Soooo disappointing. So you want to use in home theatre mode. Get ready to pay up to operate. The tubes stay on and when family uses system 10 plus hrs a day for tv and videos, the tubes burn away. Most of the 8 tubes have life of 4000 hrs and cost $150 per tube to replace. Over 5 years operating costs could approach $5000 or more. And this excludes wasteful elec costs of $100 to $200 per year for bulbs running without being used. Sooooo disappointing.
I called audio research and they confirmed all this. Further, they lacked any sensitivity to theses issues. Seemed kinda arrogant.
If you run a respectable hobby but cannot keep away people from your gear who do not cherish the value of this high end-preamp you do not deserve any compassion for the situation/problem. There are enough solid state solutions out on the market to amplify goofy films on TV. Just my opinion...
emerging soul I have a Bryston amp that shares double duty. I hook up to Luxman w/the RCA connects and the Balanced to the Krell processor. I just flip the switch on the amp according to what processor I'm using . I E-Mailed James Tanner at Bryston to see if it was OK. He wrote back there was no problem. Saves on tube life as w/most HT/passthroughs you have to leave the preamp on.
Reading the OPs issue with Audio Research, I just got a mental picture of their staff leaning in on the conversation while on speaker phone with you and then just cracking up in the back ground as you dredge on about their lack of concern and I wonder, are you their targeted market? Have you considered solid state? Enjoy the music
Have to agree with "Absolutely no sympathy for the OP. If you didn't know this when you purchased your preamp, then you didn't do adequate research. Only yourself to blame."
As mentioned above, you can source power tubes for a fraction of the cost stated, Bias accordingly and there is no difference. ARC is taking advantage of lazy people who don't do their homework.
Considering a tube product..basically of any kind, that will be left on 100% of the time and utilized for HT is NOT a great idea, IMHO. To then question the fact that the tubes will age more rapidly than if one where to use a ss piece, seems a little 'crazy' to me. No wonder ARC were not that receptive!
I never use HT-Passthrough. W/my Bryston I hook up the Balanced connections to my Krell Showcase. W/the RCA's I connect the amp to my Luxman CL38U-SE. When I had a CJ ET-3 SE I did the same. All I had to do was hit the switch on the amp and turn on the preamp I was using. Saves on tube use.
@emergingsoul Its unusual to have to replace all the tubes at once! Tubes have really variable service lives. Some will go a few hundred hours and others will go 20,000 hours.
Two issues here: I am considering a purchase. Don’t own arc. Next, I will explore a cheaper tube, but I saw them from a tube seller for more than 100. Very expensive when replacing 8 tubes.
Absolutely no sympathy for the OP. If you didn't know this when you purchased your preamp, then you didn't do adequate research. Only yourself to blame. Also, if I owned an ARC preamp, and I don't due to high operating costs, I would only buy replacement tubes from ARC.
The tubes only cost that much when you get them from ARC. They are in sockets for a reason- they are considered 'user replaceable' which means you can buy tubes from the Tube Depot or the like and spend considerably less!
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