Tube Question - Do they need time to "Break In"


Other than a Preamp/Amp's given warm up time...do tubes need time to mature or settle in similar to a new speaker?
chadlesko

Showing 1 response by jea48

>>Thanks everyone for the response...I'm changing tubes for the first time...
02-07-09: Chadlesko<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Chadlesko,
New tubes do require burn-in time to reach their full sonic potential.

Here is an example. Read on page (3) what Cary has to say about burn-in time for tubes in a preamp of theirs.

Check out page (54), A Taste of Tubes

Quote from page 54:
"Their performance initially improves during the first few hundred hours, followed by an extended performance plateau region. Finally, after several thousand hours of use they slowly f-f-f-fade away."

Will you need to wait a hundred hours for your new tubes to sound really good? Probably not.... But they will take a hell of a lot longer than just an hour or so.
.