Warming up your amplifier...

[drummerman]

read.

Incredibly sensible, my kind of expert. Not that it will convince the believers!

Chris

PS My system sounds exactly the same however long it switched on. My ears however hear things very differently depending on many factors like how tired I am and how much booze I have consumed. Late on Saturday night after an aperitif, a bottle of wine and with a glass of single malt in my hand everything sounds superb.

That article concerns speakers though some of it can perhaps be translated into other electronics.

As to speakers, the issue is probably more complex. Voice coils heat up changing response, Rubber/Foam surrounds change properties with use (and actually constantly deteriote) plus probably change properties slightly with differing environmental conditions. Paper diaphragms (or natural flax) can also change depending on humidity and Metal ones probably have variable properties depending on temperature (not that most of us play at sub zero or mid summer sahara temperature but folks living in high humidity and/or hot/cold places may well experience a different result from those living in medium condition environments.

It's all probably similar to cable changes ... subtle and undetectable over periods of time but perhaps noticeable in a direct comparison.

 

[davedotco]

Precision electronic components will measure slightly different with temperature, this is known.

Electronics are designed and measured at their normal operating temperatures so logically it is easy to understand why the sound of an amplifier (say) varies with temperature.

However, amplifiers use negative feedback, so the variations mentioned above should be cancelled out, so you should hear no difference. Take your pick.

In the same way that people consider 'silver' cables to be brighter than copper cables (they are not), amplifiers are described as sounding warmer when thet are, errr, warmed up. Suspicious that.

 

[drummerman]

Precision electronic components will measure slightly different with temperature, this is known.

Electronics are designed and measured at their normal operating temperatures so logically it is easy to understand why the sound of an amplifier (say) varies with temperature.

However, amplifiers use negative feedback, so the variations mentioned above should be cancelled out, so you should hear no difference. Take your pick.

In the same way that people consider 'silver' cables to be brighter than copper cables (they are not), amplifiers are described as sounding warmer when thet are, errr, warmed up. Suspicious that.

Interesting point that.

Taking that a little further, I often wondered why Arcam is usually described as 'warm' and cyrus as 'bright'.

How much of that has to do with lettering ... ?

I have always found the former, pre-ClassG, to be subjectively brighter with its strong, extended and clear frequencies only slightly offset by a somewhat big but loose bass. - I remember an Arcam demo of top separates at the Bristol show which set my teeth on edge.

 

[Covenanter]

I've never understood why people are so convinced that they can judge these things accurately with their ears. They seem to think that they always hear things exactly the same way whereas we know that people's perceptions change all the time dependent on many factors.

Whilst electronic circuits will operate differently as temperature changes, modern solid-state circuits are, as Dave says, governed by feedback circuitry which should make them largely temperature independent. It's actually more likely that hearing changes than the kit.

Chris

 

[davedotco]

I've never understood why people are so convinced that they can judge these things accurately with their ears. They seem to think that they always hear things exactly the same way whereas we know that people's perceptions change all the time dependent on many factors.

Whilst electronic circuits will operate differently as temperature changes, modern solid-state circuits are, as Dave says, governed by feedback circuitry which should make them largely temperature independent. It's actually more likely that hearing changes than the kit.

Chris

Despite the 'logical stance' taken in my ealier post, I remain convinced that hi-fi electronics sound better when warmed up. So much so that I leave as much of my kit powered up all the time as I can.

However I am still not sure why this is the case....*unknw*

 

[unhalfbricking]

The funny thing is I never noticed any 'warm-up factor' with my old NAD 3020 (with B&W DM110s), which I had for twenty years. Over the last two years of owning the Arcam, however, I have become convinced that the sound is just a tad beefier and more muscular when the amp has been on a while. Warming up the amp is not the sort of thing that would ever have occured to me and no one has ever suggested it, so it has definitely come from repeated listening experience over a period of time.

 

[Sonny]

And one is coming to the limit of the hobby if one thinks that about ss. Bit like speaker cable floor supports, oxygen free copper- clutching at straws.....

 

[Sonny]

And one is coming to the limit of the hobby if one thinks that about ss. Bit like speaker cable floor supports, oxygen free copper- clutching at straws.....

 

[Sonny]

And one is coming to the limit of the hobby if one thinks that about ss. Bit like speaker cable floor supports, oxygen free copper- clutching at straws.....

 

[NJB]

Bored, and so I have been looking through data sheets for some typical IC amplifiers. The footnotes on the spec sheets are interesting, with comments about voltage stability 'typical value after 30 days of operation' and 'average value after 1 hour of operation'. If the manufacturers are quoting such factors then it stands to reason that the circuits that use them are also likely to reflect this.

 

[MajorFubar]

And one is coming to the limit of the hobby if one thinks that about ss. Bit like speaker cable floor supports, oxygen free copper- clutching at straws.....

eh? Come again?

 

[chebby]

And one is coming to the limit of the hobby if one thinks that about ss. Bit like speaker cable floor supports, oxygen free copper- clutching at straws.....

eh? Come again?

He said it three times.

 

[MajorFubar]

Yeah and I didn't understand any of them.

 

[Vladimir]

Expecting solid state gear to behave like valves is as mad as cable elevators.