Best Way To Maximize Preamp Tube Life?

Just don’t use them, they will last forever..

Read ON..

Kind of like running tubes in a MM or MC phono circuits but you use neither and use and external phono pre amp..

Pull the valves.. It won’t hurt a thing. Save them for when you need new ones.. I’ve done it for years with Macs.. New and old.. Pull the phono section you are NOT using and leave the one you are. Either or but quit burning up valves..

Do you know how many perfectly good Telefunken and RCA prime 12AX7 have just been BURNT UP? Me neither, a BUNCH is a good guess though. :-)

If people new.. now they do...

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Off topic a bit OP I’ll erase it if you want..

Here is a cool one, I can bias up 4, 8 or 12 valves on my V12R Cary. Just depends how LOUD or LOW I want to go..

4 valves total of 6V6 is @ 15 - 20 watts total (2 valves per side).
OR 12 valves of KT88 or 90s at 200 + watts. (6 per side) 100 + watts per side at 8 ohms.

I can get an easy 90db from just 4 valves (about 10 watts per rail or channel) and small planars.. I get a little tube breakup if I REALLY crank it.. Ribbons or small planars aren’t to fond of a goofy wave pattern, you do need to be aware of that..

I bias cool and really get the watts UP, if I’m cranking it. I bias HOT for late night low volume listening.. Nuggets for ALL to share.. They all save valve life and save a few quid to boot.. Electric bills and valve cost...

Regards

It only takes max 5 min for tubes to go into operational heat. Other stories about warming up for hours are just unnecessary hype for unaware and uneducated consumer -- so do your figures.

||Just don't use them and it will last forever||
isn't true at all, because your DC caps will likely dry out and fail often destroying tubes as well.

You can take the advice of the designer/manufacturer or you can take the advice of a random guy on an audiophile forum.  I say leave it on 24/7 and replace the tubes every 12 to 18 months.  This assumes you listen more than four to six hours daily and that the sessions are not continuous.

Turning a tube system on 2 or 3 times a day doesn't hurt it all.

@donsachs 
That sounds about right. Thanks for joining the conversation, Don.

My amps turn themselves off after 30 minutes being idle. So I never tune them off manually. Sometimes I come back to listen within 30 minutes, sometimes I don’t.