NOS tubes for Sonic Frontiers Line 1

Snipes,
The 2 tubes in the far back row Will yield the biggest change in sound, LV1 and V1.
Next is the middle row, LV2 and V2.
Front row, LV3 and V3 least effect.
I learned this from Bill and Sam.

Question for you. When not listening to your SF preamp do you put it in standby or shut it off completely? Looks to me that standby shortens the tube life. Is that right?

Jeffcott, yes I will let you know.

Jim

I've had this pre for about 2 years. It's my first tube based piece of gear. The information I've come across during that time suggests that putting it into standby is a trick used by SF to increase tube life ( as opposed to leaving it on all the time). Supposedly it runs at about 10% of the normal operating mode while in standby. I've seen this number referenced by more than one person. The only time I completely shut mine off is when I'm going out of town for the weekend. Mine is tied into my HT rig so between listening to music or just using the HT bybass to watch TV/movies it's on every day. I would think turning it on and off daily would do more harm than just leaving it in standby when I'm not home. Recently music has started to sound a little dull and lifeless so I decided to break out of the extra tubes that came along with it when I purchased it from a gentlemen here on Audiogon. The tube life of the Amperex's is supposed to be 10K hours, that's about 2 years. So I'm going to see what type of changes I can hear from trying out the different tubes, including the stock ones. Hopefully my tubes are still good and I don't have to dip into my stash, but we'll see. I can post my results if you like? It will be a week or two before I will have meaningful information. Please update the thread when you have some info on the tube dampers, I've never heard of them before.

Snipes, I posted a question on AA...Tubes...On 02-05-05.
"Sonic Frontiers Line 1 standby, shorten tube life"? Check it out. Sam 1104, who I bought my tubes from has a line 2 and he turns off his unit also. I am now shutting my Line 1 down at night.

Jea48: I posed the same question to SF tech support yesterday before I read your response. I'll post their answer when I receive it.

Does anyone have a "good" source for a few Amperex 6922 usa PQ's.Thanks>