When does your system hit it's "sweet spot" after turn-on?

[marty]

Let's assume there's a point after you turn-on your system that everything "sings". Let's call that point "100%". How long does that take for your system? (We're not talking about break-in here, but the time for a fully broken in system to reach its peak after turn-on.) Even if you leave one or two components on (i.e. server, pre-amp, other?), how long would you say it takes to reach "100"?

In my case (I leave my server and pre-amp on but shut down my tube DAC, tube phono and SS power amps daily), there are generally about 3 ramp-ups and I reach "100" after about 45 min-1 hr. Of interest, before that point, there is generally a max volume I cannot exceed or listening quality is degraded. The first 3-5 minutes is worthless; 5-20 min allows more volume as the system becomes listenable; at 20 minutes the bass becomes coherent so volume increases now become fun, but the full monty (with commensurate final volume appropriate for the source material) isn't reached until 45min-hr or more.

Second question: what is the main culprit for this performance ramp-up? My guess is power amps (time to reach thermal stability?) but could it be speakers (drivers and crossover reaching optimal operating temperatures as well?). The floor is open....

 

[matakana]

Let's assume there's a point after you turn-on your system that everything "sings". Let's call that point "100%". How long does that take for your system? (We're not talking about break-in here, but the time for a fully broken in system to reach its peak after turn-on.) Even if you leave one or two components on (i.e. server, pre-amp, other?), how long would you say it takes to reach "100"?

In my case (I leave my server and pre-amp on but shut down my tube DAC, tube phono and SS power amps daily), there are generally about 3 ramp-ups and I reach "100" after about 45 min-1 hr. Of interest, before that point, there is generally a max volume I cannot exceed or listening quality is degraded. The first 3-5 minutes is worthless; 5-20 min allows more volume as the system becomes listenable; at 20 minutes the bass becomes coherent so volume increases now become fun, but the full monty (with commensurate final volume appropriate for the source material) isn't reached until 45min-hr or more.

Second question: what is the main culprit for this performance ramp-up? My guess is power amps (time to reach thermal stability?) but could it be speakers (drivers and crossover reaching optimal operating temperatures as well?). The floor is open....

Yes I pretty much concur with that, thats with all allnic tube amps and mostly vinyl only that Iam using,if I break for lunch ( an hour or so ) after listening for several hrs, and leaving everything still on,it takes a side of the lp to resume where I was before. i think this is the cartridge loosening off !

 

[Steve Williams]

Main culprits IMO are the capacitors requiring charging

 

[Mikem53]

I leave the line stage and DAC on all the time, My SS amp takes a good hour to sound good, but sounds best after a couple of hours.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Mine sounds pretty good right after start up .
May be it takes 30 min - hour for everything to settle

 

[dbeau]

Mine sounds pretty good right after start up .
May be it takes 30 min - hour for everything to settle

sonos always on, Berkeley preamp powered before dinner, with tube amps and RELs on at least a 1/2 hour before listening THEN very good (90+) is another 1 1/2 hours into session - 2 hours full 100%.
I s/b getting a Baltic 3 next week so that will effect this again

 

[Al M.]

Mine sounds pretty good right after start up .

Mine too. Peak sound on my system after 15-20 min? Not quite sure.

Only tube preamp and amp turned on, subwoofers are on auto turn-on (upon audio signal), digital is on all the time.

 

[HughP3]

Mine to, Gryphon class A amp needs about an hour. SS pre is class A and always on. I have just decided to leave Amp on too. Yeah it gets hot i dont care and evidently wont hurt it.

 

[Chop]

At least an hour for me, so I usually leave it on for all weekend Friday morning to Sunday evening. You might expect the valves to take a while but even the subs don't really free up until they have been on for an hour. At that point they definitely go down further.

 

[Robh3606]

I am running all solid state. My preamp is always on in a high power stand by mode so my amps are the drivers for any warm up. They seem to come up quickly sound fine only a short time after turn on say 5-10 minutes.

Rob

 

[BlueFox]

About 6-8 hours after turning on the amps it sounds great, and then leaving them on for 24 hours is optimum. In fact I will soon start listening after turning them on yesterday.

Also, other than the amps, the preamp and file player are always on, 24/7.

 

[jeff1225]

The second scotch.

 

[Salectric]

With my all-tube system and mostly playing LPs, the sound settles down after 20-30 minutes, it sounds even better after an hour or so, and it sounds fabulous (100%) after 6-8 hours.

There are several factors. First, the Furutech power products with NCF have to “warm up” which takes place in that first 20-30 minutes. The MC cartridge takes the same length of actual playing time to sound the way it should.

Beyond those factors, I have big BlackGate WKZ capacitors in nearly all of my equipment, and they are notorious for taking a long time to sound their best. I am guessing they are mostly responsible for the final leap forward in sound quality.

 

[ack]

Read up on biasing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biasing

The operating point of a device, also known as bias point, quiescent point, or Q-point, is the DC voltage or current at a specified terminal of an active device (a transistor or vacuum tube) with no input signal applied. A bias circuit is a portion of the device's circuit which supplies this steady current or voltage.

Overview​

In electronics, bias usually refers to a fixed DC voltage or current applied to a terminal of an electronic component such as a diode, transistor or vacuum tube in a circuit in which AC signals are also present, in order to establish proper operating conditions for the component. For example, a bias voltage is applied to a transistor in an electronic amplifier to allow the transistor to operate in a particular region of its transconductance curve. For vacuum tubes, a grid bias voltage is often applied to the grid electrodes for the same reason.

Importance in linear circuits​

Linear circuits involving transistors typically require specific DC voltages and currents for correct operation, which can be achieved using a biasing circuit. As an example of the need for careful biasing, consider a transistor amplifier. In linear amplifiers, a small input signal gives larger output signal without any change in shape (low distortion): the input signal causes the output signal to vary up and down about the Q-point in a manner strictly proportional to the input. However, because the relationship between input and output for a transistor is not linear across its full operating range, the transistor amplifier only approximates linear operation. For low distortion, the transistor must be biased so the output signal swing does not drive the transistor into a region of extremely nonlinear operation. For a bipolar junction transistor amplifier, this requirement means that the transistor must stay in the active mode, and avoid cut-off or saturation. The same requirement applies to a MOSFET amplifier, although the terminology differs a little: the MOSFET must stay in the active mode, and avoid cutoff or ohmic operation.

Bipolar junction transistors​

Main article: Bipolar transistor biasing

For bipolar junction transistors the bias point is chosen to keep the transistor operating in the active mode, using a variety of circuit techniques, establishing the Q-point DC voltage and current. A small signal is then applied on top of the bias. The Q-point is typically near the middle of the DC load line, so as to obtain the maximum available peak-to-peak signal amplitude without distortion due to clipping as the transistor reaches saturation or cut-off. The process of obtaining an appropriate DC collector current at a certain DC collector voltage by setting up the operating point is called biasing.

Vacuum tubes (thermionic valves)​

Grid bias is the DC voltage provided at the control grid of a vacuum tube relative to the cathode for the purpose of establishing the zero input signal or steady state operating condition of the tube.[1][2]

• In a typical Class A voltage amplifier, and class A and AB1 power stages of audio power amplifiers, the DC bias voltage is negative relative to the cathode potential. The instantaneous grid voltage (sum of DC bias and AC input signal) does not reach the point where grid current begins.

... etc...

Passive components like speakers may also need to warm up, including the voice coils and capacitors

 

[Ron Resnick]

The second scotch.

BIG +1!

 

[dan31]

I think Marty has it on thermal stability, especially SS amps. My Spectral stereo amp is ok after 10 minutes. About 45 minutes it is singing nicely.

 

[Testy Troll]

I leave my ModWright KWA-100SE Amp on 24/7.
My tube CD Player, Tube PreAmp and powered Subs are turned on/off daily.
It takes a couple of hours to reach "cruisin' temperature" with resulting optimum sound.

 

[Diasoft5]

This is not a nice topic for me. When I turn on the Vitus system, it sounds bad, after 3h it sounds tolerable, after 7h it sounds good. Only the next day you hear what you paid so much money for.

My ASR Emitter 2 sounds good after 30min and perfect after 1h.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Only the next day you hear what you paid so much money for.

At least you hear it in the end , if its that good it might be worth it.

 

[andromedaaudio]

I remember the old levinson gear needed a long time .
Id say my old levinson dac needs about 12 - 24 hours on the juice .