2. amps-preamps
  3. 189904-78903

Leaving tube amps on.

This is a question I had for a long time. I know it’s not a good idea to leave tube amps on all the time because of tube life and safety reasons. But sometimes I don’t have the opportunity to listen to my system / music for hours at time at one sitting. Sometimes I can only listen to it 45 min - a few hours at a time during the day / night. So my question is would it be better to leave the amps on all day / evening and listen when I can or turn them on / off every time I listen even if is only  45 min at a clip. But to just clarify when I don’t intend to listen that day/ night they will be off. Does turning the amps on / off throughout the day / night do more harm than leaving them on ? Tube life , wear and tear on amps etc. btw I have the Audio Research Ref 750s. Ea amp has 18 KT150 , 6550WE , 6H30.  

tattooedtrackman

Showing 1 response by perkri

perkri
925 posts
 

@wolf_garcia 

Ha.

Love it! People can get a bit precious about tubes.

There was a time, when everything ran off tubes…

First thing I turn on when I wake up, is the system. Last thing I turn off, is the system. Listen before I leave for work, listen when I get home.

If I leave the house, I turn it off. If I’m going to be working on something around the house for anything over an hour, I turn it off. I listen to radio a lot…

I have a couple of systems here that I switch out (tube and SS pre amps, tube and SS power amps.) with different speakers. I tend to treat SS and Tubes the same.

Turn on if I’m there, turn off if I’m going away.

I have a friend who bought a SE EL34 amp off AliExpress. He never turned it off. It sat in a small area on a shelf, with poor ventilation. One speaker cable had come undone from the banana plug, so left channel was not connected to a speaker. Tubes were original and of very low quality. Nothing bad happened…

 

 

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