Leave tube amps always on?

@1extreme 

@larryi 

Thx, super helpful explanation and information. A very knowledgeable forum. 

@hilde45 


Thats what I was thinking. How many electrical engineers with qualified expertise have actually weighed in here other than maybe atmas-sphere. 

@vinylfun

Sorry I dont know Kevin Deal. Is he an engineer ? What audio manufacturer  is he or / work for?

@tomic601
Wasn’t Einstein a physicist? They know a thing or two about energy and glass tubes. ;)

No matter the built-in protection, I take the point about gas filled tubes and fires and its enough convincing for me to shut it down every night or when we leave the house. Thanks for that gloriousunicorns :)

I guess it just comes down to some daily thought around when you may use your system throughout a normal 10 hour period in that day and plan accordingly 👌 So one follow up may be if I use my system on the weekends in the afternoon, take a few hours break and then again at night --- what say yee - on or off?

As a side matter, I have left my solid state amps always on 24/7 in my home theater room since 2011. And that was on the advice at the time of just about everyone on the theory that they draw very little power when idle and not being used and there is a bigger risk with the amp breaking down with constant switching on and off.

@avanti1960


That’s the conundrum. The NOS Mullard Tubes, all 8 of them in my 2 amps ( a quad per) are EF2 from the early 1960s, are almost impossible to find outside of LTA and prices are over $200 per tube if you do.  Even LTA acknowledges that unless they find another warehouse in Eastern Asia with 60 year old unopened boxes they will one day soon need to find a replacement tube for their zotl40 reference amp so I may not want to test Mark’s suggestion.

As the OP, I started this weekend - turning amp and preamp on Friday after work, leaving on, and will be turning off later today Sunday. During the week, will turn on and off normally.

Its probably in my head, but it sounds better today than the past two days. 

Berning is a physicist.  I'll try to fnd out the science. 

@audition_audio

Yes I thought I made that clear. Thats the suggestion from the designers themselves given the power surge in turning on and off multiple times. My healthy skepticism is questioning that. 

This is exactly why I'm seeking other input. Thank you.

I dont need any more convincing. Mr. Berning’s ZOTL preamp/amp technology is mind blowing performance, like nothing I’ve ever experienced sonically and I don’t want that burn out faster lol.

@1extreme

Hi thx for the reply. Do you have an inconsistency in your first paragraph? In the first instance you said tubes don’t consume excess power when turned on, then you follow up with the constant turning on/off shortens tube life. Arent those two statements binary? Anyway, what you said is exactly what the engineer who built the amps said-- "frequent on /off tends to reduce tube life so leave them on"! That has the added benefit of keeping them warmed up all the time.