After putting about 250 hours on my 4 new Sovtek 6H30 Pi tubes and 2 Russian 6C19p power supply tubes for my BAT VK 32 SE preamp, I can say that my experience does not follow the alleged break-in time. Had I made my assessment at the conventional times of about 75-100 hours, I would have come away with a completely different, and less positive, impression that I have had since about 150 hours.
First of all, I do not know what made the difference, the 6H30's, 6C19p's and/or the difference between the Reflector tubes they replaced. Nothing else in my system has changed during this time frame, although there is a new Sigma Digital breaking in on a fan for my DAC, waiting for me to be sure what I am hearing is the steady state of the tubes.
No surprise, out of the box the tubes were different than the otherwise good Reflectors (I made the change trying to diagnose an output differential, which did not go way with the change). They sounded a lot like ARC preamps with Sovtek 6H30's and I was fairly happy, but something was not right, although they were not broken in. Another difference was that my Spectral DMA 260 amp went into protection mode at much lower levels than it did with the Reflectors and seemed to have more gain.
120 hours later, after being on while out of town with no signal, they sounded more cohesive, but still not quite as inviting as I hoped. What was interesting is that the Spectral was no longer going into protection mode unless hit with excess gain demands or high level brass sections which it is does not like with the impedance curve of my ML's. However, what is really weird is that I think it actually plays a db or two louder before going into protection, although I cannot be sure.
During the next 30-40 hours some magic took place and has remained stable during the past 100 hours. Now the sound I have is the most revealing (detailed, delicate, best bass, real sounding, widest soundstage beyond the speakers) and just overall pleasing I have heard with my system ever. I cannot hear a tube signature, although that may be because I like this signature.
I am just curious if others have found it takes at least 150 hours for tube break in?
First of all, I do not know what made the difference, the 6H30's, 6C19p's and/or the difference between the Reflector tubes they replaced. Nothing else in my system has changed during this time frame, although there is a new Sigma Digital breaking in on a fan for my DAC, waiting for me to be sure what I am hearing is the steady state of the tubes.
No surprise, out of the box the tubes were different than the otherwise good Reflectors (I made the change trying to diagnose an output differential, which did not go way with the change). They sounded a lot like ARC preamps with Sovtek 6H30's and I was fairly happy, but something was not right, although they were not broken in. Another difference was that my Spectral DMA 260 amp went into protection mode at much lower levels than it did with the Reflectors and seemed to have more gain.
120 hours later, after being on while out of town with no signal, they sounded more cohesive, but still not quite as inviting as I hoped. What was interesting is that the Spectral was no longer going into protection mode unless hit with excess gain demands or high level brass sections which it is does not like with the impedance curve of my ML's. However, what is really weird is that I think it actually plays a db or two louder before going into protection, although I cannot be sure.
During the next 30-40 hours some magic took place and has remained stable during the past 100 hours. Now the sound I have is the most revealing (detailed, delicate, best bass, real sounding, widest soundstage beyond the speakers) and just overall pleasing I have heard with my system ever. I cannot hear a tube signature, although that may be because I like this signature.
I am just curious if others have found it takes at least 150 hours for tube break in?
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