Here's an older but still relevant discussion/elucidation. In essence, minimize power cycles.
Leaving tube amps on.
This is a question I had for a long time. I know it’s not a good idea to leave tube amps on all the time because of tube life and safety reasons. But sometimes I don’t have the opportunity to listen to my system / music for hours at time at one sitting. Sometimes I can only listen to it 45 min - a few hours at a time during the day / night. So my question is would it be better to leave the amps on all day / evening and listen when I can or turn them on / off every time I listen even if is only 45 min at a clip. But to just clarify when I don’t intend to listen that day/ night they will be off. Does turning the amps on / off throughout the day / night do more harm than leaving them on ? Tube life , wear and tear on amps etc. btw I have the Audio Research Ref 750s. Ea amp has 18 KT150 , 6550WE , 6H30.
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@simao Ty. I just read it. |
As jea48 says, most decent tube gear has a soft start circuit or if tube rectified, rely on the rectifier to gently bring the power up. It makes sense, from an equipment/tube preservation standpoint to turn off tube gear when not using it. In particular, your MANY output tubes have a somewhat short lifespan when operating, and heat is not a friend for any of the other components in your gear (which is why their specification include lifetime estimations that are based on differing levels of heat). As for sound quality, it does take some time for gear to warm up; the good news with tube gear is that it warms up much more quickly than solid state gear and will sound pretty good after a few minutes. If I will not be listening for anything longer than 30 to 45 minutes, I will turn my gear off. |
I would leave them on, assuming that I’m in close proximity to the amps and able to react quickly if a tube event occurred. I had an ARC amp that took 45 minutes to warm up and for the sound to bloom and I’ve had that experience with several of the amps I’ve owned. If you’re having short listening sessions, and that’s just the norm and unavoidable, you should be listening to your system delivering peak performance and not hearing the sound of an amp going through a warmup cycle. Your only offset (aside from safety) is that you’re going to be replacing tubes at a higher rate hence you need to decide whether you can justify the extra cost, or not. If not, buy some good solid state amps. That would be my approach but I can also understand why some might disagree with it. |
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