Is it safe to leave tube equipment on unattended?

candyliquor35m
candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
edited February 2007 in 2 Channel Audio
I find myself wanting to leave my tube equipment on for 15-30 minutes while I run an errand so that it doesn't have to warm up all over again when I get back. Safe or unsafe to leave it on?

Here are my guesses:

Tube CDP: yes
Tube pre: yes
Tube amp: no because of the incredible heat they give off and the implications of leaving anything that hot unattended.

Thanks
Post edited by candyliquor35m on
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Comments

  • pblanc
    pblanc Posts: 261
    edited February 2007
    Well.....how much do you like your house?
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  • Refefer
    Refefer Posts: 1,280
    edited February 2007
    Do you have any flammable animals that might want to cozy on up to them?

    Honestly, if you don't have anything laying around that is likely to combust, I don't see why it wouldn't be ok.
    Lovin that music year after year.

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  • Midnite Mick
    Midnite Mick Posts: 1,591
    edited February 2007
    I wonder about this myself. What about the stories of tubes just going up in flames on their own?

    Mike
    Modwright SWL 9.0 SE (6Sons Audio Thunderbird PC with Oyaide 004 terminations)
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  • cmy330go
    cmy330go Posts: 2,341
    edited February 2007
    I've never had any issues leaving mine on. I also asked the builder of my amp the same question and he actually encouraged me to leave it on in those types of situations. Apparently turning them on and off repeatedly puts added stress on the tubes.
    HT
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  • pblanc
    pblanc Posts: 261
    edited February 2007
    I know people who leave their tube amps on all the time so that they are always warmed up and ready when the mood striles them to listen to some music. Obviously this shortens tube life. I have never heard of this resulting in a catastrophe. Having said that, freak accidents do occur, and those tubes do get pretty hot. I don't think I would be too concerned about leaving an amp on unattended for a relatively short period of time though, unless you are the type of person that worrys a lot about being struck by lightning, or meteors.
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  • candyliquor35m
    candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
    edited February 2007
    Thanks. I've left it on once but usually turn them all off. I'm more of the it's better to be safe than sorry and never say never type.
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited February 2007
    I have no problems with my gear being left on and it's an all-tube rig.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • Joey_V
    Joey_V Posts: 8,552
    edited February 2007
    It's best to leave them on as I feel that turning something off and on isnt exactly the safest way to run gear. But if you have tubes, make sure they are in a safe place... especially if you have little kids.

    JOey
    Magico M2, JL113v2x2, EMM, ARC Ref 10 Line, ARC Ref 10 Phono, VPIx2, Lyra Etna, Airtight Opus1, Boulder, AQ Wel&Wild, SRA Scuttle Rack, BlueSound+LPS, Thorens 124DD+124SPU, Sennheiser, Metaxas R2R
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  • Midnite Mick
    Midnite Mick Posts: 1,591
    edited February 2007
    I have read debates that some felt it increased tube life by leaving them on all of the time as it results in less overall stress......don't know.

    Mike
    Modwright SWL 9.0 SE (6Sons Audio Thunderbird PC with Oyaide 004 terminations)
    Consonance cd120T
    Consonance Cyber 800 tube monoblocks (6Sons Audio Thunderbird PC's with Oyaide 004 terminations)
    Usher CP 6311

    Phillips Pronto TS1000 Universal Remote
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited February 2007
    All audio equipment should be placed in such a way that a heat or flame flareup issue would not cause close by articles to catch on fire. I would say that equipment produced by the "small guy" is more suspect than that of Sony or Onkyo etc. It is nice if your speakers are protected against high power faults as well.
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • pblanc
    pblanc Posts: 261
    edited February 2007
    Your power tubes, and I think also your preamp tubes will go sooner if you leave them on all the time. If you turned your amp on and off 20 times a day I guess maybe you would be better off leaving it on. The tubes also consume a fair bit of electricity which you can easily confirm by touching one of your power tubes after its been on for an hour (don't try this at home).
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  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,124
    So instead of starting a new thread why not continue with this one, so I started the Vincent preamp up yesterday after work noticed it sounded better after an hour or so after being on, could of been the beers, I left it on all night and listened to it this morning sounds great, the Wife's nagging we got errands to run then plan on hitting the town this afternoon is it okay then to leave the Preamp and the phono preampstage on with the tubes dimmed down or should I just shut them off so I don't have to worry?
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  • mikeyb128
    mikeyb128 Posts: 2,885
    gudnoyez wrote: »
    So instead of starting a new thread why not continue with this one, so I started the Vincent preamp up yesterday after work noticed it sounded better after an hour or so after being on, could of been the beers, I left it on all night and listened to it this morning sounds great, the Wife's nagging we got errands to run then plan on hitting the town this afternoon is it okay then to leave the Preamp and the phono preampstage on with the tubes dimmed down or should I just shut them off so I don't have to worry?

    I leave my pre amp on all day while I'm at work if I know I will be listening that night. I have errands to run today, and some yard work to do. I will fire it up along with my tubed CDP so it's hot and ready. My system is in my basement, and it gets a little chilly down there until I fire up the space heater. I also have some healthy vintage tubes in there from the 60's and still test strong after years of enjoyment.
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  • Joey_V
    Joey_V Posts: 8,552
    My experience tube pre can stay on if I'm going to use them later that day otherwise I turn them off.

    Tube amps, I always turn off.
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  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,124
    I guess I will leave them on when we run our errands the house didn't burn down last night so I reckon it will be ok to leave them both on today and tomorrow and shut em down tomorrow night.
    Home Theater
    Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable

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  • voltz
    voltz Posts: 5,384
    Hybrids seem fine if you leave them on all day to warm up, a all tube amplifier I would not leave alone to long. just in case something did go poof!

    I have left my Vincent hybrid gear on overnight, and it sounded better :)
    2 ch- Polk CRS+ * Vincent SA-31MK Preamp * Vincent Sp-331 Amp * Marantz SA8005 SACD * Project Xperience Classic TT * Sumiko Blue Point #2 MC cartridge

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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    After personally witnessing a tube amplifier catch on fire with zero load, tube amps off. Pre's and CDP's I leave on all of the time if I know I will listen to them later on that day or early the next day.

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • MrBuhl
    MrBuhl Posts: 2,419
    My pre(s) have preheat circuits or whatever you call them, they both stay on in standby all the time. The amp I try to turn on an hour before listening at least. If I'm home all weekend, I leave it on pretty much during the day and shut down at night.

    FWIW I don't think it was the beers either - I'm not surprised at all it started to sound better as it warmed up - mine always do!
    VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    gudnoyez wrote: »
    So instead of starting a new thread why not continue with this one, so I started the Vincent preamp up yesterday after work noticed it sounded better after an hour or so after being on, could of been the beers, I left it on all night and listened to it this morning sounds great, the Wife's nagging we got errands to run then plan on hitting the town this afternoon is it okay then to leave the Preamp and the phono preampstage on with the tubes dimmed down or should I just shut them off so I don't have to worry?

    Not really an issue if you are going to listen to the rig. But, I wouldn't leave them on for the sake of leaving them on. Mostly you are going to shorten the life of the tubes. For expensive NOS type tubes, I don't think it's ideal unless you have many of them to spare or don't mind the expense of sourcing more.

    With current stock tubes, yes they have gotten better, but I still don't trust modern signal tubes enough not to self destruct when I'm not there to monitor them. On the whole they don't seem to last as long and OS tubes and there seems to be a lot more failure in comparison.

    H9

    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • JuanR
    JuanR Posts: 718
    I leave my tubes on but put the preamp on mute and zero the volume....this way no signal is sent to the amp from the preamp, the amp on the other hand is not covered here, but nonetheless, there is less risk in case of that unlucky catastrophic failure if there ever was one....
    this is done like you said - in case of having to run a short errand- not an all day errand - unless you are trying to break in new tubes I suppose...
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  • RamZet
    RamZet Posts: 792
    You should not leave anything on because it is stressful on the national power grid as well as wasteful.
    I hit the main power button on my power conditioners when I am not using my rig or my gaming computer.
    B&W CM9Classé Sigma
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  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    Its funny that this even gets asked, since we left our tube tvs on all day and night and radio stations run tubes in their transmitters 24/7/365. Only audiophiles act like they have suddenly become some type of fragile device even though our military has tanks and airplanes that have been in service for years with tube gear in it.
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  • mikeyb128
    mikeyb128 Posts: 2,885
    My tubes test strong after 60 years. Who knows how long they have been used. I have some Russian variants that are guaranteed a minimum 5,000 hour life span. They sound good and are surprisingly cheap.
    2 channel:
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    Many tube preamps reduce the juice going to them so in standby they are still on but reduced.

    My joule pre in standby you can see the tubes glowing and feel warmth from the top portion but the power supply unit seems to be a bit less heat from it. The one I have is a 2 piece since it has the phono board.
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  • Sprags
    Sprags Posts: 120
    I don't even leave lamps with standard incandescent light tubes (bulbs) on unattended for fear of un-necessary light wave emissions causing a financial reduction of my income.
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  • Sprags
    Sprags Posts: 120
    Dennis Gardner wrote: »
    Its funny that this even gets asked, since we left our tube tvs on all day and night and radio stations run tubes in their transmitters 24/7/365. Only audiophiles act like they have suddenly become some type of fragile device even though our military has tanks and airplanes that have been in service for years with tube gear in it.


    Where exactly are the tubes located in B2 Stealth Fighters, F22 Raptors and F/A18 Hornets?

    Unless of course you mean the tube powered cassette player the pilot plugs his headphones into so he can listen to 'Eye of the Tiger' while in a dogfight against Tom Cruise.
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