2. tech-talk
  3. 1336687316

To Power Down, or Not to Power Down

My pre-amp (Rogue Audio 99) and amp (Cary CAD-120S MkII) are both tubed. There are days when I will have a listening session for about an hour followed by a two or three hour break followed by another listening session (or two). If the next session will be within an hour or so I leave the system up, but I'm not sure what to do when the interval between sessions is longer. My questions are...Is it better for the equipment if the system is powered down between sessions that are more than 2 hours apart, or should the system be left up? Is there a detrimental effect on tube life by cycling power up/downs in this short a time period? I would prefer to power down for simple green reasons, but the cost of eight KT88's failing prematurely would be far greater than the increase in my electric bill. I would like to know what others in a similar situation do?
Jerry
jerroot

Showing 1 response by lacee

lacee
811 posts
 
I have 40 year old Acoustat servo tube amps that are constantly on, but the difference is that the tubes are in an idle state, not fully powered on.

This saves the tubes from the surge most other tube amps have to endure.

I don't see why this practise isn't more common in the tube community.
More to discover