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I listen to my tube cd player and headphone amp about every other day or so. Would it be better to leave these "low power" drawing components on all the time? Any comments?
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That is a question that will never be answered to everyone's satisfaction. I would say that with transistor gear, the answer is 50/50. Less turn-on-off transients equal longer life, one side says. The other side says that the stress of being on all the time more than equals the stress's of the transients. I think it's a coin toss.However, when it comes to tubes, I think it takes on a new flavor. Forget about the caps, resistors, etc. Tubes do NOT get better with age, period. They usually have much less of a lifespan than transistors, much less those run in a class A mode. I would turn OFF those tubes when not using them.
Just my .02 cents
Gene
"They usually have much less of a lifespan than transistors" Strongly disagree. It depends how the circuit is designed. Tubes in many properly designed vintage gear still work perfectly after 10 years or more. Telefunken 12AX7, for example, were rated for 100,000 hours (That's 11 hours of continous use). Transmitter tubes in radio stations are left on all the time, and the world record I believe is 23 years before replacement.
Well, there has been lots of discussion of this in the past, so check the archives.With tubes, the biggest strain comes from cycling on/off, just like the greatest wear on a car's engine is at startup. For pieces with small signal tubes, the current draw at idle is insignificant, and in general, leaving most preamps and tubed CDP's on all the time should create less wear on the tubes, and of course, better sound.
BTW, I sold a preamp with NOS Mullard 12AT7's in it which had been on for 2 1/2 years - the tubes still tested new. My current preamp has Telefunken 12AU7's which have now been on 24/7 for a year & a half. Still test as they did new.
Amps are a different matter. Tube amps IMO should be turned off. Safety is the big issue here, and the tubes will simply get too hot.
"...Safety is an issue" in regards to leaving a tube amp running 24/7.What kind of amps are YOU running, that you have to worry about safety?
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