FolkFreak, I agree wholeheartedly! However, in my case, and hence the idea for this project, I have absolutely no idea how many hours are on my tubes. I know when I got them, so there is that, but now 3 years and 4 months later, is impossible for me to predict the hours.
I plan to use this hour counter as a guide. Manufacturers such as Audio Research were of the opinion that it was a good feature to include on their later products, and I believe all of the amps from the Ref 110 and on include this function.
I of course agree that hours alone are not the only way to judge a tube or decide if an entire set should be replaced, but for me, this will be another piece of data that will enter into the evaluation of the situation.
A bonus feature, one can determine how long they fire up their systems per month, and if it is too infrequent, they will have a motivation to step it up! Only 5 hours this month!? I need to make my quota! :-)
I plan to use this hour counter as a guide. Manufacturers such as Audio Research were of the opinion that it was a good feature to include on their later products, and I believe all of the amps from the Ref 110 and on include this function.
I of course agree that hours alone are not the only way to judge a tube or decide if an entire set should be replaced, but for me, this will be another piece of data that will enter into the evaluation of the situation.
A bonus feature, one can determine how long they fire up their systems per month, and if it is too infrequent, they will have a motivation to step it up! Only 5 hours this month!? I need to make my quota! :-)