stupid tube question of the day

Another question: Any suggestions or guidelines on turning tube gear off when taking a listening break, and then back on again when the listening session resumes, if the break only lasts a couple of hours? The point of the question is predicated on the notion, perhaps wrong, that the process of turning tube gear off and an again -- by itself -- stresses and preliminarily ages tubes. Does the suggestion or recommendation change in the case of amplifier power tubes versus signal/audio tubes?? Thanks

"i run my tube amps 4 hours max. if i want to keep going, i turn them off for 30 minutes then back on.”

The seller of my premium tubes gave me very similar advise. I wish that I’d pressed for an explanation at the time, but I was suffering from sticker shock. Does anyone know?

I dug into the records and found that Alfred Kayser of KR Tube Products sold me my nos Mullards and advised me to not run the amp more than 4 hours at a time. That was over 3 years ago. Absolutely no issues with the tubes in that time. Also, the tubes I bought have almost doubled in price since then...

I believe turning the tubed device off for a short listening break (such as the few hours referenced) will not contribute to the overall life of the tubes. I think/believe it is better for the integrity (physically) of the tubes to remain at a relatively steady state and temperature versus cooling off and heating back up.

Additionally, with a lot of tube equipment that does not incorporate a soft-start type of approach for the tubes, it is my belief and understandinging that the turn on process is more wearing and a greater risk to the tubes than leaving them on for a mere few hours.

In such a case it would be my advice to leave the equipment running for a good portion of the day versus turning it off and back on. But please note that I am not a tube expert but have over the years owned some very good NOS tubes that I paid a fair amount of money for.

Ckoffend, your comment is consistent with my thoughts too. However, I am not an electronics techie, so I have no real basis for formulating a view, ergo why I asked the question.

There are a number of A'gon members who are heavily involved in tube based electronics. To be courteous, I will not mention names or their A'gon handles, but perhaps if they catch this thread, they will chime in with some recommendations and guidelines that are based on their considerable knowledge and experience.