Time Is On My Side

by James Leahy

One of my biggest pet hates amongst unjustified complaints against valve based equipment is warm-up time. Yes, it is true that vacuum tube components when used in a Hi-Fi system do require a period of 'on-time' to sound their best but this is a small consideration when you consider how much more value they can potentially add to the listening experience. We are again only talking about a relatively short period of up to 30 minutes, but this can vary among different brands and can sometimes be much shorter in most cases. They will work instantly but I am talking about reaching maximum performance and extracting that last 1% out of your system. I typically switch my equipment on and listen after only about 10 minutes sometimes, (unless I am doing a critical equipment review) when I am pressed for time. It will do no harm to your equipment. If I was to wait for the best possible time to do everything in life I would get nothing done all day.

It has always amused me why so many people today demand everything to be instant and ready to roll immediately.... When you take the trouble to attend a live concert of your favourite group/artist just consider for a moment the time it takes to buy the tickets, travel to the venue, park your vehicle, find your seats and then finally wait for the show to begin after the support act is done.... This is far greater than the time it would take to sufficiently warm up your valve set to the correct operating temperature then sit down and enjoy your tunes. So is this short time frame really such a great issue?

But society today teaches us the exact opposite to waiting for things we want. You just have to turn on the TV or Radio to hear advertisers selling by spinning the following lines to the public; 'loose weight now', 'get rich quick', 'buy now - pay later', 'instant credit' or 'no deposit needed'! This is but a few of the ways society teaches us to wait for things we want. Not. Don't be one of them.