Warm/cold electronics

[Matt J]

No cable/mains arguments please, purely about whether you can hear a difference between warm/cold kit?

Personally I can. Which is strange as I canthear any difference between good quality cheap cables and expensive ones.

This is the second time I've noticed a big difference between warm and cold stuff, I'm talking stone cold here not just switched off over night.

Just got the classik back from its service at Linn, its been at the dealers for about 3 or 4 days and away from me for about 2-3 weeks, plugged it in and straight away it was dire, tinny and shouty (it also had some parts replcaed so that might of been a factor as well) left it running all evening at low volume witha cd on repeat, left it switched on all night and all today whilst at work, got home and started testing and its 100 X better, more so with vinyl.

The first time was a Meridian 508.24 that had been sat in a parcel farce depot for a cold weekend in January, got it straight home and same again, left it on and it was awesome after it had warmed up.

[Glens of Antrim]

Agree with you Matt. It does take kit time to warm up to its best. Why I leave my on stand-by all the time. Whooops wait for the fundamentalists to froth up ;)

[hifiwigwam]

I have the common decency to turn my kit off at night. However, I turn it on again in the mornign so its toasty when I get home from work.

[darrenm]

Warm kit sounds warmer, and cold kit sounds colder.

Is that psychological? ;)

I leave mine on all of the time, frightened after hearing about how light bulbs only break when turned on

[Davewhityetagain]

Matt J wrote:

No cable/mains arguments please, purely about whether you can hear a difference between warm/cold kit?

Personally I can. Which is strange as I canthear any difference between good quality cheap cables and expensive ones.

This is the second time I've noticed a big difference between warm and cold stuff, I'm talking stone cold here not just switched off over night.

Just got the classik back from its service at Linn, its been at the dealers for about 3 or 4 days and away from me for about 2-3 weeks, plugged it in and straight away it was dire, tinny and shouty (it also had some parts replcaed so that might of been a factor as well) left it running all evening at low volume witha cd on repeat, left it switched on all night and all today whilst at work, got home and started testing and its 100 X better, more so with vinyl.

The first time was a Meridian 508.24 that had been sat in a parcel farce depot for a cold weekend in January, got it straight home and same again, left it on and it was awesome after it had warmed up.

No problem some kit sounds really rough when cold, Exposure very rough 99% of valve equipment. Chord amps not too bad but Chord cd players need

Have had a few Naim amplifiers 202 200 5 5i and never noticed any differance between one just switched on and one thats been on for a month.

[Matt J]

HiFiWigWam wrote:

I have the common decency to turn my kit off at night. However, I turn it on again in the mornign so its toasty when I get home from work.

Does that mean you too can hear a difference mate? only reason I ask is you dont do cables either.

I dont get involved in the cable threads for the simple reason that I dont claim that theres isnt a difference just that I cant hear one, I'm not clever enough to know the physics behind it all just that I canna hear owt!

[Miller-8]

I turn mine off at night too. Why waste 8 hours worth of electricity?

[rabski]

Mine's off night and day when I'm out grafting. Not inrequently, it stays off for a few days at a time. Absolutely like night and day when it's warmed up a bit. Immediately after switch-on, it's harsh, brittle and has sod-all imaging. Half an hour later it's fine.

[Miller-8]

rabski wrote:

Mine's off night and day when I'm out grafting. Not inrequently, it stays off for a few days at a time. Absolutely like night and day when it's warmed up a bit. Immediately after switch-on, it's harsh, brittle and has sod-all imaging. Half an hour later it's fine.

Well exactly, doesnt take 3 days for something to warm up properly.

[opusover21]

I leave it all on at the weekend as its pretty much in constant use...30mins to an hour u sure can notice a difference....i never understood the "Naim" factor ...wait 2.5 years to burn in and you have to leave it on for 3 months after a weekend away...whats that all about..??!

I did for my sins borrow some Naim seperates over a weekend (few years ago) and the dealer used "it wasnt warmed up" as an excuse why i though it sounded flatter than a witches tit...lol

[Matt J]

My Nait 2 is a match for most things I've heard, each to their own.

Glad the classik is sounding better anyway as I hadnt heard it beforew as I bought it faulty, Linn serviced it and according to the invoice changed "faulty monolithics" whatever they are, will they need time to run in? the classik seems more pacey than the Naim kit I've had, almost seems TOO pacey to the point of the music sounding speeded up!!

[Professor Chaos]

Used to leave my gear on at all times, now I turn it off. It's really no big deal for me to wait half an hour for it to come back on song...not that I'm preaching.

Smokin' a big fatty speeds up the process big time

[mosfet]

Yes, I can hear a difference after around 20 minutes warm-up time. Leaving kit switched on is the best way of increasing the chance of failure (short of putting it in the oven on a low heat for half an hour every night). Heat is not good for electronics as it accelerates component ageing.

[hifiwigwam]

Matt J wrote:

HiFiWigWam wrote:

I have the common decency to turn my kit off at night. However, I turn it on again in the mornign so its toasty when I get home from work.

Does that mean you too can hear a difference mate? only reason I ask is you dont do cables either.

I dont get involved in the cable threads for the simple reason that I dont claim that theres isnt a difference just that I cant hear one, I'm not clever enough to know the physics behind it all just that I canna hear owt!

I have no idea if the difference is real or percieved on this one, I have not bothered testing it. Firstly it would be very difficult to test and secondly as the foo sellers haven't got round to making expensive F1 style Amp warmers yet there seems little point..

But I certainly percieve a difference yes. The Cairn amps sound rough and "edgy" until they warm up. They sound great after about an hour. No idea what is behind it, if anything. Could be my head saying warm amp = warm sound.

[PAG]

I leave my cd player on all the time (valve based) and my amp sounds better after half an hour after switch on.

The biggest difference is the turntable, needs a couple of sides of the needle to warm up before it sings.

[notevenclose]

Matt J wrote:

No cable/mains arguments please, purely about whether you can hear a difference between warm/cold kit?

Personally I can. Which is strange as I cantÂ*hear any difference between good quality cheap cables and expensive ones.

This is the second time I've noticed a big difference between warm and cold stuff, I'm talking stone cold here not just switched off over night.

Depends on the kit. A Sugden Claas A amp dies on its arse (technical term) for up to 24 hours after being powered down for even a few minutes. Lavardin amp, on the other hand, is fully back on song within 30 minutes max.

Valves obviously move the goalposts again.

[Biscuit]

I have been finding that there are dramatic changes in the bass from my valve amp as things warm up

[Testure]

My old densen definitely prefered staying on, really grumpy when woken up

The current Marantz also needs a good 30mins before it's out of slumberville.

[epca]

I've foundthat Sugden A21a's tend to take awhile to warm up both physically and sonically; half an hour to an hour, though I've not experienced what notevenclose suggested, probably because I never leave it on long enough. At the rate it consumes leccy, I probably couldn't justfy it either!

Recently got hold of a Sonneteer Orton and had some correspondence with them. They suggested that the Orton needed about an hour before fully coming on song. The reasoning behind this was that the amp's internal bias needed that amount of time to adjust and steady, but that it would be rock steady after this. Not being particularly technical minded in the realm of electronics, perhaps someone could explain this?

Cheers

Ed

[Miller-8]

So the concensus seems to be switch off at night, switch on when you get home from work.