Quote Originally Posted by analog addict View Post
I'd actually beg to differ on that one, at least for the designer I know. Dennis Had could care less if your tubes last 2000 hours or 10,000 hours. He designs amps with performance in mind. It's all about the power and the sound. I have a early prototype 6BQ5 amp built out of a modded Zenith, and he runs the 6BQ5s hard enough that some of my tubes will exhibit a faint orange glow on the plates. It's a bit disconcerning the first time you notice it, and that amp will quickly sort out which of your tubes are good and not so good. I just got it back from him after a tune up, and he said that it's putting out about 8 WPC, which is huge for a single ended 6BQ5.
I have had Cary amps and a Cary pre, and I have known a few good techs that have worked on Cary gear. I liked them, but you are right, Dennis' designs do not respect the tubes very well and they do burn through them - regardless if how good they are.

A very well respected local tech I use when stuff gets over our heads actually called said his amps' design that he worked on "did some questionable and dirty things" (like just simply reducing the bias point in "standby" mode).