[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif But DennyL is right, it is a waste of power to do this. It will shorten the life of your equipment, too. Go pull the data sheets at Mouser and look at the rated life of your capacitors. Even modern ones wear out. Do you want to solder in new ones every 12-18 months?

if you read more closely, that lifespan as well as the tubes lifespan is at rated specs.

power handling efects tube life. a 13W tube run at 7W can be expected to run significantly longer than the same tube run full tilt.

a 230*f (about 105*c) cap run at the balmy internal temperature of a HOT tube amp of about 120*f can be expected to run longer than the datasheet says.

a 1000V cap with 500V on it most of the time and the odd spike to 750 (turn on & surges) will run longer than if it saw 1000V all day every day.

i still am concerned with fire hazard, and power consumption. but realistically, parts of decent quality aren't going to wear out.

 

[vcoheda]

I agree that it is probably not the best idea to leave a tube amp on all the time. I run my ++ for sometimes 5-7 hours at a time (if I am home) and know that I am going to have a few listening sessions. But I always turn it off when I leave or go to sleep. Also, my ++ runs very hot. I think the amp could be damaged or overheat if I left it on for a long period of time. Even even it ran not very hot (and I'm not sure if tube amps even do that), I would still turn it off due to possible tube malfunction (fire hazard, as noted above).

On the other hand, I have left my solid state amps on for days and days with absolutely no problem.

 

[xenithon]

Just some clarification - I am not talking about 24/7 really....but I usually do my listening over weekends and hence switch the amps on on Friday evening and leave them on for the weekend. They are turned off during the week, switched on only if I get a chance to listen midweek.

 

[micaela]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenithon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just some clarification - I am not talking about 24/7 really....but I usually do my listening over weekends and hence switch the amps on on Friday evening and leave them on for the weekend. They are turned off during the week, switched on only if I get a chance to listen midweek.

Thats what I do most of the time.

 

[tuatara]

Some of us are old enough to have grown up with valve radios and hifi gear as the norm and I cant remember city blocks being razed to the ground through faulty tubes. Nor did we agonise over when or where to turn the appliance on or off..the radio was always turned on first thing in the morning and turned of when everyone went to bed.
My bigger concern would be to make sure that the amp was placed in an area with good ventilation.

I do turn my amp of when not using it mainly to conserve tube life, but going by my Luxman LV107 intergrated with tube pre that could be a very long time. This 1992 amp is still running the original tubes and in my daughters hands the last couple of years has been running almost 24/7.

 

[Icarus]

Well, aren't tube amps rather a pain in the ass? Many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in China, where good quality control is generally lacking, materials used in amp and, certainly, tube manufacture not of the highest quality, which makes for all sorts of problems.
With a tube amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of tube related issues(arcing?), possible hissing or buzzing, and God knows what else.
With a solid state amp, one has, mostly, problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off.
I know that tube amps offer a special "tube sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of aggravation, no?
I'm getting a Little Dot II, a used one for not much money, and I know, now, what I'm getting into, so if living with it is a hassle I won't be losing very much money if I unload it for less than I paid for it.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, aren't tube amps rather a pain in the ass? Many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in China, where good quality control is generally lacking, materials used in amp and, certainly, tube manufacture not of the highest quality, which makes for all sorts of problems. With a tube amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of tube related issues(arcing?), possible hissing or buzzing, and God knows what else. With a solid state amp, one has, mostly, problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off. I know that tube amps offer a special "tube sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of aggravation, no? I'm getting a Little Dot II, a used one for not much money, and I know, now, what I'm getting into, so if living with it is a hassle I won't be losing very much money if I unload it for less than I paid for it.

well arent SS amps rather a pain in the ass? many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in china, where good quality control is sometimes lacking. materials used are not often of the higest quality, which makes for all sorts of opperations and sonic problems.
with an SS amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of SS related issues (static discharge destroying transistors?) possible hissing or buzzing, the lord only knows shat else. with a well built TUBE amp onw has mostly problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off.
i know that SS amps offer a special "anemic and thin sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of agrivation, no.
im building a dynomight (balanced dynalhi) i am building because it will save money as opposed to buying new. im not really sure what im getting into having never heard one before. so if it sounds like a crap amp, i can always unload it for not much more than it cost to build.

its amazing how the changing of only a few words flips the quoted paragraph to slam the whole idea of SS designs as hard as it slammed the tube camp with equally valid arguments.

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jirams /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is how well the tubes (valves) are made that is the issue. Some of the crappy Russian work results in sagging internal electrodes which can arc over - such as screen grid to anode or control grid - this can then take out other components and result perhaps in fire.

It's a hell of a lot easier to blow a transistor or a solid state diode than it is a tube or vacuum diode. The secret is to not use poorly made Russian tubes in the first place, and buy amplifiers (be they tube or SS) with properly designed protection circuitry.


Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif well arent SS amps rather a pain in the ass? many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in china, where good quality control is sometimes lacking. materials used are not often of the higest quality, which makes for all sorts of opperations and sonic problems. with an SS amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of SS related issues (static discharge destroying transistors?) possible hissing or buzzing, the lord only knows shat else. with a well built TUBE amp onw has mostly problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off. i know that SS amps offer a special "anemic and thin sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of agrivation, no. im building a dynomight (balanced dynalhi) i am building because it will save money as opposed to buying new. im not really sure what im getting into having never heard one before. so if it sounds like a crap amp, i can always unload it for not much more than it cost to build. its amazing how the changing of only a few words flips the quoted paragraph to slam the whole idea of SS designs as hard as it slammed the tube camp with equally valid arguments.

That was great.

 

[jirams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's a hell of a lot easier to blow a transistor or a solid state diode than it is a tube or vacuum diode. The secret is to not use poorly made Russian tubes in the first place, and buy amplifiers (be they tube or SS) with properly designed protection circuitry.

But blown silicon rarely sets the house on fire - poorly made Russian tubes are often all that can be found

 

[pataburd]

At work, I run one of two (excellent) Chinese tube head amps (the Darkvoice 336i and G&W T2.6F) eight hours each workday, without issue.

 

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif ....its amazing how the changing of only a few words flips the quoted paragraph to slam the whole idea of SS designs as hard as it slammed the tube camp with equally valid arguments.

I'd say that, overall, there are more posts on this forum regarding problems/issues with tube amps then there are re: problems with SS amps.
Yet, there are, likely, more SS amps owned by head-fiers than tube amps.

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jirams /img/forum/go_quote.gif But blown silicon rarely sets the house on fire - poorly made Russian tubes are often all that can be found

How so? The death of both typically results in the full current of the amp being fed elsewhere along the circuit.

Like I said, the secret is to not buy a poorly made amplifier with poor quality parts, irrespective of whether it uses tubes or transistors.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd say that, overall, there are more posts on this forum regarding problems/issues with tube amps then there are re: problems with SS amps. Yet, there are, likely, more SS amps owned by head-fiers than tube amps.

The reason for that is simply that tubes cost more than transistors (also the reason why the audio mainstream is 99% solid state), so some people cut corners to reduce costs.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jirams /img/forum/go_quote.gif But blown silicon rarely sets the house on fire - poorly made Russian tubes are often all that can be found

Tubes arent hard to find at all .... just get online and do a search. I have five or six places where I buy nos tubes .... and there are many more dealers than the ones I use.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif well arent SS amps rather a pain in the ass? many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in china, where good quality control is sometimes lacking. materials used are not often of the higest quality, which makes for all sorts of opperations and sonic problems. with an SS amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of SS related issues (static discharge destroying transistors?) possible hissing or buzzing, the lord only knows shat else. with a well built TUBE amp onw has mostly problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off. i know that SS amps offer a special "anemic and thin sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of agrivation, no. im building a dynomight (balanced dynalhi) i am building because it will save money as opposed to buying new. im not really sure what im getting into having never heard one before. so if it sounds like a crap amp, i can always unload it for not much more than it cost to build. its amazing how the changing of only a few words flips the quoted paragraph to slam the whole idea of SS designs as hard as it slammed the tube camp with equally valid arguments.

I agree with Carl .... this was great.

 

[DennyL]

Quote:

Well, aren't tube amps rather a pain in the ass? Many or most of them are now designed and manufactured in China, where good quality control is generally lacking, materials used in amp and, certainly, tube manufacture not of the highest quality, which makes for all sorts of problems. With a tube amp, heat is an issue, there are all sorts of tube related issues(arcing?), possible hissing or buzzing, and God knows what else. With a solid state amp, one has, mostly, problem free use year after year, even if one rarely turns the power off. I know that tube amps offer a special "tube sound" that many crave, but at the price of lots of aggravation, no?

No, not at all. This is rubbish. I have a valve power amp (Leak) made in about 1963, and a DarkVoice headphone amp. They both work reliably and without problems. No fizzing, arcing, buzzing or God knows what else They work. Just my experience of owning valve gear for many years.