Warming up equipment


Just looking for a little guidance. I am the proud owner of a dream come true, a Pass X250.8. (The bank is sharing this dream too)  I was told by the seller, Reno Hi-Fi,Mark, that the proper sequence of operation, is the following:  Upon turning your system on, the AMP should be last to be activated, and the first to be turned off.  

My question is: Is it OK,  just to turn the AMP on for a couple of hours, and nothing else prior to listening, and then activating  pre amp, Dac, CD transport, etc when actually ready to start listening?  Or better to start everything in proper sequence 2 hrs earlier, and just leave on until ready. Thanks        Robert TN   Afraid of any surge possibilities!!!!

robshaw

Mark Reno HiFi is right. I generally turn on my system in sequence from the upstream to downstream: streamer, DAC, preamp, and amp, and then the reverse order to turn off: amp, premap, DAC, streamer.  I let the sytem play at the lowest volume to warm up the entire system.

Thank you all for your input. That's why this forum is so great. As a novice, that just likes to listen to GOOD music, I depend on everyone for guidance, and have never felt belittled for asking. Thanks,   Robert TN

mbmi is also totally correct on speakers.

Especially if you’ve modded your crossover with large Polypropylene caps instead of the small electrolytic caps.   Not to mention the large flat copper air core inductors.  These all come into play. 
My DAC, tube preamp, tube phono stage never turn off.  Unless I’m away from home on vacation.  Everything in my system has either been excessively custom over-built or modded that it takes longer then many systems.  The tube amps are turned on a couple hours before my listening time playing music at low volume.  Even then the first 15-20 minutes of higher volume play are to exercise the drivers and finish fully charging the system (crossover caps, cables, etc).  But for those that don’t believe in that kind of thing, don’t worry about it. 

Personally, this is my protocol with an all solid state system. Always on: streamer, DAC, preamp (Pass XP22). Turn on when wanting to listen: amp (JC5).

 

If I want to critically listen, I try to turn the amp on in advance but to me I don't notice a significant increase in sound quality with the amp cold or warm. Certainly nothing to warrant leaving it on 24/7. I only turn everything off when I'm out of town for extended periods, and the most noticeable component that needs warmup and time to sound its best is definitely the XP22.