Question For the tube amp users re: listening sessions ...

[joeinid]

At what point, when you have time to listen, do you think it's too short a session (wear and tear) and just wait until the next time you have more time to listen?

Asked another way, what are your typical music listening sessions like?

[Mike]

I try to squeeze in 1-2 hours a night. But even if I had only 30 minutes, I would still fire up the tubes. Who cares? How often do we read about people going through tubes like toilet paper? Never. Dan has had the same KT88's in his 2301's since he as 9 years old (or so it seems). My WE300b's are rated for 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 hours. They'll probably outlast me.

I've talked to Brent at VAC about this "I hate to burn the tubes" issue. He said we are worrying about nonsense. Just listen. Enjoy. Life is too short.


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[Kuoppis]

Currently no tube gear in the set, but I have had Ayon, Octave, EAR and ARC amps.

My feeling about tube burn is a little like having a good bottle of wine and not drinking it. As they say, life's too short to drink bad wine.


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[Alpinist]

My tube gear actually reaches peak performance much faster than any of the solid state gear I've owned. My Pass Labs, Soulution and Esoteric components took hours from when they were initially powered on. My ARC and Vandersteen components sound great right from their initial turn on and have fully peaked in about an hour.

I would only turn it on if I had at least one hour to listen. This was the same with my solid state gear, although that first hour is now much more enjoyable.

Best,
Ken

[Al M.]

I try to squeeze in 1-2 hours a night. But even if I had only 30 minutes, I would still fire up the tubes. Who cares? Dan has had the same KT88's in his 2301's since he as 9 years old (or so it seems). My WE300b's are rated for 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 hours. They'll probably outlast me.

I've talked to Brent at VAC about this "I hate to burn the tubes" issue. He said we are worrying about nonsense. Just listen. Enjoy. Life is too short.

Same here. I used to be worried, but not anymore. I've even had 10 minute sessions if I found it nice to quickly check something about the structure of a classical piece, before I went off to work.

And as Alpinist said, tubes warm up really fast.

I usually do keep the amps on if I know that I'll return to listening an hour later.

[Rayooo]

So I'm going on 4 years with the ART amps... after a bit of a rocky start, they've been solid now ever since. I listen whenever/however I want. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for a quick half-hour.
Even with the occasional interruption 10 minutes after beginning. No problems and no worries. I'm still on the original tubes. I did spot check a few recently with MaxiMatcher II.. and I do have a replacement set of tubes on hand for whenever.

I'm at a point now where I'd put my liking for Vacuum Tube Amps in the same realm as LP fans feel about their vinyl.

[jdandy]

I try to squeeze in 1-2 hours a night. But even if I had only 30 minutes, I would still fire up the tubes. Who cares? How often do we read about people going through tubes like toilet paper? Never. Dan has had the same KT88's in his 2301's since he as 9 years old (or so it seems).

Mike.......That gave me a good chuckle. Actually I have owned my MC2301's since January 2012, nearly 5-1/2 years. The Gold Lion KT88's have been in the amps from the start. I now have approximately 3,000 hours on the power tubes and expect to get 6,000 to 8,000 total hours without issues. The small tubes, a pair of 12AT7 drivers tubes per amplifier will easily deliver 10,000 hours service. I have rolled several different sets of 12AT7 (ECC801S, E81CC) tubes just for fun and to check the performance differences, again without incidence.

To respond to Joe's concern, in my opinion there is no such thing as a listening session that's too short or too long. I don't worry about the tubes, but I usually let the amplifiers warm for a half an hour with the tuner playing before I sit down to immerse myself in the wonderful sound of the solid state McIntosh C1000C/P preamp driving these fine MC2301 tube power amplifiers.

I keep backup tubes in my tube locker. I have 16 Gold Lion KT88's, plus 16 Electro-Harmonics KT88's as spares. I have four quad sets of 12AT7 tubes from Gold Lion and Siemens, plus other Gold Lion, Tung-Sol, Telefunken 12AX7 tubes for my McIntosh C2300 preamp in the living room system. I don't anticipate I will be needing any of my spares any time soon but they are there when the time comes. I own two tube testers and check all of the tubes in use annually, keeping the collected results to compare with the previous years results. It is well worth the effort and expense to enjoy the pleasure that tube amplifiers bring to my systems.

[Valve36]

I also try to squeeze in an hour or two a night. I don't worry about tube life anymore. When I was younger and had ARC equipment, I used to. Now I'm 60ish, I just enjoy the music. And I agree life's to short, "who cares".

[joeinid]

Welcome Valve36, thank you for joining.

[Valve36]

Welcome Valve36, thank you for joining.

Happy to be aboard, Joe

[joeinid]

I was just curious about what you guys do. When my stereo comes on, it's usually for 12 hours or more, some active listening some passive listening. With my solid state gear, I won't hesitate for a short session but my tube gear usage tends to be a little different and more active and deliberate.

[mhanc]

according to the manufacturer of my amp wrt/ setting the output tube bias voltage: "Enjoy life. Do not worry about tube life." I have found this to be sound advice.

my listening sessions are usually 1-2 hours with the tubes getting fully warmed up and sounding great in about 30 minutes -- which also coincides with my having a beverage, so not sure which warm-up has the greatest effect on system sound !?

the 6c33c output tubes in my amp are good for about 2,000 hours and need replacing every 2 years or so. no big deal since they are only $65 each. it might be a bigger deal if they were expensive tubes. for input tubes i am using some NOS tubes which are good for 10,000 hours and i have extra of these in the drawer which should last me and my heirs.

[Cableman]

My system is based around the truly wonderful but dreadfully marketed Audiopax Model88 mk3 single ended triode monoblocks

They go on in the morning almost every morning and the system gets demaged first. Then music.... all day through the day. Sometimes for a couple of lps sometimes for literally hours.

The music flows effortlessly yes it's REALLY that good.

A properly set up Model88 is hard to beat at ANY price

Nirvana

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Cableman, thank you for joining.

[DSkip]

At RMAF Lorenzo from MastersounD kept encouraging me to leave the Evolution 845 on all night. He laughed when I questioned him and assured me all would be fine. His question was 'why turn them off?'

I think we get too caught up in preserving everything instead of just using the gear for what it was intended to do. It's like buying a Ferrari and driving it once a quarter. What's the point?

[joeinid]

I agree. I'm starting to turn around my way of thinking but it is difficult. I would absolutely love to hear the MastersounD amps. OMG!

At RMAF Lorenzo from MastersounD kept encouraging me to leave the Evolution 845 on all night. He laughed when I questioned him and assured me all would be fine. His question was 'why turn them off?'

I think we get too caught up in preserving everything instead of just using the gear for what it was intended to do. It's like buying a Ferrari and driving it once a quarter. What's the point?

[tube-vds]

listening sessions are mostly 1-2 hours in the evening 8.00 - 10.00 pm. and in the weekend sometimes > 6 hours (wagner...)

my PTP hand wired jadis DA50 takes about 1 h to completely warm up.

after 5 minutes it sounds nice - after 1 hour it sounds great.

fresh air and enough humidity are important. i also use a magnet to structure the airmolecules...

and i always power off. (not because of tube-life, but i think it's not good for a tube amp to be powered on 24/7).

[Rayooo]

So the last I looked, KT-150s were running around $90 each. So, the primary reason I don't think about tube-life too much is that I very seldom have the system on for 12 hours in a given day.

Any sane person would say something like: "so, you own these insanely expensive toys that play audio, and you're worried about spending a few $$ on vacuum tubes?"
I'd say in response: "well, I'm not really worried at all, but, then again, If I wanted to listen to music 12+ hours a day most days, It's highly unlikely I'd own "big tube" power amps."