I recently dipped my toe into the tube waters with an Almarro A205A MkII (thanks, Chris!) and have really been enjoying it. I have a couple of questions about tube gear in general:
- I can start listening immediately after turning the amp on (it fades in over about 10 seconds or so). Is this okay to do, or should I let the tubes warm up a bit?
- When I do start listening w/o warming up, I notice about 20-30 minutes in that it just starts to sing, that *everything* seems to improve...tighter bass, clearer highs, warmer midrange, bigger soundstage, more focused imaging. Am I delusional, or is this for real?
- Sometimes I forgot to turn the amp off and my leave it on with nothing playing for 6 hours or so. Is this as bad (from a tube wear perspective) as listening for 6 hours? Or is it pretty nominal wear?
- In a related question, if I am going to listen for a while and then, say, mow the lawn and be back in 90 minutes, is it better to turn off the amp, or just leave it on?
Thanks for any info y'all can share.