Debate: Class D amps need 48 hours of warmup


Have you listened to your amps cold? Warm? Both ways?  What was your experience? I’ll hold my own observations to not bias the replies. 

Did you leave them off while on vacation and then come back to find they sounded hard and strident? 

erik_squires

OK, guys, I know this is sounds like a weird question, but lets’ not attack the replies, or even the author, until we’ve seen informed replies.  This kind of judgementalism is really not what I was looking for when I posted. 

Not an attack at all, maybe to the manufacturers if they create an amp with a 48 hour warm up time to sound good. 

I have heard from dealers that they can hear a difference in the sound of amplifiers that had been powered off when the store was closed for a few days and that they return to optimal after 48hrs.  

This begs the question- how does optimal compare to our usual "startup" period when it starts to sound  good?  My amp and system sounds great after 20 to 45 minutes or so- whether tube, class AB or Class D.  I am completely satisfied with the sound after that. 

Since I have never left electronics on longer than 12 hours or so- I do not and probably will not ever experience a 48 hour warmup.  Is the original question 48 hours to sound good? 

 

I have owned a variety of pretty good amps in Class A, Class AB, and Class D, but not tubed amps except for Lamm's hybrid M1.2 Reference (one tube each).  Of the amps I enjoyed having in my system, they all sounded pretty good within a few minutes of powering up and good enough that warmup was never a consideration after they had been playing music for about 30 minutes.  If I couldn't ignore the gear and enjoy the music after 30 minutes, I would question whether I actually liked the sound of the amps in the first place.

When I had Class D amps, and with my current my Class AB amps, I rarely turn them off except for thunderstorms, vacations, and long weekends away from home.  I did turn off my Clayton M300 Class A monos most days, and those are the amps I owned that probably benefitted most from warmup but still, 30 minutes or less and I wasn't thinking about warmup.

Interesting. I literally just powered up my Class D’s mono blocks after turning them off on Thursday. (Was gone all weekend) And usually never turn them off.

I notice no difference  

 

My Marantz PM10 stays on 24/7.  Although I can't say it sounded any different when it was first turned on after being off and unplugged for the best part of 6 months when we first arrived at our second home.  It just sounds good even in comparison to my much more expensive Class A tube main system.