Tube warm up complicating my listening

My tube headphone amp sounds its best after about an hour, which is too long for me on weeknights (when I mostly listen to headphones). So I just don't care about it sounding at its best, and use it after about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Whenever I'm planning on listening, I just turn my preamp on as soon as I get home. The power amp only seems to take about 15 minutes to sound its best, but my preamp takes about 45 minutes.

 

Your electricity supplier will be happy to hear this. The environment, probably not so much.

 

Sorry to be a spoilsport here, but in 2017, leaving ANY electric appliance in standby mode should be a no-no.

One of the reasons I decided against that Ayon tube amp earlier this year was the constant power consumption of around 350 W. I think that's ridiculous.

 

A dealer near me agrees. They leave their solid state amplifiers powered on 24/7 during the week but shut down 6PM Sundays and are closed Mondays.
They notice a serious degradation in sound when they reopen Tuesday AM. Two days until peak performance was the time they mentioned as well.

 

Thanks guys

Thanks for the link. I have something like that now. On a different a/c line I have a small 120v fan with a dimmer switch so I can slow it down. The equipment is in a different room so it is silent as far as I'm concerned. I have a window fan I that has programmable thermostat . If I get a new one I may turn it into a project and use it in line and set it to where it won't kick on till it's 100 degree f.

I did this today got home at 5pm told my wife I was going to listen to music tonight. Had a bunch of stuff to do. Sat down at 6:30 and put on Crosby Stills and Nash and it sounds wonderful.

I also have a Bryston 4b nrb like 22 years old I use in the same system for home theater so I don't have to waste my tubes and it definitely sounded better after it warms up. For all but the last year it sat on a shelf and always got good and hot Bryston said that's normal. At the same time I got the Rogue I put a fan on it splitting the shelf between it and my 3b and both amps stay cooler. I like 3 power strips I can switch off each outlet as to not have unneeded gear and wallworts on.

I agree

It wasn't that this was a big deal my point was I really have to plan when I want to listen to music. Sometimes when I want to I just don't have the time.

 

"Two days later" Do you think that is true generally across the board for solid state?

 

I've never worried about it. Often times I just put a record on and just listen right from the get go.

 

agreed.

 

LOL, really..2 days ??? for a SS power amp? Can someone please explain the logic behind this one?
I leave my SS phono pre on round the clock, but not my SS power amp. That gets turned on just before I listen..

 

That sounds about right my phono tubed pre sounds really good after about an hour ! My uncle's Luxman tubed pre from the late 70s takes a good two hours to really open up .. IMO

 

Well, because it seems I have it aarvark around backwards.
I will leave the power amp on and see, will be a good experiment to see if my dusty old ears pick it up.
As far as the preamp (Vincent PHO-700)...I think I probably read it somewhere.

 

I have the PHO-700 too Wonderful piece After warm up sounds amazing ..!!

 

I agree. I've a Bryston 4B SST power amp and it needs to get warmed up at least 3-4 hours to perform at its best. I also have some ARC tube gear and it takes around 15 minutes for these to get warmed up and ready to perform fully.

 

Got a tube phono stage, otherwise it's solid state for the rest of my system.
Solid state (pass labs and sunfire) is always on, they weren't build with power buttons anyway..
Phono stage is usually turned on when I get home from work or right after dinner.
Then we listen to a record or 2 while eating dinner with the kids, at conversation volume. Sounds very good after 5-10 minutes. Occasionally the kids will break out in spontaneous dance at the dinner table.
Then it's chores etc, maybe even background music then. At this time 1-3 hours a gradual improvement can be detected and it's very enjoyable.

But the magic always happens later at night, when kids are asleep, city is quiet and the phono stage has been running for a few hours. Weirdly, everything sounds better after midnight. That would be approx 6-7 hours.
A lot of factors come into play though as background noise etc.
if I forget to turn it off and put a record on in the morning, then there's no further improvement to be gained.

So experience, limited as it is, for me would be :
Listenable after 5-10 minutes, much better after 2-3 hours and magic with 6-7 hours of 'warm-up'. After that, no further gain.

This way I burn the tubes around 6-7 hours on a good day, and perhaps 3 hours on a regular. 0 if we watch TV.
It's a routine of keeping costs in check regarding purchasing new tubes and always be able to enjoy the music at all times. I figure with a tube power amp, then situation would be very different, as the outlay for replacements is much higher.

 

I leave all my solid state equipment turned on continuously. I don't turn it off unless I plan to leave home for a few weeks. Unfortunately, the a-fore-mentioned "Tube Guilt" will not allow me to do the same for my tube equipment.

Yesterday, I just unplugged my Thiel CS3.5 bass equalizer for the very first time in over 20 years. Those speakers and the equalizer are moving to my new home, then it is going right back on again. When I bought the speakers, Tom Thiel told me that the equalizer's circuit will last forever if just left on, but that turning it on and off daily could reduce its life.

 

This statement really hit me. If you aren't listening to music on a night you would like to because the stereo doesn't meet your standards, something is way out of whack. I'm not going to make any suggestions for a remedy, but you might think about this.

 

Personally I let my tubes warm up for like 15 minutes, until they reach thermal stability basically, and then I listen to music.

I agree that leaving stuff on seems to make a bigger difference with aolid state gear, though I'm a little skeptical of our ability to to hear differences over time without multiple variables involved innour listeningm Still, wsith my solid state gear -- sub amp, CD player, phono pre -- the longer it's on the more soundstage depth and kind of realistic, wumpus dynamic impact there iseems to be. But with tube gear, I'm not sure I'm ever hearing that kind of change over time. If something sounded discernably "raspy" at first, I think I'd notice that, but I don't have that experience with the tube stuff.

In any event, whether the tube gear would sound better after a day ot two of on time or not is moot to me, I'd never intentionally leave tube gear turned on unattended for hours or days, especially not a power amp. I've seen too many tubes just start drawing too much current, or reistors fail or the like with sometimes near pyrotechnic results. It's just not a safe thing to do.

 

I have not seriously listened to music from my tube preamp and tube power amp during the first 15 minutes after power up. I only start out feeding signal/music to the tubes at a low volume level. It is possible, I guess, in the first 15 minutes the sound could be "raspy". At any rate I doubt the SQ would be all that good out of the gate from a cold start up. How does anyone preform when they first get out of bed in the morning?

Like most others have posted with tube equipment my tube equipment starts to sound good after about 30 to 45 minutes and the SQ continues to improve after an hour or two. I guess it really just depends on what music I am listening to.

 

My system takes 30-45 mins to get to cruising altitude. The system consists of a vintage solid state amp and preamp and a tube phono stage.

There is no doubt that it changes after that time. It was the same when I had a solid state phono stage.

I assume its a combination of system warming up, cartridge suspension... warming up (?), my ears adjusting, the beer kicking in...

But yes, something happens after 30-45 min.

 

Ok so always looking for an upgrade I need to ask about SS warmup. Is leaving the amp on what is needed or is it to have it on and "playing" for the extended up to 2 weeks? Is it a temperature effect or a circuit energized thing? I ask it this way because the Bryston does not get warm at idle. None of my SS over the years did either. It is only when presented with input that it goes to work. Also it cools rather fast after listening (a few minutes between selections and it is at ambient) so to get the warmup benefit do I have to actually play the amp for a few weeks to max the potential sound?

 

I've left a SS amp on for years without any issue.