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The sound is smoother and more liquid after my system has warmed up. The amps get nice and warm. After being at room temp for hours and then letting them warm to operating temperature, the bass, mids, and highs are not so etched and hard. This makes a huge difference when listening to digital.

My amp takes about 5 minutes to stablilize bias. Before that, it drifts in and out of "crossover notch" distortion.

Tubes.

The reason that some people think their equipment sounds better after being on for awhile is because your ears get used to listening to your system. This is the reason why experts say when you go to audition speakers at a store you should only listen to a set of speakers for about 20 seconds. Otherwise your ears can be tricked into thinking the speakers you are listening to sound better than they actually are.

temperature affects the biasing of the solid state circuits! in case of tube circuits, the filaments need to get warm before electrons emitted stabilize!

the later at night it is the better it sounds. My Bryston amp and pre-amp are left on all the time. I think it has to do with less RF at night, cooler temperatures, less electronic movement in the evening hours. this has occurred in California and Arizona.

Did we not just cover this topic a few months ago??

Well for some strange reason,even though it stays on all of the time, my Odyssey p[ower amp really opens up after about 30 minites of playing.

My Krell receiver, Wadia cd player and Acurus phono stage are always warm. Since they've all broken in, the sound has stabilized. I'm the one who needs to settle down.

All componebts are at their optimal operating temperature

No tubes, no warmup. Once the power supplies are charged, it's full speed ahead. It makes me feel a little sorry for the tube equipment owners, though it's probably a fun obsession. Waiting for your equipment to start warming the room, listening for the music to finally sound OK...

Your ears just have to adjust to the music after talking to other people.

I use all tube equipment. That is to say that I use a tube amp and preamp. You can bet your bottom dollar that I can hear an audibly superior difference because I leave the amp/preamp on 24/7 (unless I'm away on business or vacation). I live in California Edison country, and the bill . . .. Well, this isn't the time or place to discuss that issue. Suffice to say that my SOUND pays dividends to my ears because I leave my tubes on fire. (Wish I could do the same with my power bill)!!

I really don't know if it sounds better warmed up because it's never been turned off since I got it six months ago. The sales person said to leave it on all the time, so I did. So I really have no idea what it sounds like cold. What if it makes no difference. Imagine the headlines "Audiophiles Blamed for California's Energy Crisis."

Yes indeed. Without a doubt, the sound of my system improves once things heat up. I could speculate as to why, but I honestly don't know. What I do know is that each component improves significantly, once it has a chance to warm-up. Over the years, I have discovered that allowing time for a given component to warm-up is particular important for solid state equipment, more so then tube equipment. It has been my experience that solid state equipment takes far longer to truly "warm-up and settle in". Though tube components also benefit from warm-up. Some of my solid state pieces (specifically the digital pieces) have taken days to warm-up properly). On the other hand, my tube pieces warm-up time only takes anywhere from 25-40 minutes to reach optimum performance. My system consists of a combination of both tube and solid state. The amplifiers and preamp are tube, while the rest of the system is solid state. In order to deal with this warm-up issue, the solid state components remain on (I never turn them off). The tube components are routinely powered off at the end of each listening session. Upon arriving home from work and when planning to listen to music that evening, I will typically power up the tube components prior to dinner so that the system is ready when I am prepared to settle in and enjoy it.

All of my gear is constantly powered up, unless I am away from the house more than 3 days at a time. However, even with all equipment already on, I still believe I hear an opening up or relaxing of the sound (less mechanical and less "hot" sounding after about 3-4 minutes of playing music. So usually I will start a disc and do a simple chore before sitting down for serious or captivating listening.

Electronic circuits(especially amps)work better after a warm up period. The components have to reach a "thermal equilibrium," a steady state where they operate within the parameters they were designed to. Ask yourself: does your car perform perform at its optimum after the engine has been warmed up or not? Same principle applies here! Since I am an electronics professional, at work I keep all my test equipment on constantly and in the 16 years I have have been in the field, I have yet to witness a component blow up in smoke because of this practice. At home, the cost of energy is an issue, so most of the components are on stand-by, except the amps which I leave on all the time except when I am on vacation. Thermal stress (repeatedly cooling and heating electronic parts does shorten com[ponents' lifespans!

Because I believe!

Tubed based!..need I say more?"

I have a Pass Aleph 5 amplifier, which states in the manual that one hour of warmup time is required for optimal performance. Since it goes from room temperature to 150+ degrees, I'd say there's something to that theory.

Thermal stabilitation

This should be something every notices. It's pretty much a known fact among audiophiles that it takes their equipment to warm up a bit. The sound after 30 minutes of warm-up is all the proof I need.

I am guessing the tubes need tim to warm up and the capictors need time to charge.

My system sounds incredibly good after 10 PM EVERY time I play it.This occurs without fail but I have no idea why. This phenomenon is not related to warm-up, but it needs investigation, too!

Yes it`s true. But warm-up doesnt have to take so long. It takes about 15mins for the whole circuit to warm up but some people believe you must let it warm up for 120mins

If you just run in and fire it up, it sounds thin. Some components take longer for the circuits to stabilize so after some time(10 minutes? Hours?) everything settles in and the sound fills out.

It's probably the work of Satan. A good 2nd guess would be everything reaches optimum operating temperature and becomes thermally stable. Just like driving your car on a cold morning. You don't dash out into traffic until it's warmed up and ready to go.

caps,resitors,(tubes)stabilize when uniform operating temps are reached ??

Oh brother!

Yes, my system sounds better, why? Who knows, kind of like adding my high end power cord to my cdp, I can't figure why it sounds better, it just does.