Having had recent surgery and spending a lot of time at home, I was wondering how long a break from music do you feel you need to be taking before turning off your tube amplifier.I could leave it on all day even when not listening but that would be 12+hours/day.While my PrimaLuna Dialogue HP is gentle on tubes, the thought of retubing 8 KT150s is an expensive prospect.I usually turn the amplifier off if I am not going to listen for around 3 hours.What do other people do?
Always turn off tube amps when not in use or near future use. No reason to leave them on they voltage stabilize within mins and with the heaters warm up in 10 mins or less. really not worth the tube wear or power use if not going to be used in the near future. Tube amps have 100's of volts on the plates some are 1000v+ so really do you want that thing on all the time when your not home.
Also don't leave them on when no one is home not really that safe, I've seen tubes self destruct when they fail be nice to be home so you can turn the thing off so not to damage other parts of the amp, or burn your home down. you wouldn't leave your stove on when your not home would you?
I feel its irresponsible to leave equipment on all the time just to say oh I don't like to wait until it warms up. well the planet is warming up so take a few mins to plan ahead when we listen. Turn things on go get a drink hug your spouse your kids what ever then go relax and listen.
if your really savvy get a remote switch to turn them on when your on your way home.
Yes if I am listening to music and say turn the TV on to catch a show or game or something I will leave it on because I plan to listen after. Or in the case of a game during if it's not going well. :)
Since you are concerned with tube life then it seems what you really want to know is where is the break-even between leaving them on and turning them on. A lot of that depends on things like the way the tube circuit is designed. Only PrimaLuna knows that. Why not just call and ask them?
Mine are on most of the time. I was told it was start up that caused most issues and a larger percentage of tube wear? I have a tube DAC and Pre with SS amp.
Many tube amps have a stand-by mode in which the output tubes are off but the amp is still warm. My Cary amp have this. When I'm home and know I will be listening that day they stay in standby. When I leave the house or go to bed, everything gets turned off. I once saw my tube preamp go up in smoke while it was just idling.
I usually shut the amps off each time I am done listening. Whenever I leave them on thinking I am going to go back to listening, my day usually changes so I can't. If I turn them off, the odds of being able to listen more dramatically increases. And, these things get hot-- including heating up the room when you have 8 kt120's per amp x 2, a couple of m8080's and a 6922 in the preamp, and the Sophia's in the CD power supply. 24 tubes total when everything is on-- that's too much electricity to waste if it's not in use. And, finally, I have seen a tube fail-- right in my amp-- spectacular but scary. I want to be around if/when that happens.
Less than 2 hours and I leave it on with the cd player on repeat with the volume turned down a bit. When I'm ready to listen I just turn it back up and put a record on...
The most potential damage to your tubes is turning on your amp. The likelihood of a tube exploding and torching your house are tiny. Some amps will pop a fuse if a tube flares and some don’t. Bias type is most of the question there. I’d be more concerned with being electrocuted frankly. I would turn off after an hour or two of idle. But only once a day. No we regarding tube pre’s leave te=hem on in standby mode except when on vacation. They draw minimal power,the tubes last eons and they stay heated. But remember to pout in standby. Caps, etc go bad first from sitting and second from wear. If you are worried about tube replacement then you should, well...hey it’s part of maintenance. And I’ve been guilty of going out of town leaving a pair of monoblocks on—had to call a friend to go and turn them ooff for me. Fortunately he could get in through my garage with the code. Enjoy!
We have a Standby feature on our amps. It keeps them lit but no B+ on the power tubes (the driver however still has B+ as the 6SN7s have a much longer life). This helps the amp keep its warmed up quality, but no wear on the power tubes. But if I am away for much longer than that I just shut the amps off. If the amp has no standby feature I would just shut it off if you're only gone for 1-2 hours.
My pre (ARC Classic) sounds at it's best with tubes that have become almost unobtainium. There are no NOS Siemens & Halske 6922 Cca Grey Plates left in this world as far as I'm concerned. .. except maybe the couple hiding in my closet. Not listening for ten minutes, off it goes.
True for most amps , there is no really NOS stock and much of what is availiable is fake . When the power tubes on my little 30watt Cary go, thats the end of tubes for me .Guys say this and that 6550 is good but if you ever owned a quad of Sylvania from the 50's you know they ain't .
When an output tube blew in my Rogue Cronus Mag. II, a while back, I called Rogue to get advice and order a new set of KT-120s. Rick told me that I could expect to get about 2000 Hrs. from a set of the KT-120s and several thousand from the input tubes. Since I listen to my music for about 40 - 50 Hrs per week that would be a new set of tubes every year - even If I faithfully turn off at the end of every secession. Rick told me that there is no sonic advantage to a warm up of more than 10 or 15 minuets on that amp, so, in lieu of cost and headaches, I'm being a bit more mindful of shutting it down between listening sessions...Jim
I have new tubes I want to burn them in, what is the longest to leave them playing at a time?? How many hours should I burn them in?? woo Audio had an interesting answer, “don’t worry about it, and each time you listen to music it will sound better! jim G
I have a tube DAC and a tube pre both with some expensive NOS tubes. Those components go on for 10 minutes prior and off when I'm done listening......or when my girl gets frisky. Damn NOS is expensive.
My preamp and single ended amp both use 6SN7GTBs and my preferred NOS RCAs and Sylvania "chrome domes" aren't expensive at all (relatively). A NOS Amperex was supplied with my Dennis Had power amp and still sounds great after a couple of years. You can, of course, spend a lot on certain brands, but I won't.
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