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All:I have been reading about the requirements for tube warm-up, burn-in, etc. What warm-up would you customarily give before running tube power-amps? Also, what sort of fire hazard is involved in leaving tubes on for an extended period? (I sometimes leave the solid state stuff on when not home, can I do this with tubes?)
If my spouse were to flip on the tube amps and immediately start blasting HT or stereo music, could she destroy my speakers?
I am eagerly expecting a pair of Wave 8's, which represent my first foray into the tube world. Any wisdom is appreciated.
Follow Ups:
I notice a definite improvement in sound quality (more open, airy and smooth) after around thirty or forty minutes of tube warm-up. I also believe that your new amps will sound much better after at least fifty hours of break-in, so be patient with them.
I can't wait to experience the tube sound that is almost universally praised!
But do you have a tube preamp? This is where the tube sound is ultimately formed. The Wave 8s are class B amplifiers so don't expect the world. My dealer was quite impressed with them though and you can't lose for the money...and they are neat looking and seem solidly built.
About 30 seconds to a minute is all the warm up usually needed. If the wife messes up, she will be rewarded with some nasty sound for a moment, but nothing will get hurt.Tubes are consumables, so leaving them on when you're not listening is a matter of burning dollars. A properly designed amp will pop a fuse if anything goes wrong, and a fuse is usuall plenty fast enough to keep anything bad from happening to a tube amp. Transistors have a reputation of comitting suicide in order to save the fuse!
Enjoy the music!
Peace.
Yup, its even one of Murphy's Laws: A $10 transistor will always blow before a 50 cent fuse, or something like that!
Tubes have a finite life; I would not leave them on when you are not home. If a tube happens to go into meltdown mode and you are listening, it is not a big deal to turn it off. When you are away and this happens you can ruin your transformers. Fire is a remote possibility.Teach your wife to wait 30 seconds before flipping the standby switch if your amp has one. You can’t hurt the amp by playing music anytime. When it is dead cold it may not sound the best, but it is not destructive.
Remember that everything used to be tubes from the 20's to the 60's and old radios were left on continually. Chances are that you have a very high voltage large vacuum tube in your house right now, your TV. Don't be too paranoid.
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