Thank you Jwong for the thoughtful suggestions. Unfortunately I live in the greater N.York area and shipping these amps to the West coast for mods is a task I am not looking forward to. Also unfortunate is the fact that N.York has so few tech men to do the work unless one wants to spend a fortune, I believe and been warned that they charge the most expensive prices in the country.
Anyway,I contacted the Canadian importer of the amps and he suggested to try Slow Blow fuses instead of Fast Blow that I have been using from the beginning. I also changed all output KT-88 tubes. After these changes the amps work like a dream, I had forgotten what improvement new tubes can do to the sound, even if they are the same low quality kind as the ones these amps came with. A big problem that I believe contibutes to the failing of the low quality resistors, tube sockets and most other parts is HEAT!, these amps generate so much of it I can keep my living room warm in the winter. I have placed 2 small fans infront of each monoblock and even though they are somewhat audible in very low volume music they do an excellent job keeping the amps cool. A friend of mine who bought the same amps but had them placed under a cabinet had all kinds of tube and other part failures that made him get rid of the 'Canes in disgust before he realized that his problem had mainly been their placement which generated excess amounts of part wearing heat.
I use the excellent "Rhea" tubed phono stage which I'll keep for ever, and the same cartridge as you do, but I also have a second tonearm on my custom made TT with a low output Grado Master, for a change to a more subtle and detailed sound.
I hope this is the beginning of a long period without the problems I had in the past.
Thanks again.
Ted
