Two things about tubes


Hi guys,
Another post to learn before to spend my money.
Do the tubes gear need a pre-heat time before starting to listening to ???
Do the tubes are noise and able to produce enough audible noise between songs ??
Thanks for your time in educating me.
Jorge
dvjorge
I have a Jolida integrated 502BRC and it's absolutely quiet even with my ear up to the mid and tweeter and volume at 90% with no signal. (spkrs 93 db eff.)
Jorge, reasonable questions, but don't worry so much. Yes, tubes sound better after they warm up and settle down for a half hour or so, but they work fine after about 30 seconds, and it will not harm them. Some gear has a "soft turn-on circuit" which brings them up gradually, which extends tube life, but if it doesn't have this circuitry, they are good to go quickly. Yes, chinese tubes tend to be not quite as quiet as expensive NOS, but they will still be adequate, unless you have astounding gear or very sensitive ears. New tubes seem to be improving in some cases, Shuguang Golden Treasure, Psvanne, and Genelex Gold Lion remakes are pretty good tubes. Yes, there can be a little hiss between songs if the volume is very high and your room is extremely quiet, but most people are not bothered by it. People who are bothered too much by "tube rush" get solid state gear and tolerate a different set of limitations. This may be an oversimplification, but it tends to matter most if you listen to classical symphonic music a lot, which has huge dynamics (so you may notice the hiss during very quiet passages.) If you listen mostly to rock and pop, you will rarely be bothered by tube noise. You do have to match the preamp and amp, as a mismatch can exacerbate the tube noise issue. To some extent, more expensive gear may be quieter, but that is not necessarily because of the tubes. Some of this stuff, all you can do is try it, and gradually, you will refine your own preferences.
Hello all,

Just wanted to add that I find solid-state to take a heck of a lot longer than tubes to sound their best. I'm a happy owner of BAT tube gear and with good tubes they are indeed dead quite.

best,
Tom
Q1 Yes, and a bit longer for SS (unless you leave it on all
the time)

Q2. Not an issue unless you have a bad tube. In a phono
stage you would need tubes measured for being especially
quiet, but most tubes would sound fine. I have never heard
tube rush from the seating position.

Not sure either issue would be a reason not to buy a tube
preamp or amp; and there are a lot of reasons to do so with
tube-friendly speakers (tube amps do not work well with all
speakers, speakers that need SS high current to drive their
impedance swings and dips to 4ohms and below -- not an issue
with tube preamps, though some tube preamps don't match well
with low input impedance SS amps ).