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rule of thumb: how long do you leave a tube preamp on versus turning it off then back on?

I just upgraded to an Audio Research REF 10 with 12 tubes and I am wondering how to best preserve the tubes. How long sitting turned on is equal to the wear and tear of turning it off then on again? I had a Rogue RP 7 with just four tubes so I didn't worry about this issue so much, I just turned it on when I began to listen then off at the end of the evening. Now I'm wondering where the sweet spot is? Away for a hour, two, three, turn it off when? Am I over-thinking this issue?
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Showing 3 responses by jjss49

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jjss49
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Best not to leave powered up tube gear unattended


important advice, to be heeded, by @noromance -- better safe than sorry - even for preamps, i have seen tube rectifiers go up in smoke
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jjss49
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30 min turn on for me, prior to listening intently
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jjss49
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... When I am done with my listening session, I turn it off, pre amp first, then the power amp. When starting it up, I reverse that sequence and first turn on the amp. Then the pre amp ... and am careful to make sure the same start-up and shut-down sequence is consistently followed.
The best practice is to do just the opposite. If you turn on your preamp first, any noise it might send to the amplifier won't matter, because the amp is turned off. Otherwise, the amp could amplify any turn-on transient. The same applies in reverse - if you power off your amplifier first, any transient that might occur when you turn off the preamp won't be amplified. I realize you're not having any problems in your system, but you might want to rethink your practice anyway.

i agree w cleeds... power amp on last, off first

it has the big power to hurt speakers connected to it if there are any spurious transients introduced by other components turning on or off
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