[luke357sig]

Group,
I'm dumping surround sound home theater.
I've just ordered the T8+ to go with my Emotiva XPA-3 power amp and Magnepan MG12 speakers to be played in a stereo system with subwoofer.   I'm new to AVA and to tubes, so would really like your feedback....
1. Does the t8+ require a warm up time before you play music?
2. How much time do you usually leave it on unused if you know you're coming back to play more music?
3. For those of you with subwoofers, do you run interconnects from the t8+ to your low pass sub inputs or from you power amp to high level inputs and why?
4. Can and/or do you connect Directv to the T8+ for sound?
Any other observations that you have on the T8+ would be appreciated.  From what I've read here, it looks like everyone really enjoys AVA equipment
Thanks much.

[JerryM]

Luke,

I'll usually let my system, including the T8+, warm up for about five minutes or so before playing music.

I usually won't leave the system on if I don't intend on listening to music within the next hour or so. Tube life is rated in hours, so I want those hours to be playing music, not idling away.

I don't have a sub, can't lend a thought there.

As for DirecTV, if it has analog audio outs you can hook it right up. If it only has digital out, you'll need a digital to analog converter (DAC).

You'll love this preamp, Luke. Get about 100 hours on it and then listen carefully to some songs you know very well. You'll be surprised at what you hear.

Congrats on you new preamp, and Welcome to AC! 

Have fun,
Jerry

[mchuckp]

I've owned the T8+ since December and LOVE it.  My previous preamp was an Emotiva USP-1 and the T8 was a pretty significant upgrade in sound quality in my book. 

If I get an opportunity, I try and turn my preamp and amp (also tube, Ultravalve) on while I get settled in to warm up.  To my ear, it takes about 20 minutes or so to sound it's best.  That doesn't mean it sounds bad before then.  If I'm watching TV or something, who cares anyway.  But if I'm sitting down for a critical listening session then yeah I like a warm up.

I don't use a sub, but I'd think you'd want to use the 2nd output to run the sub.  But I'll let someone who does this field that.

As for your DTV, why not hook it up?  I have a DAC that my DVD player and Squeezebox go into first, but my xbox and cable box go analogs to the T8.  If I'm watching something that can somewhat benefit by using "real" speakers I use my full set up.  If I'm poking around low fi stuff I use my TV speakers to save tubes.  I have my harmony remote set up to control volume on my TV and use the AVA remote to control the T8.  When not using TV speakers, I just turn it to zero.

I think you'll love the T8.  This was my first venture into tubes and I'm hooked.  I don't see ever not having at least one tube in my chain moving forward.

[Listens2tubes]

When I was tube rolling and transporting my T8+ to other's homes I was happy to find the T8+ needed no warm up to sound it's best. My previous pre needed 30 min. to un-veil it's true sound. Now I have the tuner switched on with the T8+ which come into song when the amps delay runs out. As already stated above, for sub hookup there are 2 outputs as well as 2 tape outs all useable for your sub biamping.

Congrats on a great preamp and enjoy!

[avahifi]

Hi Luke,

To answer your questions:

1. No warm up time needed, its ready to play within a minute of turn on.
2. Please turn the T8+ off when you are not using it.  This saves energy and tube life.  No problem leaving it on for an hour or two between plays of course, but if you are gone for longer than that, save energy and turn it off.
3. Yes you can use the second set of audio outputs to drive a subwoofer amplifier.  If the interconnect cable run will be long to the subwoofer we strongly recommend that you use the very well shielded and very low capacitance Blue Jeans cables.
4.  You can patch the analog stereo output from your Direct TV or Cable Box or whatever into any unused set of line level inputs on the T8+.  We suggest using the Spare Inputs if they are not otherwise occupied.  You can also use Tape 1 or Tape 2 inputs if everything else is filled up.

Thanks much for your order.

Frank Van Alstine