Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
Decware Audio Forums
04/19/24 at 12:13:34 




Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Expected tube life (Read 3851 times)
DB2
Senior Member
***




Posts: 67
Expected tube life
10/18/17 at 00:18:21
 
The ZMA has four KT66 output tubes. What is the normal expected lifetime for this type of tube in the ZMA?
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Steve Deckert
Administrator
*****


If the 1st watt
sucks why continue?

Posts: 6246
Re: Expected tube life
Reply #1 - 10/18/17 at 01:31:10
 
The typical tube life of most output tubes is between 3000~6000 hours and when biased right with lower voltages they can go a bit longer. The ZMA makes it easy to bias them right and it is aprox 100 volts lower than most amplifiers to enhance tube life and sound quality.

Steve
Back to top
 
 
WWW   IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Expected tube life
Reply #2 - 10/18/17 at 14:18:35
 

I got about 2 years out of my stock set of output tubes. They were still usable when I pulled them, but noticeably less dynamic and "sharp" compared to a new set of stock tubes.

Doing the math, and knowing I sometimes play music 4-8 hours a day, it sounds like I got roughly 4500 hours out of my stock tubes, biased at 50 like the manual suggests.

My preamp tubes get swapped out a lot, so I'm unsure of how long they lasted, but I know my set were also tired when I swapped my power tubes.  

So for me, I expect to get about 2 years out of a full set of tubes before I'm wanting a refresh. If I had more money I wouldn't mind swapping tubes out every year and keeping the used ones as spares. I do use my amp a lot, and like when it's punchy and dynamic and so very consistent.
Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
stone_of_tone
Seasoned Member
****


Listen Often/Listen
Deep

Posts: 3217
Re: Expected tube life
Reply #3 - 10/19/17 at 03:57:34
 
22 months on my first quad.
2nd quad got fried....Steve totally took care of me..... .
3rd quad right now, I expect 22 months again.
I put new rubber on my car early....so I also re-tube/outputs....a little early.
So, $120 to $140 for a quad/KT66 Tung-Sol, is worth it for my Listening durations and ware...... = ZMA/22 months.
I have $1600 of NOS Platinum 6922 tube variants and some sweet NOS RCA 0A3's. .....pretty much set.
Back to top
 
 

Room Treats-M.Green & mine
Sony TPort
Illuminati D60
Shunyata Z-Alpha DigPcord
Decware ZDSD DAC
Kimber Select KS1030
XLOProPcord
Decware ZMA/25th Mods
Kimber Select KS6063
Acoustic Zen Adagio/Modified
Kimber PK10 Palladian from wall
to PS Audio P3
  IP Logged
DB2
Senior Member
***




Posts: 67
Re: Expected tube life
Reply #4 - 10/19/17 at 22:34:52
 
"22 months on my first quad."

Basically the same here....
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Pages: 1
Send Topic Print