stupid tube question of the day

Tubes are slowly wearing themselves out as soon as their powered up. The circuit design has a big influence on tube longevity and NOS tubes aren't getting any cheaper. No sense in taking a chance on leaving tube gear powered up other than an hour prior to a listening session & then should be turned off when your done.

When powered up, I would think that when tubes are driven by an audio signal as opposed to no signal at all would in fact reduce their life span, especially in tube amps. I have had very old tube gear that still works with their original tubes. Maybe low usage could of contributed to this or again it goes back to how the tube circuit is designed or maybe both.

Dgaylin, I would leave it on all day if you plan on listening again within three to four hours for the best possible sonics. If you turn it off before retiring to bed is the best route to go.

No matter what you do, tubes will eventually wear out and that is a fact of life. The most important thing is just be reasonable and enjoy the music. If you plan on listening to music on any given day, leave it on for that day. I believe too that cycling tube gear on and off several times during a day can be more harmful than good in regards to tube life. A case in point is that Audible Illusions believes this is true and design their tube preamps where the tubes are always lit even when the preamp is powered off. But now I'm just talking tube preamps only.