Do Solid State stereo amps needs "warm up" time to sound good?

[reubensm]

I would like to make a maverick statement based on my personal experience - "the older the amp, the more the warm up time"

This is perhaps due to ageing caps.

 

[john_k_antony]

I would like to make a maverick statement based on my personal experience - "the older the amp, the more the warm up time"

This is perhaps due to ageing caps.

Hi Reuben,

My amp is quite old and bought it used. I too doubt an ageing or leaking cap as I am also hearing a distortion/humming sound when the amp is on and no signal is fed. Will be taking it to Shiva soon for a checkup .

Thanks,
John.

 

[john_k_antony]

I am glad that my setup (with active speakers) sounds absolutely same to my ears at 1st minute and 100th minute of playback. And I will most definitely change my system if it takes that long to sound 'nice'. For me, its like my car would not go beyond 60kmph till first 10 km of the day.

I did have a very detailed conversation with Prashant on the advantages of active speakers. He said Genelecs doesn't suffer any "break-in", "warm-up", "amp matching" etc etc. He was explaining how well they sounded out of the box and stay faithful with the right sound reproduction over years of usage.

I had something in my mind that tells me that Active is not the right speakers for me. I think I should change that and give a serious listen to some of the actives to see whether they suite my taste. One issue I found is that the good actives cost a bomb .

Santy, do you use a Preamp with your Genelecs ?

-John.

 

[kanwar]

I did have a very detailed conversation with Prashant on the advantages of active speakers. He said Genelecs doesn't suffer any "break-in", "warm-up", "amp matching" etc etc. He was explaining how well they sounded out of the box and stay faithful with the right sound reproduction over years of usage.

I had something in my mind that tells me that Active is not the right speakers for me. I think I should change that and give a serious listen to some of the actives to see whether they suite my taste. One issue I found is that the good actives cost a bomb .

-John.

Genelecs have special kind of internal amplifier which is one step ahead of conventional voltage feedback amplifiers, it has a current fed feedback also, which helps alot in mitigating this warm up time constant.

John , what exactly is bugging you against active speakers?

 

[john_k_antony]

Genelecs have special kind of internal amplifier which is one step ahead of conventional voltage feedback amplifiers, it has a current fed feedback also, which helps alot in mitigating this warm up time constant.

John , what exactly is bugging you against active speakers?

Hi Kanwar

I think may be its small size and I felt that a tiny amp in a smaller speaker box may not be good compared to a bigger amp with beefed up transformers . I also felt that the smaller actives may not fill my listening room of 375sft area.

I think I used live in a work of myths. Because I always felt in audio, Bigger the better, costlier the better. But I am slowly coming out all the myths as I hear more and more options.

Thanks,
John.

 

[ghatgepatil]

... maybe yet another aspect of the speakers to (have to) be made from wood. That's me! :indifferent14:

 

[kanwar]

Hi Kanwar

I think may be its small size and I felt that a tiny amp in a smaller speaker box may not be good compared to a bigger amp with beefed up transformers . I also felt that the smaller actives may not fill my listening room of 375sft area.

I think I used live in a work of myths. Because I always felt in audio, Bigger the better, costlier the better. But I am slowly coming out all the myths as I hear more and more options.

Thanks,
John.

... maybe yet another aspect of the speakers to (have to) be made from wood. That's me! :indifferent14:

Strange, you guys never heard about Active systems [not active speakers.]

 

[Santy]

Santy, do you use a Preamp with your Genelecs ?

I am using Emotiva UMC-200 for now as preamp which is pretty good.
Sometimes when I feel 'pure', I directly connect the DAC to the monitors (and use inbuilt volume).
Now saving up for a good DAC with preamp.

 

[john_k_antony]

Strange, you guys never heard about Active systems [not active speakers.]

Yes I have. I am going to listen to an Active system built by Shiva of AP. I think its 2 way and not 3 way. I have to check out.

-John.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Hi Kanwar

I think may be its small size and I felt that a tiny amp in a smaller speaker box may not be good compared to a bigger amp with beefed up transformers . I also felt that the smaller actives may not fill my listening room of 375sft area.

They do come in all sizes! Take a look at, eg, the Genelec site: there is some big stuff there, and I guess that's true for other pro-audio speaker makers too.

I think I used live in a work of myths. Because I always felt in audio, Bigger the better, costlier the better. But I am slowly coming out all the myths as I hear more and more options.

Ah, the myths, the myths.

Would you believe that one of the big myths that HiFiVision helped me to [almost ] get over is that more expensive is always better!

... maybe yet another aspect of the speakers to (have to) be made from wood. That's me! :indifferent14:

That's me too. Maybe a certain sacrilege, but I feel that speakers have to be lived with as furniture too, and I'm fond of a nice oak veneer

Well, I suspect that there are plenty of active speakers that do have wooden cabinets. As for the Genelecs, their beautiful curves make up for lack of wood any day!

On the burn-in thing, and manufacturers putting it in the manual... I was surprised to see advice printed on the box of my Cyrus amp that it needed to be played for twenty hours or so! I'm still not sure if I believe them.

On the question of whether the amp changes or the ears change, I think it is wrong to assume that the ears don't change. I have certainly experienced ear adjustment in live concerts, where I could see that nobody was near the mixer, but my ears sorted out the basically bad sound for me to enjoy the music.

Sorry for late reply: it was away, and only able to read the site having noted my password wrong.

 

[Nikhil]

John,

AP amps in particular do sound better after warming up. Not that the sound is bad while they are cold, they just open up nicely after they warm up. So yes, you are not the only one who experiences this.

About the Pass B1: Go for it. Tannoj brought in his B1 to my place some time back and it was killer. Works beautifully with my AP Power amp.

Hum in your setup: You have to check this methodically to see which component in your chain that could be causing the hum. If you are sure its the amp, take it to Siva to look up. If your amp is old then it might be a good idea to get it checked anyway. If Siva offers you the option then consider a capacitor upgrade.

My 0.02 ...

 

[john_k_antony]

John,

AP amps in particular do sound better after warming up. Not that the sound is bad while they are cold, they just open up nicely after they warm up. So yes, you are not the only one who experiences this.

About the Pass B1: Go for it. Tannoj brought in his B1 to my place some time back and it was killer. Works beautifully with my AP Power amp.

Hum in your setup: You have to check this methodically to see which component in your chain that could be causing the hum. If you are sure its the amp, take it to Siva to look up. If your amp is old then it might be a good idea to get it checked anyway. If Siva offers you the option then consider a capacitor upgrade.

My 0.02 ...

Nikhil,

Sorry for the late reply. I was struggling to get my CNC phono working with the Pass B1. Just got the issue resolved with the help from Sachin . Now I have a nice little DIY system - Pass B1 + CNC + 5 input selector + single power supply power all the above housed in a neat and cool looking cabinet .

Even I am blown away with the performance of that little Pass B1 pre.

It just oozes out all the details from my sources. I am really surprised how this happened as I am hearing more details when I do this setup : Oppo 105 -> Pass B1 -> AP NJ1 -> KEF iQ7 compared to directly connecting Oppo to AP NJ1. I know Pass B1 is very transparent and doesn't add anything to the music, so wondering how its oozing out more juice from my Oppo . What ever be it.. I am super excited.

I think my AP NJ1 needs a health check and might need some component replacement or an upgrade maybe . I am planning to take it to Shiva soon.

Thanks,
John.

 

[Nikhil]

Even I am blown away with the performance of that little Pass B1 pre.

It just oozes out all the details from my sources. I am really surprised how this happened as I am hearing more details when I do this setup : Oppo 105 -> Pass B1 -> AP NJ1 -> KEF iQ7 compared to directly connecting Oppo to AP NJ1. I know Pass B1 is very transparent and doesn't add anything to the music, so wondering how its oozing out more juice from my Oppo . What ever be it.. I am super excited.

I was more than stunned at what the B1 does. It seems to bring out the best even out of humble gear.
The genius of a Nelson Pass design - a buffer preamp doing some neat impedance matching.
As far as the AP gear goes - the sound is amazing!

 

[john_k_antony]

I was more than stunned at what the B1 does. It seems to bring out the best even out of humble gear.
The genius of a Nelson Pass design - a buffer preamp doing some neat impedance matching.
As far as the AP gear goes - the sound is amazing!

YES... a wonderful piece of equipment indeed.

 

[Deleted member 79034]

I am too experiencing the warm-up effect when playing my stereo setup which led to me searching for answers and stumbled on this thread.

Thought of reviving it instead of starting a new one.

my amp is Arcam A19 and there is quite a noticeable difference (improvement) in the SQ after the warm-up time.

I referred to other threads on multiple forums and couldnt get a conclusive answer and thought of asking Arcam if this actually holds true. But before that I thought of looking at their FAQ and found this from the horse's mouth ...

Should I leave my units powered on all the time?
Like all high quality hi-fi components, Arcam products will sound better once they have fully
warmed up. However we do not advise leaving the units fully powered up if they will be left
unattended for long periods of time, such as going away on holiday.​

The FAQ can be found here.. http://www.arcam.co.uk/ugc/tor/A18/FAQ's/amps_faq.pdf

This FAQ is for A18 model but I guess it should hold good for A19 as well.

so I think yes, there is a warm-up time for Solid State Amps.

And now that I look back at my review on Q Acoustics Concept 20 speakers where in i mentioned not so good experience during the start of auditioning and later it just improved, it seems there again after the warm-up the SQ improved and I was suspecting the quality of flac files and the same flacs now sound good to me.

 

[john_k_antony]

vtiwari,

So what is a typical warm up time for your A19 to start sounding good? For me, its anywhere between 30-45 mins.

-John.

 

[koushik]

It is very similar for my Quad too. It takes around 30 mins to warm up and sound its best. I generally leave it ON to get warmed up if I know there are some guests coming up to have a listen to my system.

 

[Deleted member 79034]

vtiwari,

So what is a typical warm up time for your A19 to start sounding good? For me, its anywhere between 30-45 mins.

-John.

John,

My A19 too needs around 30-40 mins to warm-up.
I turn on my amp as soon as I am back from office. By the time I am ready to listen the amp is ready to sing.