Tube Preamps on 24 x 7

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Sailorboy

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Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« on: 23 May 2019, 05:46 am »
I do not currently own a tube preamp, but am considering owning one.
I am interested in how people operate their tube preamps, do you leave them on 24x7 or only power them on when listening to music?

What is the likely tube life if they are left on 24x7?

I leave my 100SE on all the time, and I find that the sound gets slightly richer with slightly deeper bass after a week of being left powered on.  I would like to do the same for a tube preamp but not sure if this is considered good practise.

Regards
Colin


cementhead

Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #1 on: 23 May 2019, 09:13 pm »
I used to leave everything on 24/7, but no more. I turn on the system about an hour before any serious listening and found that the sound does not improve much after that. Plus, the tube pre does get quite warm. Hope that helps.

jriggy

Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #2 on: 23 May 2019, 10:23 pm »
Yes, some solid state amps benefit from being on for a number of days. This is not usually the case with tubed preamps. Signal tubes should come to temp within 25mins or less and sound their best no more that 45mins. Generalities here...

Freo-1

Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #3 on: 23 May 2019, 10:37 pm »

Not a good idea to leave any tube gear on 24/7.  Tubes only have x amount of hours on them, so the advice to turn it on 10 to 20 minutes before any serious listening makes sense.


NEVER leave tube power amps on when there is no one around!  Power tubes are known to go (get cherry red) at any given time.  Leaving a tube amp on unattended when a power tube goes south can lead to amp damage.

Tyson

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  • Audio - It's all a big fake.
Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #4 on: 23 May 2019, 11:13 pm »
Tube amps and preamps generally run at high enough voltages that they warm up faster than SS amps/preamps. 

fado

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Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #5 on: 23 May 2019, 11:41 pm »
I have the Modwright LS 100 tube preamp and the Modwright KWA 150SE solid state amplifier. I have frequently read that leaving solid state components on 24/7 is not a problem - maybe even recommended. I could leave the KWA 150SE on all the time and shut off the tube preamp but how does that work with the normal recommendation to power-on source components first and the amplifier last and power-off the amplifier first before powering-off other components?

cheech

Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #6 on: 24 May 2019, 01:19 pm »
I have the MW LS100 and KWA100SE, I don't leave either on 24/7, and switch on the equipment as noted above. That said, to me leaving the LS100 on 24/7 without listening is a needless waste of tube life , just let it warm up 15 -20 minutes before critical listening. I'll also add this, in addition to the MW gear in my main system I  rotate in 2 tube integrated amps a Line Magnetic LM 518IA and a Finale Audio 7189 MK2 - each "variant" gets 2 weeks play then I rotate in one of the others ; I don't notice any dropoff in musicality using the equipment in this manner

modwright

Re: Tube Preamps on 24 x 7
« Reply #7 on: 29 May 2019, 06:46 pm »
Cheech, fully agreed! You will just waste tube life otherwise!