does your system "warm up" and then sound better?

I think Mechans meant its not a good idea to leave tube gear on 24/7. I have to agree. Tube gear, just like solid state, usually benefits from some warm up time before listening.

To the OP; leave everything on that you can. If you leave your CD player and preamp on all the time, you should notice a nice difference. I have a CD player that takes several days to sound right after its been powered off.

I leave my CDP on all the time. It draws little and never heats up. Same for my DVD player. My integrated gets too warm for my tastes if I leave it on for a day or so, so I only turn it on and try not to listen for about 30 minutes as I can really tell the difference as it warms up from a cold start.

A small sacrifice to pay to the audio gods and my patience.

All the best,
Nonoise

Yes. Speakers. They have bits that move. It's the moving bits that make noise by vibrating. We call this noise music. Vibrating bits vibrate differently at different temperatures. Different kinds of vibrating will make different kinds of noise. It's, like, science. You could call it, "warming up." It's not (just) in your head. Things just start to come together and cohere just so-ly after about an hour with every set of speakers I've ever met.

As for the electronic bits that just sit about and pass electrons, all passive and not moving like, folks'll tell you warming up matters. I leave mine on all the time 'cause it's easier than wondering why I've never heard any difference. But, been years since I've really turned any of it off, so what do I know.....

I also leave my stuff on all the time but it still sounds better after I play a CD or two.
Anyone want to take a stab at an explanation?

Rja. Me too. I leave my whole system on all the time. If you look out your window on a clear day and you see an electrical vortex well that is where I live. After about twenty minutes it sounds better to me. I often go back to the song first played after twenty minutes it sounds more like I like it than on the first play. Only my dog knows why.