2. misc-audio
  3. 982899790

New tubes every year...or every five? ?

I may get thrown off this forum, referred to an ear specialist and sent to Circuit City to replace my system, but it recently occured to me that I did not change the tubes in my recently dumped Jadis JPL pre amp for 5 years! There is no on/off switch on this pre amp but there is a "stand by" switch which was always on. I would say I listened to the system for only an hour or so a week. Since trading my Apogee stages for Martin Logan SL3's about 3 years ago, I rarely listened to the system and found it uninvolving and a little fatiguing and bright. It didn't necessarily sound bad -- I thought I just needed to buy a new D/A or go back to LPs. Is it possible that my very light use and the standby switch would give the tubes such a long lifespan or would a change of tubes have dramatically improved the sound? Maybe I should have kept the system?!? Oh well, more fun to buy new stuff...
cwlondon
gregm
3,395 posts
 
Cwlondon, Detlof & others, we'll get a quantity discount for the examination or the hearing aids... I had a Jadis front end with Sylvanias. I sold this back in 1991. The buyer subsequently sold to a friend of mine and, there I was, staring at the same old Jadis about two months ago. Same old Sylvanias, too. Now how about that... (my friend does have a set of brand new Golden Dragons sitting in a drawer)
musicslug
430 posts
 
In my experience, when a preamp needs a new tube, you'll know it: noise, tube 'rush' etc. Not subtle. Plus, don't you have access to a tube tester?
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Hi Gregm, what a great story! What we should probably get, is a tube tester with the necessary charts, then we could objectify what we hear. If remember correctly, there was a thread also about Jadis and the Aesthetix Io where Albert Porter told us, that he also had his Io switched on 24/7 and that after a year he remeasured his tubes with hardly a change for the worse. Memory may trick me here, but I think that was the gist if his message. Great thread, by the way!
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Musicslug, true what you say, but then there is also tube aging with its slow and gentle deterioration, which is indeed hardly noticable. Generally you only realise the need for change when you have indeed done so. That's what's bugging us. So right you are, all the more there is need for a tube tester. Not for compulsion neurotics though, because they might test tubes more than using them for enjoyment. All the same: Anyone got an idea of a reliable source for them ? (t.testers..not c.neurotics)
rcprince
3,059 posts
 
I'll add that I've had the same Telefunkens in my JP80 for almost 3 years, and usually leave it on 24 hours a day from Wednesday or Thursday through Monday (it used to be just for the weekend, but that's been expanding). Last time Andy Bouwman made a check on these tubes after 1-1/2 years they were all hardly changed from when I first bought them. The exception, and not applicable to the JPL, are the two 6DJ8s for the MC stage, which go bad after a year or two; the JP80 pushes those tubes to the limit, I guess. George Kaye here in NYC made a small signal tube tester a number of years ago that sold in the $500 range--I don't know if it's still available. And Detlof, I think we all know a reliable source for neurotics....
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