How long is the break-in time for a Sophia Electric Blue 6SN7 tube?

Leave the player turned on 24/7. When the day comes you realize it sounds just the same now every day, its burned in. "Manufacturer says" can mean anything. Especially since it wasn’t even the manufacturer who said this. No one who manufactures tubes ever talks to anyone. Its the people who sell them talk to people. Key distinction.  

Also you probably know this but the reason you are so happy with your system is its so well tweaked out with SR and PPT. If you still have some TC a thin coat on the tube pins and around the base of the tube will do wonders. Just be sure as always to keep the thin coat around the base from running all the way to the pins and creating a short. I’m assuming you pretty much used up all your TC coating caps and transformers and outlets? How much if any do you have left?

Tubes gradually get worse with time.

Hey Chuck,

I have no more TC left and quite a bit of stuff to either touch up with TC or do the first time. I have made some very good changes in cables over the past couple years since applying TC. Would I be correct in that you have no more either? I have about 50-60 individual tube pins, spades, bananas, splitters, RCA pins, cartridge pins, and IEC prongs that need the treatment. I’d love to have about 0.3-0.5 ml. to get this all done. I still remember quite vividly the jumps in performance near the 4 and 8 week periods, and maybe a little bit after that, too. I have about several different products from PP that all made a significant difference in the reality of my system. Anyone with extra? I’d be a buyer at about 100 bucks.

Bob

Tubes gradually get worse with time.

In a well designed valve system, valves work WELL until they don't.

Does that make sense? As long as they BIAS out, and have no physical problems. They work well until failure or pulled when they get close in a routine maintenance check.  If the valve needs to be balanced, and they are. Your good! 

The pin treatment thing, is always good. Just BE CAREFUL. Tube base can get hot, no excess, no drips, none of that.
Great stuff though, contact enhancement, gue.. carbon base stuff, very conductive, graphite, graphene, some type of snazzy stuff.

I use Rislone and cotton balls, and plunge the pins several time into the lightly soaked cotton wad, a light wipe, and they work perfect...Be clean don't get oil everywhere. The gue shouldn't be moved right, what happens if a valve gets bumped... weeks to settle back in... The Rislone way, plug and play, they sound good, they sound the same, until the next maint cycle. It's a mechanics way, and a very OLD way...

Regards

At 50 hours, they are sounding even better now.  Sophia said 100 hours will be the mark when they reach their best.  Sue at Sophia also told me to start shutting off the Modwright player at night so the tubes last their longest.  The 24/7 except for storms will be coming to a close it appears.