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Best Way To Maximize Preamp Tube Life?

I would love to learn how to best maximize tube life. Tubes have a limited lifespan, of course. So when you're not listening for a time, is it best to shut everything off to preserve the "hours" left on the tube's life? OR does the act of powering off/on itself shorten tube length as well? If so, by how much? Something like "powering off/on costs 3 hrs of tube life, so taking a music break of less than 3 hours, better to just leave it powered on." Or 1 hr, or 10 minutes, 6 hours, etc? Where is the tradeoff point?

In my system FYI, I am running a Don Sachs preamp with 4 6SN7s and 1 6BY5 rectifier.  Don says the preamp is only running the tubes at 40% of their rating. I would greatly appreciate some input from people with tube knowledge. Thanks in advance!
sid-hoff-frenchman

Showing 1 response by audiodwebe

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audiodwebe
212 posts
 
I can't actualy think of a time tubes wore out, ever.  I've had tubes go bad, but it always happened to a single tube and not the set.  

If the tubes went from use, I would think they (same type/brand used as a pair or more) would burn out roughly the same the same timeframe.  And yet that's not been my experience.

So I'm not sure what the best method is for getting more life out of tubes.

I've turned the amp/pre on after work if I planned to listen in the evening and turn off at bedtime.  On the weekend, I'd turn everything on in the morning and shut off at bedtime, unless I was going to be gone for more than a few hours, in which case I'd shut off then turn back on upon my return.
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