Burning in a tube amplifier?

[GuineaMcPig]

Is it a good idea to burn in my MAD Ear+ purist amplifier, or will all this accomplish nothing but weakening the tubes?

Thanks for the info!

~Jordan

 

[oldears]

It really depends on how anxious you are. You can certainly do the "burn in" while just using the amp as you normally would. It won't hurt the amp to do this--just don't be too quick to make any final judgments about the sound quality. The sound will change over time--hopefully for the better. The amount of time the burn in will take can vary greatly, from just a few hours to hundreds of hours. My experience has been that tubed equipment tends to break in quite quickly, with the majority of change occurring in the first 24-50 hours. After that the unit will probably continue to improve slowly for some time. It may sound great right out of the box, but if it doesn't don't worry. If you don't like the sound at first let it run with a tuner or CD player on repeat for 24 hours and listen again. Repeat until you are satisfied or until the sound stops changing. Then write a review for Head-fi. Good luck, it should be fun.

 

[GuineaMcPig]

Thanks for the info. Has this been anyone else's experience? Just got a new pair of cables (CableTalk Broadcast 3's) so I'm going to burn everything in tonight.

 

[jamato8]

I have worked with and built tube equipment for many years. What has been stated should work fine. I don't like to leave tube equipment on overnight because if a tube does go south and you aren't around to notice you can take the equipment out but if you are talking about smaller tubes and not power tubes like 6550's, Kt88's, EL34s and the like then I wouldn't worry about leaving equipment on. I have a tubed dac that is on all the time. Now if you are talking about exensive nos tubes I would not be anxious to shorten their life. But if you turn it on for the day I would leave it on for the day as what really does harm is the on off cycle.

John

 

[adhoc]

naturally the (imo) best compromise would be to have some inexpensive 'expendable' tubes for burning in the amp - hence you get to keep your precious NOS tubes for when they're really needed: when you're listening.

 

[Kurt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 I don't like to leave tube equipment on overnight because if a tube does go south and you aren't around to notice you can take the equipment out

With equipment you mean the phones only, right?
If not, what else?
And how about weaker tubes like 45's or 2a3's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc naturally the (imo) best compromise would be to have some inexpensive 'expendable' tubes for burning in the amp - hence you get to keep your precious NOS tubes for when they're really needed: when you're listening.

Yes, and same applies to phones. I roll cheap earbuds between some socks and stuff all in a Porta Pro Sack. So, I cant't hear anything and the good phones get spared.

 

[sacd lover]

With equipment you mean the phones only, right?
If not, what else?

A bad tube, especially a shorted tube, can damage the amp itself. In fact, in such a case the amp is the piece of equipment most likely to be damaged. If the amp is on, with no signal being passed, and the tube in the amp fails .... which I am guessing thats what John was referring to.... the headphones shouldnt be at much, if any, risk for damage.

 

[jamato8]

Yes, what I referring to is the amp. If a tube goes bad, draws too much current you can do damage to the transformer that could require that the transformer be replaced. Or you could just take out a resistor but either way unless you adept at repair you will sending the unit in. A 2A3 and 45 are power tubes and as such have a shorter life than an input tube. I do not like to leave power tubes on for extended periods as you are just eating up their life. I would just play the amp and listen. Enjoy the changes and most of all, the music. It will break in soon enough. Also, as pointed out, use some non nos tubes if you do want to leave it on for extended periods. Also, music needs to be playing or some type of signal for break in.

John