Is a tube preamp a good idea?


I'm interested in getting a tube preamp to match with my PS Audio HCA2. The idea is to mainly use it for music, but I also use it for TV and movies. It's generally on all day for satellite music as well as pre-recorded music and later at night for TV. With the extensive time of being powered up each day, is a tube pre a good idea or am I going to go through tubes like water? Thanks Goners for your insight.
Tom
bookert2896c
Hello,

I am a huge proponent of a tube line stage to get the harmonic richness, volume of space, decays, etc., from the music of top-flight LP and CD sources. For broadcast music, the tuner may not have the ability to push this out to make it worthwhile. For movies (music concerts not included), it is a non-issue.

Keeping a tube product on all day and everyday will indeed be costly with tube replacement. Turning the unit off during the night would help. So to answer your question, it comes down to the percentage of the time you are listening to music in the system AND if the capabilities that a tube line stage can often bring will be beneficial in your setup. It's impossible to know this as you did not list the rest of your system.

And one final comment: just because a product has tubes in its implementation does not imply that it will have the attributes I described above. There are many tubed line stages that I have heard that are sterile and lack a 3-dimensional presentation that we often associate with tube based products.

John
Tubes are well suited to low level signal amplification, last a very long time, and they are not expensive. The output tubes of a power amp are responsible for the tubes reputation for short life and high cost.
Many tubes are rated for 10,000 hours. That's well over a year, if you never turn it off, so most likely you will get 3-5 years service from normal usage of 4-8 hours a day.
The main concern with tube equipment is heat, so don't use it inside an enclosed "entertainment center" cabinet.
One more word of caution. Long tube life depends on design margins. Some preamps are designed "on the edge" or beyond. I won't mention names... Just ask around...