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RE: The greater amount of power is consumed when the amps are full on

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In Reply to: RE: MA-1 standby and tube life posted by Ogh on August 18, 2023 at 05:01:55

When in Standby you'll find that they really don't run that hot either, even if in Standby all day. OTOH if you start up the amps from stone cold, wait 30 seconds and turn on the B+, you'll find that in a minute the tubes are far too hot to touch.

Personally I don't see much benefit to leaving the amps in Standby. If you're not playing them turn them off. If you warm them up in Standby for an hour, they will still need a bit of time to sound their best but it won't be as long is if you had started them stone cold.

So if you are planning a listening session in the evening, you might put them in Standby an hour or so before that. But I don't see it as worth it to have them sit there like that all day.

FWIW when in Standby the driver circuit is fully active. So you are putting time on the 6SN7 driver tubes.

Follow Ups:

RE: The greater amount of power is consumed when the amps are full on - Ogh 21:50:30 08/18/23 (3)
Thank you Ralph. This is much like I thought: standby times eats up driver tube life, but not much output tube life. Anyway I am changing my routine, or fixing it, so that I don't get distracted by this or that before finally sitting down to listen to some music. Which is a great experience, each day!
- RE: The greater amount of power is consumed when the amps are full on - pictureguy 22:38:03 08/18/23 (2)
  Since I do NOT know, I'm going to ask....
  
  What IF you wire a diode into the heater circuit so that the heater is on '1/2 wave' ? Then when you turn the amp on, the diode is bypassed and the rest of the amp works normally?
  Heaters run 'warm'? MIght extend lifetime? Again, I don't know.....
  
  I'm presuppsing AC heaters.......
  Too much is never enough
  - Other than drawing power, I don't think this would win you anything - Ralph 10:23:26 08/25/23 (0)
    Once the power tube has had its filament lit up for a minute, there's no benefit to additional warmup insofar as the cathode is concerned.
    
    The benefit of putting the amp in Standby for longer periods of time, from a sonic perspective, is the driver/voltage amplifier section of the amp warming up.
  - RE: The greater amount of power is consumed when the amps are full on - Ogh 23:14:57 08/18/23 (0)
    I have not measured the watt draw at Standby, vs On.
    I can testify that Ralph's advice to gently break in tubes by placing them for 72 hours on Standby only, is correct. My RCA NOS output and other NOS drivers have performed almost without flaws for several years.
    
    It doesn't look like a s-state. It doesn't behave like one. I just have to clean up my act. Maybe use a timer, to remind me: the amps are on standby, time to enjoy some music!

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