Amplifier warm up

It's certainly been my experience that noisy AC lines are a culprit for variability in sonics along with warm up time.  With all my gear over the years 1 hr seems to do it for warm up benefits...more just doesn't help much for my ears.  But the time of day has huge sonic swings and compelled me to eventually get a PS Audio Power Regenerator.  It even measures the distortion coming into the unit and I can see it go from more than 4% THD during peak area usage periods down to 2% late at night or very early in the morning.  With the regenerator the output is consistently below 0.1% THD which has seriously enhanced my listening experience.  Plus it regulates the voltage to a consistent 120V....otherwise mine fluctuates 118-123V otherwise throughout the day.

Guys,
You need to get off the grid....check this out....better than $10K PS Audio:

http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0119/Goal_Zero_Yeti_400_Lithium_Portable_Power_Station_R...

You really don't need a Goal Zero with its fan noise.  You can buy low distortion sine wave inverters for a few hundred $ and a 100 amp hour battery or two and a big charger and run your system all day before needing to charge.  You can listen while charging but it won't sound as good.

As good as inverters are (completely off the grid and better sound than practically any line condiioner) they still make noise.  My friend is using the Puritan line filter after his 3000 watt inverter and it sounds even better and it isolates each component from each other.  Incredible sound....same sound day and night.

Cold vs hot makes no difference to my ears. But that's just my ears. They're not the finely tuned instruments possessed by true audiophiles.


My SS amp manual (Madrigal Proceed HPA 2) says to leave it on. I can't bring myself to do it. I'm hardly what anyone would call an environmentalist....more like a conservationist....but the bottom line is that even in standby mode that amp makes heat. A fair amount of it too. I have no idea what that translates into in terms of electricity usage but it cannot be negligible. And my music rooms tends to be a tad hot in the summer and a tad cool in the winter compared to the rest of the house. That last thing I want in a Carolina summer is more heat. So maybe I should leave it on in the winter.

I believe my AR LS16 tube pre-amp manual says to leave it on as well, in standby mode, but I do not remember and can't recall if it makes heat in standby mode. I would hope not.

@aeschwartz

It appears your A21+ amp is consuming 1-watt on StandBy mode, and its very possible you’ll hear a difference after 2+hrs of warmup-play, sure. I tested a smaller A23+ a few months back and it sounded better after 1-2hrs.

Most good ClassA solid state amps I’ve owned sounded pretty bad at 15-30 minutes from cold startup, and once the large transformers became warm and fully saturated, I could always hear notable changes at 1hr and 4+hrs. Some other well known Class-A amps notably improve after 8-24hrs warmup once everything becomes nice and toasty. I’m not sure I’d leave an ultra high-end Class-A SS amp on other than for weekends or long listening days.

With my current tube mono amps, 1hr of warmup is all that’s needed and the sound really does not change after 1hr. Varies some by amp type and design of course, type of transformers used, YMMV.

So if I’m using little fans to manage the temperature of my SS amp, does that mean it’s not warming up sufficiently to play at its fullest potential?