Me too! Seriously, I don't think I have my speakers 'perfectly' optimized for my room with regards to their location. Sometime when I'm half-way back to normal with regards to my right arm, I am going to post the dimensions of my room and where my speakers are located in relation to the walls and see if there is anything remotely approaching a consensus on where people think the speakers should be. I have previously taken a beating on my toe-in being not enough and I did change that and I'm happy with the results.
Me too! Seriously, I don't think I have my speakers 'perfectly' optimized for my room with regards to their location. Sometime when I'm half-way back to normal with regards to my right arm, I am going to post the dimensions of my room and where my speakers are located in relation to the walls and see if there is anything remotely approaching a consensus on where people think the speakers should be. I have previously taken a beating on my toe-in being not enough and I did change that and I'm happy with the results.
I always thought the Definitive Technologies were barely affected by toe-in. I attributed that to the fact that they're bi-polar, but maybe it was just the room. Glad it worked for you.
while i believe in warm-up, like a few hours, as far as strictly a technical, proven matter for many components that have devices that heat up, i certainly agree that wishful thinking is certainly an expectation bias. anyway we all approach things differently and marks happy again.
I don’t suffer from wishful thinking as an expectation bias. Something either cuts it or it doesn’t. I found it highly interesting that Bret who is certainly in a position to know about the peculiarities of the early Krell gear said it was going to take 3 days for the KRC-HR to open up. I didn’t see his post until the morning of the fourth day when I went on to post about how I was now happy with the KRC-HR after hearing it on the third day it had been powered up in my system. Day one and day two were making me want to put my KBL back in the system and wondering if I could get all of money back out of the KRC-HR.
I have no rational scientific argument for why it should take 3 days of being on continuously in order for the KRC-HR to ‘wake up’ and sound its best. If I had an expectation bias that I was just going to love this preamp and it was going to sound much better than the KBL and I was going to be blown away, I would have been telling you guys how much I loved the KRC-HR from day one. In fact, I said the opposite. I said I wasn’t feeling it and wanted to put the KBL back in the system. So much for expectation bias. I’m just glad I stuck it out for day three and it was amusing and reinforcing at the same time when I went to post what I heard on day three and saw Bret’s comments.
(...) I have no rational scientific argument for why it should take 3 days of being on continuously in order for the KRC-HR to ‘wake up’ and sound its best. (...)
As far as I know you also do not have any rational scientific argument for why it should take 2 hours before the KSA250 sounds good. However, as 2 hours seems more acceptable that 72 hours, we assume the power amplifier warmup more easily.
Why yes Tom, I do. The KRC-HR like the KBL was designed to be left on. Ditto for the Krell KPE Reference phono stage. They stay powered on 24/7. My Denon AVR which is in another room in my house has been powered on continuously since the day I bought it (many years ago) except for power outages. I typically never turn SS gear off even if has an on-off switch. Why? It sounds better to me.
The KSA-250 sucks too much juice at idle to leave it on 24/7. I turn it on at least two hours before I start listening. After I power the KSA-250 on, I hit the play button on the music server (and yes, the Mytek Stereo 192 DAC and my laptop server stays powered on 24/7 too) and l let the system warm up and the KSA-250 come up to its normal operating temperature.
I always thought the Definitive Technologies were barely affected by toe-in. I attributed that to the fact that they're bi-polar, but maybe it was just the room. Glad it worked for you.
As far as I know you also do not have any rational scientific argument for why it should take 2 hours before the KSA250 sounds good. However, as 2 hours seems more acceptable that 72 hours, we assume the power amplifier warmup more easily.
First of all, I never said the KSA-250 doesn't sound good as soon as your big fat thumb mashes the power button. The KSA-250 sounds better from a cold start than the KRC-HR does after two days of being constantly on. For me, I don't think the KSA-250 reaches its majestic glory until it has been on and played music at realistic levels for two hours. Do I think it sounds damn good as soon as you power it up? Yes, I do. Do I think it sounds better after playing music for a couple of hours? Yes, I do.
First of all, I never said the KSA-250 doesn't sound good as soon as your big fat thumb mashes the power button. The KSA-250 sounds better from a cold start than the KRC-HR does after two days of being constantly on. For me, I don't think the KSA-250 reaches its majestic glory until it has been on and played music at realistic levels for two hours. Do I think it sounds damn good as soon as you power it up? Yes, I do. Do I think it sounds better after playing music for a couple of hours? Yes, I do.
I was not addressing the specifics of warm up of each one of your Krells, our personnel perception of reasonable, good or excellent sound is not relevant fro the main point. My intention was just showing that there are sensitive differences between sound quality after long warm-up times, and no rationale can explain them. But when the time constant is very long we become more disturbed ...
I am happy that your appreciation of the Krells goes along my experience - our only divergence is that for me the best of the KSA-250 was its majestic glory (you really spot the perfect words) and without it is just one more good amplifier.
I was not addressing the specifics of warm up of each one of your Krells, our personnel perception of reasonable, good or excellent sound is not relevant fro the main point. My intention was just showing that there are sensitive differences between sound quality after long warm-up times, and no rationale can explain them. But when the time constant is very long we become more disturbed ...
I am happy that your appreciation of the Krells goes along my experience - our only divergence is that for me the best of the KSA-250 was its majestic glory (you really spot the perfect words) and without it is just one more good amplifier.
Glad his pre got its mojo back before he tore up his other arm with my now useless advice. LOL!!!
