How long should amps/cd players take to warm up?

I am guessing this problem is more my CD player rahter than my amp.

When I start my HIFI from cold my CD player sounds bloody awful, it sounds tinny and the mid range is lacking, however when I come to back to it later it sounds fine.

It seems to take about an hour to warm in everyday and I would have thought this was extremely excessive. Any ideas?

 

As usual, it all depends...

I've never really noticed a big warm up period with pre amps but power or integrated amps can take as little as 15 mins (my Icon Stereo 40) to as lond as 6 hours (my McCormack DNA-225 - not really worth turning it off if it wasn't for the heat).

AS for CD players - I've never really noticed a great difference.

 

Yep, I'd agree, depends. The Densen integrated amp takes at least an hour, maybe two. I often just leave it on as a result. It doesn't sound dreadful straight off, but definitely improves with a couple of hours.

Had an Arcam Delta 60 before that and a Sansui AU 317 ii before that. The Arcam seemed to need an hour or so and the Sansui was up for it within 10 minutes.

Can't say about CDPs mind. The Rotel I have doesn't seem to have an issue and the only CDP I've ever had other than that was a nasty cheapy teac which sounded crap no matter what.

 

i leave my amp and cd player on all the time- uses minimal electricity and sounds much better

 

Seconded, especially power amps which can take an age to warm up, not an issue with valves though, which seem to warm up to optimal within half an hour.

 

It sounds ok on the turntbale but its mianly the cd you notice it on. Maybe its because CDs are not as warm so because the amp is not warmed up it makes the CD player sold a lot colder than it should be.

I normaly turn my amp on in the morning (I plug everything but my router out at night) go to university or work and its nicely warmed up however the last few days I've not been in university so I've not had time to warm it up.

Bloody capacitors.

 

Not nece-celery! My valve preamp arms up to perfectly usable within 10min, however after about 5hours it goes and sounds that slight bit better again. I turn it on in the morning and off at night.

My Alpha 9 CD takes an age to sound its best... over 24hours! Yeah it sounds good after 30min but at 24hours it jumps in performance again. I leave the CD on 24/7.

Active speakers.. 24/7 since I had them so I dunno how long they really take to sound good! hehe..

I only really do serious listening after about 7pm anyhoo so its all groovy.

Digital stuff has less obvious warm up differences, but they also take a lot longer to warm up.

All in my humble experience of course.

 

My EAR 834 (valve) pre-amp takes a couple of minutes, the Quads (solid state pre and power) and the CD player are ready instantly. And they sound just fine. Perhaps you folk should buy some :duck:

 

Ahh.. but perhaps you still need to let your ear-trumpet warm up

 

Different bits of kit vary largely.

I find that the S300 takes only a few minutes to warm up, but my previous two amps (Marantz PM66SE and Rotel RA-971mkII) took much longer.

 

Well the PM6010OSE shares a lot in common as the 66SE so probably is my amp that is causing this problem.

 

I've not noticed much of a change after a couple of hours.

 

It hangs on the oil heater permanently, so it's always ready for instant action.

 

Is not it interesting that:

a cold start = tinny, lacking sound

after warmup/heating = full bodied sound

These electron chappies seem to want warming up just like the rest of us. Just so that they can scurry around faster, and give us more of...whatever
And subsequently those electronic components are sensitive little buggers aren't they
Give 'em some wholly jumpers

Funny how there's no mention of knitted jumpers in Electronics 101

 

I dont leave anything turned on because it's bad for the enviroment. I really dont notice a big difference anyway when it was been on for a while, but anyway I think it's just a waste of power leaving things on.

 

There lies your problem Tone, permantly burnt eardrum

 

my cd player is on all the time. it seems to take days when it has been switched off (ie. i've been away) before it warms through thouroughly and sounds its best. the tube amps on the other hand, take about an hour to warm up and there is a marked improvement when they have. the whole sound seems to "bloom" i've noticed that it seems to have little to do with the tubes (when they're cold, the don't work. full stop.) they warm up in a matter of seconds/minutes, but it's the transformers that make all the difference. when they become quite hot to the touch (say 50C or so) the amp starts to sing. the preamp doesn't seem to take anywhere near as long or get anywhere near as hot.

 

Didn't I mention my special asbestos extension? The fibres are individually selected and hand-laid in a special polymeric matrix in which is dispersed ferrite granules and ground-up steel from a brand of equipment support that I couldn't possibly name. Oh, and yes, it is indeed painted green.

 

well, that told me!

 

must say that i leave my kit on all the time. to my ears it takes about 24 - 48 hours to come on song from over 30 minutes switch off.
cheers


julian