My CT-5 needs a solid hour to warm up...

[turntable]

Stephen

Since it has only two tubes. leave it on 24/7 most of the time

[Tonepub]

Those 6H30's get really hot. While I did manage to get about 18,000 hours out of the first set in my ACT2, I don't know if I'd leave a tube anything on 24/7.

Most mfrs. do not recommend this.

[Puma Cat]

I don't leave the CT-5 on 24/7. When I do leave it on for burning in, it's 8 hours during the day at work, or overnight, then I switch it off.

[cjfan]

Have any of the CT5 owners on here tried changing the 6H30's?
Any recommendations or advice?

I to have noticed that it takes it time to 'come on song' and happens suddenly.

[Briz Vegaas]

Hi. I have a pair of gold pin tubes and the standard ones. My dealer recommended the std ones as I was using the CA200 and the goldies might be too warm and fuzzy in that combination. I did not find a huge difference but I don't roll often, the std tubes have been in there for a while. Actually maybe I should start thinking about swapping them for a fresh set. Been in there 15 months and they weren't new when I got it.

The 60 minute thing is standard but its still nice from cold, it just gets better at 1 hour. The CA 200 does it also but it takes 1/2 hour. I'm fine with that. Modern life is too fast anyway.

[tdelahanty]

Both tube and solid-state benefit from thermal equilibrium, heat soaked and fully charged. Optimum conditions take longer than an hour. My SS equipment stays on 24/7, I can tell a difference, compared to being on just one hour or so. Unfortunately it's the tale of two evils with tubes, better sound or shorter tube life.

I know of no power conditioner or filter that is a substitute for thermal equilibrium, better sound always, maybe with dirty power.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by cjfan

Have any of the CT5 owners on here tried changing the 6H30's?
Any recommendations or advice?

I to have noticed that it takes it time to 'come on song' and happens suddenly.

Yup....that's my experience exactly. Takes almost exactly one hour. That's just the way it is, it seems. I've put in the 6H30DR, "super tubes" from Reflektor, which are better, but the 1 hour "warmup time" is still required. It's like the CT-5 just goes SNAP and it's better all of a sudden.

[cjfan]

Thanks Puma-cat. Are the super tubes worth the money in your opinion?
Cheers

[microstrip]

Originally Posted by tonepub

Those 6H30's get really hot. While I did manage to get about 18,000 hours out of the first set in my ACT2, I don't know if I'd leave a tube anything on 24/7.

Most mfrs. do not recommend this.

Did you leave it on 24/24 for two years?

Although I would think twice about some other equipment, considering that all power supply supply capacitors of the ACT2 are Teflon type, except for the tube filament and control supply, I also did not had any problem leaving the ACT2 permanently on. The only problem I have had with the 6h30's was one sample becoming noisy.

Unhappily the 6922's of the ART were a different story ...

[Briz Vegaas]

My CT5 was out of action for 5 weeks waiting on a modification to fix a flakey relay problem. They fit what I think was described as a grounding plate, or a bigger one anyway.

I was glad to once again have my preamp hooked up to my CA200 despite an early moment last weekend where something else Happened. The system crackled after playing a few albums. Fortunately that episode has not returned. The system was sounding ok, but I expected it would need to be run in after it was laid up so long.

By Friday i began to think my pre wasn't so special after all. Maybe my CA200 was pretty good all on its own. Reinstalling the CT5 didn't seem to work as well as i remembered.

In the back of my mind I remembered auditioning the unit and how it took a week to click and all of a sudden it produced a bigger better sound. The famous Teflon run in.

Well it finally happened today. Just when I was thinking I imagined it the first time. I left the room and was reading a newspaper article when suddenly I noticed the music change.

It will be interesting if this apparent blossoming remains or if was just a change in my mood. I was all ready to go borrow a LP70 to see if I could find some of the systems mojo again. I will have to see if this impression remains over the next few days but things seem to be a lot bigger and more transparent now.