Power cycling philosophy?

[mpeg2]

I just finished a Crack amp & am using it in my office (Macbook Itunes ->Crack -> AKG K240 600 ohm) - the sound is wonderful.

I'm trying to figure out the best philosophy on when to leave it on when away from the office. I think that if I'm going to be away for a few hours, its probably best to turn the amp off - but what would be the lower limit??? Power cycling too often would probably be harmful - but leaving it on unused for a long period of time might be deleterious as well.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
  Rich

 

[Paul Joppa]

The old rule was one hour; I think the basis for that is pretty shaky, though it's probably between 0.1 hour and 10 hours. Personally, I don't like to leave tube gear running if nobody's around, especially if I built it myself.  :^)

 

[mpeg2]

Paul: Thanks. For the time being, I'll probably go with 1/2 hour.

  Rich

 

[adamct]

Out of curiosity, why leave the amp on if you're not using it? The tubes on my Crack heat up quite quickly, even from a cold start. Why not just turn it off, and then back on again when you get back?

Best regards,
Adam

 

[earwaxxer]

I'm way too OCD to leave the gear on! It just goes against the grain of everything I hold 'dear'. I do notice an improvement with my system sound with warm-up. Its not just the tubes. IMO the amp improves the most. Not a scientific observation at all. From the way I see it, I fire up the gear, grab a libation, put a couple of steaks on the grill, by the time I'm ready to sit down the magic is in full bloom.

 

[mpeg2]

I'm using the amp in my office. I seem to recall that each power cycle on a tube reduces its life a bit. If I walk out of my office for 10 minutes, it doesn't seem to make sense turning it off - but if I'm away for an hour it does. Just trying to figure out the right balance.

Rich

 

[denti alligator]

If I leave the house, the amps get turned off. If I'm listening to something and then need to do something else with the strong likelihood of putting more music on later, I often leave them on. With the Quickie, I'm a bit more conscious of battery life, so that's another story. The SEX amp, though, sometimes stays on for half a day. I try not to power on and off more than 2-3 in a day. Preferably (and most commonly) only once or twice: in the morning, in the evening.

 

[2wo]

My SR-45 takes 45m or so to come alive, so I hate to turn it off for short periods.

But I have noticed, when the wine is poured and the steaks are on the grill... it is better. I have no scientific explanation for this phenomena.     

 

[earwaxxer]

For me, thats one of the factors that steer me away from wanting to play with expensive tubes. I cant deal with the stress. I had a friends brother who was in town the other day from Chicago, and he's a session guitarist. When I told him I was experimenting with tubes in my kit, the first thing that he wanted to talk about was the stress about replacing all the tubes in his amp when its time, and how to determine when its time etc, etc.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I'm a little out of the norm on this, I leave almost everything on all the time.

 

[Doc B]

I leave the solid state stuff on all the time, like the digital portion of the DAC. The tube parts of our system get turned early in order to warm up on days I will being doing a demo, and left on until quitting time.

 

[denti alligator]

I just went a day with the SEX acting as power amp and using the Quickie for volume, and the micro phonics were FAR more prominent. I'm back to using the Quickie at full volume and using the SEX for volume. It's nice this way.

 

[earwaxxer]

Thats an interesting phenomena! I had noticed that as well, some moons ago when I was playing with such (which volume control to use - integrated vs. Quickie).

The thing that I have found about Quickie microphonics is that it is possible (I'm there now) for the Quickie to be completely microphonics 'free'. I put free in quotes, because there may continue to be some that I cant hear, or identify. I thought I heard a bell sound the other day from one channel, I replaced the heater batteries and it went away. I think one of my cells was getting low. Love that Quickie, but she needs some quality attention!