Tube Preamps Should Have This Feature


So it's late or you just want some casual listening for a short time. "Should I fire up my tube pre for 30 minutes?". My answer is "No". Why not let me flip a switch (or push in the volume control) to put my pre into "bypass" mode? Bypass would, effectively, convert your pre into a passive device, keeping the tubes dark.

This sounds useful to me.

128x128dweller

@ghdprentice my preamp is space tech Lab qa112 and my DAC is also space tech Lab DA24/196, I'm using a separate power supply with the preamp called a super rectifier STR104 with two 3b22 rectifier tubes each rectifier tube has a 6amp heater current.

Thanks. Interesting. I had not heard of them. Lots of tubed equipment. They must use the tubes conservatively to get so much mileage out of them. Always good to see different audio companies.

Your speaker coils need the 20-30 minute warm up more than the tube amp or pre amp......According to Steve Deckert
 

Very interesting. Never heard of that before. And I am not saying this with any sarcasm.

Speaker coils? Hmmm...my Freya sounds great as soon as the tubes warm up and my Pass XA-25 takes maybe an hour or so but sounds so good immediately you sort of forget that. I wouldn’t think about that if Nelson hadn't mentioned it in the manual. I sometimes swap out the Pass for a Dennis Had Firebottle SEP tube amp that seems to sound great immediately, and If the speakers coils are cold you need a warmer room. Preheat ’em with a heat gun...knit them a cozy...a hug...some tea...insults...

I just hooked up my super tube rectifier to my space tech lab preamp. What a difference! It made everything sound a level smoother refined all of the same time. I was a little leery about the whole thing but it was definitely worth the $1100. Amazing. The part that concerns me is that I don’t believe in power cord or interconnects or speaker cables making a difference from what I’ve read the rectifiers are supposed to make a difference. Anybody out there explain to me what these super two rectifiers do that have such a positive  Influence on the Sound quality?