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Advice on Repairs for Audio Research VT100 Mk II

Hi everyone,

I purchased a second-hand Audio Research VT100 Mk II for about EUR 2,500. After about 1 month, the fan died, which turned out to be faulty resistors near the fan. After about 6 months, there were some loud pops, and two more resistors were blown near one of the power tubes.

I sent it to the authorised Audio Research repair shop here in Germany and they quoted me the following for the repair work:

  • Replacing 10 Resistors 43100004 (at EUR 2.00 per resistor)
  • Replacing 10 Resistors 43100208 (at EUR 7.50 per resistor)
  • Replacing 8 6550 Tubes with J.J. Tubes (at EUR 20.50 per tube)
  • Replacing 8 6922 Tubes with J.J. Tubes (at EUR 83.95 per tube)
  • 13 hours of labour (at EUR 75 per hour).

For a total of EUR 1,905,60 plus 19% VAT, i.e. EUR 2,267. I pushed back and asked if really all of the tubes needed replacing and they said yes. I also pushed back on the price of EUR 83.95 per tube for the 6922 and they said that these tubes needed to be matched and therefore the costs include labour, shipping, and tuning/matching of the tubes.

Does that seem like a fair price for the work? I’m of course reluctant to spend on repairs what I’ve already spent for the amp itself. I’m fine with the price of the resistors, 6550 tubes, and labour but the price for the 6992 tubes seems too high. On the JJ Tubes website, these tubes sell for about EUR 20 a piece and they do not even offer matched sets of 6992. Do the 6992 input tubes really need to be matched?

Any advice or comments is much appreciated.

Thanks, Edward

edward78

Showing 2 responses by whart

whart's avatar
whart
3,128 posts
 

I don't know this particular model, but had ARC gear for decades- multiple amps, preamps. I still have the Dual 75a that I bought new in 1975-- it is sitting idle with a fresh tube set I bought from ARC a number of years ago. They were never cheap to maintain but I did get a lot of utility out of them. One question I would ask given the price is what kind of warranty you can expect after having paid to replace all the tubes and associated resistors? I used to deal w/ ARC in Minn. and they stood behind their work. That was quite a few years ago- I don't know what difference it makes that you are dealing w/ an authorized facility in another country or how things may have changed given that the company is in different hands and the amp is relatively old from what I gather. Typically, warranties on tubes themselves are limited, but....

I still run tubes, and periodically have the manufacturer go over the amps, line stage, phono stage, etc. There is a running cost to these things-- I like the DR variant of the 6h30 which, for a vintage quad (used in my line stage) is not only costly but very hard to find these days. Generally, I've found tube gear of this calibre to be pretty reliable other than routine maintenance, tube replacement but cannot speak to whether this particular model is worth investing in for the long run. If it is, bite the bullet, get it done and enjoy it! 

whart's avatar
whart
3,128 posts
 

@cleeds - thanks for pointing to the warranty, I obviously missed that. 

@jea48 raises a very good point about the caps. 

Sorry for your troubles, OP. It may be throwing good money after bad if that makes any sense. But perhaps worth asking about recap cost-- what else would normally go wrong in these? That old Dual 75a I have has no chips that I'm aware of-- but it was recapped a while ago and will probably need another go-over before I consider running it again. 

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