Listening after your entire system was powered off cold for a week+

To clarify it more, last week with hot weather and unpredictable (brownout) power in our area, I intentionally unplugged my RG power conditioner and everything in the system fully unplugged. Not something I normally do, usually listening every 3 days or so.

Normally I can power up the system and in 60 minutes everything sounds fine. For whatever reason this week it took 4-5 hours (this time around) after being unplugged 7 days. Would plugged-in vs. not plugged and turned off matter.

Its an all-tube system, tube DAC, tube preamp, mono tube amps and not sure that matters. At 1hr vs. 4-5 hours this time around, sounded quite different.

My local (50+ year in vintage electronics tech) who does a lot of mod work once claimed it has more to do with my unit’s "transformation saturation - and once all transformers in each of these four units are nice and toasty is when the magic happens", according his school of thought. A capable person who builds some really nice sounding pieces, custom built and modified AudioNote amps for ref. Someone who is super particular about all of the transformers used in all his gear.

I had a particular dual mono solid state amp with dual Torroidal transformers like this, always took (at least) 4hrs of warm-up and play time for it to hit its optimum operating condition and THEN it would sound right. Sligther better with 24hr warmup. Similar to what some Pass Labs owners report, taking at least 24hrs of on-time for things to sound right. My current mono tube amps (huge transformers) takes 4-5hrs to achieve its final set point. Perhaps this is old regurgitated talk for daily listeners who leave gear on all of the time. Happy Listening in any case. 😉

Yep @terry9 I should know better to expect more from a dead cold system that’s been unplugged/off for a while. Had countless solid state and tube systems past 44 years for audio and do notice similar benefit on my HT as well.  Some of my former/better SS mosfet amps truly transformed after 4hrs power-on time, always.

I installed more elaborate caps in my DAC, preamp, and Amps. An audio tech buddy also thinks my particular ones may be a culprit when unpowered a week+.

Thanks for this last round of replies, you guys read my posts more closely. Thx.

@terry9 may be on to something. Narrowing it down, I now think its my DAC more than anything else in the system. Possibly amps too when dead cold.

• Last three days in a row, system sounded just fine after 1hr warmup - all left plugged in.
• At 3+ hours warmup I do notice a bit more 3-dimensional layering and sound coming from the sides and slightly behind me with this particular all-tube system. Big transformers in amps warm by then!

DAC:

My DAC is a NOS R2R Ladder design with a chip (not resistor type) and a TUBE in the circuit. At first I thought I had a failing tube or something, changed it to my spares. Nope, the prior tube was fine. Not the tube in the dac.

• For some reason if I completely unplug my whole system and everything sort of discharges for longer than a week, its clear I need more (2-4hr+) time for warmup the first re-engagement of the whole system from dead-cold.
• I accept the situation closer to what @terry9 shared above. Now re-learning again my particular DAC may benefit by turning it on for a bit sooner before listening, particularly if the DAC has been unplugged and off for a week+. Seems to benefit with earlier power-on time.  

Back to playing the system daily now. No issues, 1hr warm up is just fine.

Thanks for some of the more helpful replies here. ✅👍

@stringreen good to know. Perhaps I had developed a conservative pattern of not powering things up as soon as I use to with my all-tube system, including my tube DAC. Over time I guess I slowly fell away from the benefit and realization of what a nice and extra-warm and settled system can do. Duh, bang hand against forehead.

With outside temps cooling off I’ve started to let things run longer before listening. Listening now with 8hrs warmup of the entire system and its really nice. Loving the system all over again. Just kind of re-surprised my forgetful self, again :) 👍

Definitely the DAC, mostly. If I fire up the DAC all day long (at least 4-5hrs) before powering on the tube preamp and tube amps, sure makes a difference.

Tube preamp and tube amps do just fine after 1-2hrs warmup, as normal.

Mr. R2R NOS chip ladder DAC likes to be toasty to sound its best.  

@phusis "Having had the amps and music server turned off for more than a few days - like a week or two - can lend a stiffness, grayness and slight distance to the sound right after power up..." 

Thanks for sharing the background and the details below it about how it sounds when you’ve had it playing more aggressively. I’ve noticed something very similar over the years yet failed to mention this in the OP. Interesting in any case, 👍