Tube life in preamp. Please help

02-25-15: Elevick
Czarivey-You are a bit paranoid, aren't you? Not too many amps will "burn in front of your eyes" unless you mess with them...
Paranoid is just definition and definition maybe just another form of bs. burning amp wasn't bs it was a fact.
Don't know if anyone messed with that, but it all started around just ONE failed power tube.

The one thing that no one has mentioned is the cost of keeping tube gear on all the time. I had an ARC SP9 at one time and it wasn't drawing that much power, but it together with a pair of ARC M100 monos and we're talking $20 to $30 a month in power usage. I also had one of the M100s catch fire in front of my eyes, but in all fairness the piece had been modified. As the years have gone by I have returned to solid state equipment for the reasons that first there is really no appreciable difference in the two technologies at the high end, and that I am more focused on the music than the equipment as I grow older.

Too right Brauser, all that happened to me as well !
I have a theory, most tube freaks never heard ,say, a quad of Sylvania 6550's from the 1950's in full cry, the junk output tubes available today make tubes a non-starter for me today.

My current "junk output tubes" are KT150s that sound astonishingly excellent, and if you leave tube gear on all the time...well...you get what you deserve.

The best tubes for the various SP-9's are rare NOS that go now for $75 and up, each. They are getting rare!

I have used all of the SP-9 models for years.

These tubes can last 5000 to 10000 Hours.

ARC can still repair, and refurbish, to original state, all the SP-9's.

I liked the original MKI and the MKIII best. I did not like the MKII.

Buy a lifetime supply of NOS tubes, and do not leave the preamp on for days, when not listening.

You will be set for a lifetime of good sound!