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Tube Burn-In

50.134.28.186
Posted on June 26, 2015 at 19:47:01
Devils Advocate
 I bought a used Cary CAD-300sei on Audiogon about a week ago (got a smoking deal) and at the same time also purchased a full set of 300B & 6SN7 tubes from Sophia Electric.

Question, is there an advantage to playing music through the unit while the tubes are burning in? What I've done is hook up a CDP, put it on repeat and let it play all day long.

I'm wondering if it would be just as effective to simply turn on the amplifier without a source hooked up.

I'll say it has been interesting to listen to the changes in the tubes at the end of each day.

So far I'm very impressed with the Cary, makes a great headphone amp too.

 

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RE: Tube Burn-In, posted on June 26, 2015 at 21:09:04
Tre'
Industry Professional

Posts: 17294
Location: So. Cal.
Joined: February 9, 2002
 Don't worry about tube burn in.

Just use them normally and enjoy.

Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"

 

RE: Tube Burn-In, posted on June 27, 2015 at 22:35:07
Paul Joppa
Industry Professional

Posts: 7295
Location: Seattle, WA
Joined: April 23, 2001
 In many cases, new tubes (and sometimes old stock that has sat around for decades) have imperfectly "formed" cathodes, whose emission is low. Usually they will fix themselves with some tens of hours of current flowing. This is in fact how they are "formed" at the factory. No music need be involved.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only burn-in effect for tubes. Other things such as capacitors and transformers seem to have other break-in mechanisms that do want a signal voltage or current of some sort.

 

My advice..., posted on June 28, 2015 at 09:06:19
onemug
Audiophile

Posts: 1276
Location: So. California
Joined: April 19, 2003
 don't run the tubes 24/7 in an OCD effort to speed up the process.

do run them for a few hours (3-5), turn the amp off/let the tubes cool for an hour or so, turn back on for a few hours. aka, rinses/lather/repeat :)

IMO, the heat/cool effect for new/NOS tubes will result in "better" tubes. Read up a little on "tempering" metal.

 

RE: Tube Burn-In, posted on June 28, 2015 at 19:20:16
Devils Advocate
 thanks guys for the advice.

DA

 

RE: Tube Burn-In, posted on June 28, 2015 at 19:57:17
drlowmu
Manufacturer

Posts: 9730
Location: East of Kansas City
Joined: January 10, 2005
 IMHO, those sonic differences you actually heard were NOT necessarily limited to the tubes " breaking in ", but rather, the whole amp circuit, every part, was breaking in, being left on and playing music for hours or days at a time. Think about that for a moment.

Jeff Medwin

 

Exactly what Emissions Lab recommends, posted on July 2, 2015 at 10:07:12
Balle Clorin
Audiophile

Posts: 781
Joined: July 30, 2003
 EM 300 B. No more than 4 hours continous play and shut for minimum 1 hours. This is for the first 100 hours burn in. This will form a better cathode.

Wast of tubes to let tham burn contiously without enjoying music.

Best regards
Balle

 

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