Is it OK to leave a tube preamp on all the time?


I just recently purchased a used VTL 2.5 preamp that I'm using along side with an Adcom home theater processor. I've had to do this because I can't find a processor under $2500 that keeps me happy for two channel music. I'm currently going from the Adcom processor front pre outs, to the processor input on the VTL, then out to the amp inputs. I connect only my CD player and turntable to the VTL, and all video sources to the Adcom.

My wife has become very frustrated with this arrangement because it's much too complicated to figure out what to turn on and off, and which volume to adjust- so I've had to constantly leave the unit on and turn until the volume so it's balanced with the centers and rears. Does anyone know if leaving on constantly (but without passing any signal through) shortens the tube life? The logical answer would be yes, but I'd like to know for sure. Or is there another way that I can feed both the VTL preamp and my processor to the amp input without losing sonic quality (like a very high quality Y connector)?

Any advice would be appreciated. I know the easy answer is to get rid of the wife, but that's not an option right now ;)

Thanks!
alouie

Showing 1 response by alouie

Thanks to all of you for your responses. Valid arguments on both sides! I'll probably just move my Mccormack preamp out to my HT system and use all of the great advice for the VTL on my music only system (but only if the sound quality is not significantly altered).