An audiophile who I respect warms his cartridges with a hair dryer before listening at ambient temps below 70F. In winter conditions of 65F in the listening room I sense that cartridges need 10-15 minutes in the grooves to wake up.
Stylus Warm-up Time
Do you prefer to warm up your stylus before listening i.e. by playing one side (or 2) of an "expendable" LP?
How long is considered acceptable warm up time?
Do you listen immediately or do you wait until the optimisation period is up?
Also what temperature range do you listen at? (My preference is 21-23 degrees C ambient although it doesn't mean I'll stop listening if it goes to 23.5 ;^)