I have often wondered the same thing. If standby mode is really a "trickle" why are the tubes "glowing" in your SF? Looks like more than a trickle to me. I also wonder about the stress of turn on/off vs. standby, especially if the turn on/ off is via a soft-start type circuit. I must admit that I turn "off" my preamp rather than go to standby because I am scared, as you appear to be scared of tube life reduction, but do not have affirmative evidence that this is the case. Also, I am afraid that if a tube blows (for some reason) and no one is home, there is a rist of High voltage and speaker damage, fire, etc... I guess I feel better turning them off, althought guilty because sound quality is not as good- need longer warmup.