sit right there next to the amps I can turn the fan on as I'm leaving to go listen. It's when I go to the other room and the sound starts sweetening up I run the risk of forgetting to turn on the fan.

Wow where do you start when a tube starts to fail?

My system is dead silent from start to finish. I had one of my used vintage 12ax7s start popping when I shut down, it was still under warranty and my guy replaced it.

It's definitely the power amp. The tubes get hot in about 15 minutes but I think it's the chassis that takes the time. After reading many of the posts I agree it takes hours to get the very best. I bought a laser thermometer gun to monitor the temperature when it was new. I have a Rogue St 100 and when the temperature at the center around the power button gets between 100 to 105 that is when it's thoroughly warmed up. I can slow the fan down to make it warmer but I think it is a good safe speed giving me room to go up with the right room condition.

 

This is a thread only an audiophile should read.

I have limited time to listen to my system so I do m best to turn my amp on at least 20 minutes before I'm sitting down to listen.

 

As you can see I leave the amplifier open...no enclosure case and my ceiling fan cools down the room and my ceiling fan passes a gentle breeze over the amp keeping it from overheating.

 

being an audiophile sounds like a real pain in the ass.

 

Turn on the tubes and let it rock. Drink some vodka by the time the tubes are warmed you won't really care anyway.

 

After 40 years of using guitar amps, and never letting any of them warm up for more than a couple minutes, I'm not sure what to make of this.

After I started reading the SH Forum a couple years ago, I started letting the Mullard and Telefunken ecc83 tubes in my Ear 834P replica phono preamp warm up for 30 - 60 minutes before listening. Not sure if I hear a difference or not!

 

Yeah, but my understanding is the last thing a guitarist wants is an accurate clean sounding guitar amp.

 

What's wrong with 125+ degrees? It's a tube amp. It's supposed to get hot and stay that way while it's on. It has a rated operating temperature. With a fan blowing on it constantly, I don't think you're helping yourself.

 

I think maybe it's the ears "warming up." I cannot hear a difference after about 5-10 minutes with my Line Magnetic.

 

Fair point, and I should have included/considered that in my observations. I keep the main system room temp at arctic levels- I like it cold, particularly in the Texas summer, and especially once all those tubes are generating heat. This may also be one possible explanation for why the vintage system comes alive faster-- I'm "cheating" by using a CD player! (I haven't armed the TT yet). And, shocker, even using an old modest CD player (which I guess in theory needs to be warmed up too, or just kept on all the time, though I don't like leaving hi-fi stuff on, call me paranoid), the Quads with Quad II amps filled with GEC glass are just spectacular.

 

There's a nice gremlin for ya. I have that issue for about 45 seconds.

 

Your guitar amps don't sound better after about an hour? Really? When I played live or in the studio, I never switched the amps on and started performing.

 

Note to self: I don't want to be an audiophile - apparently because I lack the right amount of love for audio.

 

How so? The OP is frustrated about having to warm up his tube system. Some posters believe that this sort of thing is nonsense, and others agree that a stereo system needs to warm up for the best sound. Many have suggested to anticipate when one wants to listen to their system, and they should turn it on with music playing, ahead of time, if possible.

 

The OP stated that he's concerned about the amount of time it takes for his amp to warm up, but he's got a cooling fan blowing on it because he's afraid the amp will get too warm. That doesn't make sense to me either.

 

I put the cooling fan on me. Those tubes do get hot.

Seriously, I never thought that keeping a cooling fan on in the heat of summer would be a bad thing. The noise was my only concern. Hey, but you do have a point.

 

Do you have this tube amp shoehorned into a tight spot? Thus the use of a fan? A tube amp needs to breath. Perhaps it isn't the amp itself but you trying to squeeze it into a place it should not be.

 

15-20 minutes for me -- no biggie. Life w/tubes. More important things in life than to worry about tube warmup times. Adjust.

If necessary and should there not be enough breathing space -- take the top covers off the pre and amps (if they have one). I don't see a picture so I'm shooting in the totality of the eclipse.

Best Sirs,

Bob

 

Just play the thing.

 

Most everything has a proper running or serving temp. Heat changes everything.