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75.134.104.120
and then leaving it off for an hour and then on again. Or just leaving it on between listening sessions?
FWIW the amp is a Black Ice FX10.
Thanks,
Phil
Follow Ups:
nt
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.
.
So much misinformation - doesn't anyone study the tube datasheets anymore or apply some thinking?What caueses a filament to fail? Thermal expansion and contraction. Some datasheets will tell you that the filament life expectancy is e.g. 2000 hours when turned on not more than x times / day.
Some driver tubes will light up like a flash bulb when initially switched on.
Similarly tubes do not take too kindly to being cold and getting more than B+ on them - it does damage to the cathode coating.
The 300B was developped for telephone purposes and would seldom be replaced 100 000 hours of continous duty was normal.
When I build my tube amplifiers I would
a) Put a number of NTC's in series with the primary of the mains transformer ensuring gladual heat up of filaments. NTC's to be switched out with a thermal delay relay (keeping heat under chassis down).
b) I used hexfed recitifiers but that causes aproblem: until the tubes are warmed up the B+ is above the operating B+ voltage which was solved by using a damper diode to the CT of the HT winding.Initially I switched off at night and on again in the morning (14 ~ 16 hour running/day). Later I swicthed on on Monday morning and off on Friday night.
All tubes mesureed like new after 20 000 hours. Output tubes were run in class A at design centre rating, not at absolute maximum rating.
c) Power supply was stabilised - I've got a computer server room UPS that first converts to DC and then reconstructs pure sinus mains. US military noticed imcreased life expectancy when mains voltage was kept stable +/- 3%.
d) And if you are running tubes hard (output) than a Pearl HiFi tube cooler can extend the life of a tube by 50% ~ 100%. It may not look sexy but it works and your wallet will thank you with current tube prices and some newer tubes no longer available.
Edits: 08/18/23
So what is your answer to OP?
To never turn his tube gear off?
"Two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians 3:17, that's the whole ballgame. Where the spirit of the Lord-right?-is, there is liberty!"
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Leaving them on for a while until you return to listen some more does no harm. Turning them off and then back on a little later will do no harm. Tubes are able to cycle on/off more times than you ever will. Some tubes are designed to better withstand a lot of on/off cycling, and/or staying at in a cutoff state. Don't know which might, if any, apply to your situation.
The tubes will likely play for more hours than you'll be interested in listening to them. In my experience, this is based on vintage tubes, used or new. Not modern production tubes.
I could be wrong. It would be the first time.
Your interest may vary but the results will be same. (Byrd 2020)
I can't compete with the dead. (Buck W. 2010)
Cowards can't be heroes. (Byrd 2017)
Why don't catfish have kittens? (Moe Howard 1937)
With the warmup delay and standby mode that amp employs, I wouldn't worry about turning it on/off at all. Turn it off between sessions. Unless you turn off the switch on the back, the standby mode will keep filaments warm, so thermal shock is minimized. The Jolida FX10 is, more or less, designed to be in the standby mode when not listening.
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Not at all.
They're dandy little amps. We've had two of them for the last 10-12 years. They were a killer bargain back then, but no so much these days. They used to be $500. I use one on our video rig, and my wife has the other at her she-shack in Central Illinois.
Out of curiosity, what speakers are you using with it? PSB Alpha B1's on the she-shack system, and PSB Alpha P5's on the video system.
PSB alpha B1's RULE.
I bought my daughter a set to go along with a NAD integrated. She had a party one time and someone turned up volume too much, and blew the tweeters.
So she brings them home to me for a fix. Ordered tweets and repaired. Sorta expensive.
But while I had them I connected them to a VTA ST-120, c-j MF-2250, and a NAD 3020B.
They could throw a piano image out of this world (jazz; Brubeck).
The B1's had one the best bang for the buck returns I've ever encountered. Driven by decent amplification, they add up to a lot more than the sum of their parts.
Having said that, the P5's are a definite step up from the B1's. Not the same $300 steal the B1's were, but most definitely a better, more refined speaker. I've had the P5's since shortly after they were released and they still surprise. After far too much procrastination, I recently got around to mass loading their stands and putting some of Herbie's small fat dots between them and the stands. Helped focus the soundstage and imaging improved. Very happy with the P5's doing audio duty on the video system.
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Keeping tube filaments on obviously wears out the tubes faster.
They're not running full bore in standby. Glowing and warm is all. Every system I've ever owned had/has this feature and I've never lost a tube due to filament failure.
Going from stone cold to full power in an instant is what kills filaments, not low power standby mode.
Wrong. Filament life is hours in use either at full current or minimal current. Turning on and does not burn out filaments.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one.
just look at incandescent lightbulbs...How many times have you seen them burn out at turn on as opposed to lighting the room for 20 minutes?
Right now for one of my room lights I have an incandescent that I'm using a variac on and the bulb is going on 3 years now. I always start it with 60vac and bring it up when needed. I have to do SOMETHING with the few that I still have
So then, slow turn on with an indirectly heated rectifier like a GZ34 will and does increase lifetime
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After you've had it a bit and wanna roll tubes, I highly recommend rolling the 12AX7's.
I went through several different tubes and have settled on the JJ E83CC/12AX7 Frame Grid tubes on the inputs. There's several really good sounding EL84's. JJ, Polam, Sovtek. They all sound pretty good.
Enjoy your new amp.
No surprise. My lightly modded (Clarity cap) Zu DW's have yet to meet an amp they didn't like and vice versa. This would include P-P, SET and even Class D.
...
Years ago I worked at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, and when my boss found out I was into audio, he made me the one to install and fix the intercom system lab wide. Every building had an intercom system. They were tube amplifiers on a 70V line, driving all of the ceiling speakers in the building. These tube amps were mounted in the space above the suspended ceilings, where it was hot. These amps ran continuously, and were never turned off. There were very few issues with the amps. On occasion, a tube might need to be replaced, but that was rare. I usually was just installing a new speaker somewhere.
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