Do I turn off my tubed components during burn-in?

What's the rush? I do not leave ANY of the electronic components on all the time. One hour is enough for any of the components to warm-up, and in time your gear will "brake-in," if there is a such a thing?! Take your time, enjoy the music and forget about ELECTRONICS!

Hello Meech. Just turning on your preamp is simply a waste of electricity if you want to run in your vacuum tubes. Your preamp uses small signal tubes that traditionally have a life expectancy of 3000-4000 hours[that is years of listening time]. If you want to run in the tubes ahead of time,you must have a modulated frequency present at the tube.Hook up a cd player and play a cd in "repeat mode" through the preamp.Traditionally,new tubes "settle in" and open up after around 20 hours or so. Not just vacuum tubes,most vacuum tube circuits will need some rum in time and usually sound much better after 100 or more hours on the transformers,capacitors etc.I believe your preamp uses the 12at7 for gain and will probably be supplied with chineese tubes[ mediocre at best]You may want to search out a NOS pair of Mullards,Amperex or Telefunken's to replace them with. All the best with your system. PS. I haven't turned my preamp off in 18 years!

To Ecclectic genius: WHICH (there is couple of dozen on your list) pre-amp you DIDN't turn off? All of them? Are they still on?

One hour for warm-up is fine for the tubes themselves, but I've had some components that most certainly do sound better when left on all the time. The Pass Labs Aleph 5 amplifier I owned got better sounding after one or two days of warm-up, but I'm relying on my aural memory to make that judgement. Seems like the Class A stuff does better when it is left on longer, and I'm guessing it has more to do with the SS components, and the non-glass parts of tube gear. Someone tell me if I'm nuts here, or is there something to that. Yep those small signal tubes last about a year if left on all the time, but that will also depend on what pre-amp, which tubes, and how hard you drive your system when you do play it. My buddy tells me his Audible Illusions consumes 6922's pretty quick and the good ones are rather pricey, especially for a matched quad. Also, if you have a class A preamp with a larger transformer your electric bill will certainly reflect your decision to leave the pre on 24/7. I'm not familiar with the Dared. Definitely get rid of those Chinese tubes and get something better. Along with the list above, add to that GEC 12AT7's which are among the very finest out there but harder to find (this is definitely a shameless plug for the fact that I have a minty pair for sale right currently on A'gon). Seriously those are a great choice in that tube type as well. The others were also good reccomendations.

Marco