Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition - Page 193

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin w. 

 

that's at their maximum rated temperature, such as 85C or 105C.  as an estimate, the life will double for every 10C below this.  so if the capacitors are at 50C its going to be a lot longer.

Thank you Justin. I understand that I'll have lots of hours to enjoy my BHSE.

So 50C would be the average temperature for the capacitors of the BHSE? 

On another note, it is said that we should let solid amps on all the time to get the best out of them. I know that this is not something you don't want to do with an amp with tubes. But does the BHSE sound noticeably better after having been on for a certain number of hours, or is there no real difference after it has been on for 3 minutes or 3 hours?

Quote:

Originally Posted by satorarepotenet 

On another note, it is said that we should let solid amps on all the time to get the best out of them.

Who says that? What a total load of tosh. Not to mention a colossal waste of electricity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy 

 

Who says that? What a total load of tosh. Not to mention a colossal waste of electricity.

For the safety of the person who said that, I'll keep him anonymous!

Seriously, that is something I have read here and there, on this website and elsewhere. 

Are you sure you didn't read "we should let solid amps on all the time we are listening to them to get the best out of them"?  That would be a true statement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio_head 

Are you sure you didn't read "we should let solid amps on all the time we are listening to them to get the best out of them"?  That would be a true statement.

Well, I will perhaps surprise you, but I never listen to my amp anyway -- I find music more interesting... But I see your point. Thanks for the clarification.

There have been a few BHSE users that have reported the amp sounding it's best after an hour. My LL took about that amount of time to sound it's best as well. 

Burn in is never something I've believed in, but warm up? Absolutely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorbidToaster 

There have been a few BHSE users that have reported the amp sounding it's best after an hour. My LL took about that amount of time to sound it's best as well. 

 

Burn in is never something I've believed in, but warm up? Absolutely.

Thanks for the info.

With regard to the burn in question, I have to say that after a while I just felt that everything opened up with my new DAC. Some people suggested that it was me, not the machine. It is difficult to say what exactly opened up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorbidToaster 

There have been a few BHSE users that have reported the amp sounding it's best after an hour. My LL took about that amount of time to sound it's best as well. 

 

Burn in is never something I've believed in, but warm up? Absolutely.

Warm-up =/= on 24/7.

I would love to see some proper temperature figures from amps as they warm up. I'd bet the temperature stabilises FAR earlier than the music supposedly sounds best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy 

I would love to see some proper temperature figures from amps as they warm up. I'd bet the temperature stabilises FAR earlier than the music supposedly sounds best.

First things first the power cord hasn’t been discredited yet.

Should go to the Sound Science thread for verification.......

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefy 

 

Warm-up =/= on 24/7.

 

I would love to see some proper temperature figures from amps as they warm up. I'd bet the temperature stabilises FAR earlier than the music supposedly sounds best.

Here's an example of two opamps warming up on a small board, dissipating a total of 1 w:

I'm assuming that there's a difference when using tubes, but most of the warmup will still happen in the first few minutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jigster 

The back right mullard has started to go so I have 2 matched pairs on standby which I intend to switch out.

Have a dumb question, not very good at phrasing it so hopefully someone can understand what I'm asking..

 

How are the tubes arranged for 2 matched pairs?

A matched pair in front and a matched pair at the back?

Or, matched pairs on either side of the amp; ie, one pair on the left and another on the right?

 

Thanks in advance.

Hello jigster

The best thing to do is to buy quad-matched tubes! Such four-tube combinations exist for the popular EL34 (I suppose that you talk about the BHSE?)

The enclosure of my BHSE takes well over 1 hour to get to max temperature - I've not paid that much attention to it, but somewhere between 3-5 hours is about right.

It's probable that the individual parts inside reach their max temperature well before the outside case does.

The tubes of my BHSE also take well over 1 hour to fully "stabalise", i.e.when the 4 measurable bias voltage differences stop reducing. They are certainly still changing after 2 hours, at a gradually slower rate.

I've no idea if either of above are factors in some reports that the BHSE sounds better after 4 hours.

It's "common knowledge", within the mainstream high end community, that some components take days to sound their best. Which is why many people leave their low powered SS components on all the time. And some components don't even have an on/off switch. Whether the same thing happens to hot running gear is a moot point, because it's plain daft to leave a Class A tubed amp running 24/7.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAttorney 

It's "common knowledge", within the mainstream high end community, that some components take days to sound their best. Which is why many people leave their low powered SS components on all the time. And some components don't even have an on/off switch.

*snicker* Asking for some kind of ABX or double blind test wouldn't do me much good against the weight of "common knowledge" would it?