In your own experience at what point (# of hours playing) do you get maximum sound quality from your tube gear? Does the sound also deteriorate after several hours?
I have come to agree with Elizabeth, I leave my ss amp and tube pre/phono on 24/7 for best sound. Most of my tubes have lasted for years with no problems and the pay-off is a consistently good sound.
It's common in all higher end gear, and some can take quite a bit longer. Had a McIntosh C2300 tube preamp that took over 3 hours to really sound right. Some folks will leave their stuff on 24/7. Transistors are usually a bit faster to warm up, but not always. I've heard stories about early Krell amps that needed 4 or 5 hours of warm-up.
My ATC integrated is SS and like the other posters, I think it sounds better after about an hour. I read it explained somewhere that this is because the final factory biasing is done after bench output testing, when the amp is hot. Don't know if it's true, but it was one of the more plausible explanations for the effect that I've read.
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