[jules]

If there's no replies to this one I guess it's good news 

The GK-1 has been around for a while now and many users might have logged up a goodly amount of listening time so can anyone report that their tubes have died yet?

The GK-1 is of course very kind to tubes on several counts so the average expected lifespan of the tubes we use, about 10,000, hours will probably be considerably extended in theory but, by in practice, how much?

jules

[AKSA]

Jolly good question, Jules!

Any takers, anyone?

Any tubes laid down their lives in service yet?

Cheers,

Hugh

[LM]

No Hugh,

But it does lead to some further theory questions. 

My GK1 at best estimate might have say 500 listening hours up.  Seemingly lots to go out of 10,000.

But wait.  As I understood it, valves are under most stress on start up and so to minimise this and I tend to leave the GK1 on say overnight on a weekend when I listen a number of times and keep it warmed up for later sessions.  If I'm not using it again that day, I usually turn it off.  That means it's on about say 40 hours a week on average or 2000 hours a year.  So does that mean only about 5 years of valve life?  Have I got it wrong or am I really doing the right thing by minimising start up loads?

[Rom]

Hi All,

Although I hardly used them lately, even my old trusty TLP is still kicking, considering they are one of the early ones concieved 2002, I think.

Cheers

[jules]

The topic's been raised before in speculative shape of course but I was wondering if practical experience was yielding any results.

LM ... maybe you'll gain 5,000 hrs on account of the very friendly nature of the GK-1 but then again, you could lose the 5,000 hrs you gain on the switching cycle in the extra time the amp is on 

Now if only someone had left their GK-1 on constantly for 3 years we'd have something to celebrate.

jules

PS I asked because I've been doing some experimental tube rolling [damn you kyrill  ] and some of the options are expensive and rapidly disappearing. It's been interesting and very  rewarding though.

[kyrill]

haha Jules

I have many tubes to roll, to make it worse even the same tubes dont sound very the same
 found a much cheaper tube than the CCA or 7308 with similar results

as soon as I have found inner equilibrium i post my results

I did not however experimented with new tubes, the NOS ones were alr expensive enough
But i declare again for the nth time:

all the differences in tube rolling were less or equal than from ordinary current switching to filtered current/balanced transformers and SignalCable digital power cable ( I am now experimenting with powercables and i am sooo surprised that you can hear tone end freq differences.)
I have a separate balanced transformer for each type of gear. SB3,  DEQX,  3x Burson audio buffer, Bass amp  GK-1, and mid + Tweet amp So 6x balanced transformers. I am now in the making of 8 Fekicia/Felix line filters, 2 extra for my HD1 projector and BluRay disk
I bought 16pcs  0.22uF Russian NOS teflon capacitors on Ebay. They have an aluminum house and are very big. But they sound so sweeet and transparent. I love them I am gonna use them for the felix and felicia's

[fos]

so what happens when tubes get towards their used by date, do they loose character or just stop working?

my GK1 has no power switch fitted, it is only turned off when we go away for a weekend.....so probably it has been powered virtually continously since 2004 and only shut down during power failures and for 10-20 days a year max.

[PSP]

I've had the TLP since early 2002 and the GK-1 since 2004.  The TLP is now in my bedroom system and sees between 1-3 hours a day.  It still sounds very, very good.  I listen to the GK-1 maybe 4-5 nights a week, 3-4 hours per session.  I generally turn my equipment off when not listening (the exception is when I'm burning in a new tweak).  Since 2002 I've upgraded speakers at least twice, most recently to Linkwitz Orions) and have Platinum tweaked the GK-1 and 55 and 100N+ (and now 25 and 55 watt LifeForces) and over that time and tweaking, the sound has improved dramatically.  So, it's possible that the tubes have gone down hill a bit, but those changes--if any--have been impossible to hear against the background of huge improvements in all components in my system.

Bottom line.... I'm using the original stock tubes that Hugh sent in both the TLP and GK-1.  So far, there is no evidence that the tubes have declined in sonic quality.

Peter

[AKSA]

Thanks Guys,

That's a long life!!  If we figure Fos has his on around 320 days of the year, since 2004, this is around 25,000 hours - and still no sign of deterioration (which you'd probably only notice by default when you swapped out the tube anyway). 

This is in line with this family of frame tubes which in Tektronix CROs often saw 30 years service before replacement.

That's a very long life, and when Kyrill let's us know his tube rolling results, we will know which ones to buy for replacement.  Let's see, for a 50 year old expecting to live to 80 (let's be very optimistic here!!) we could probably expect around 10 years average life in non-continuous use, so anyone with a GK1 now could reasonably expect to buy two spare tubes.

Except Fos of course, who is MUCH younger than the rest of us wrinklys......

Cheers,

Hugh