@musicfan2349 Awesome 👍👌
Audio Research REF 750 pre July 4 FIRE WORKS. TUBE ARC.
Well I just had time to finally hook up my new Audio Ref 6 se for the first time as I got it back from AR last week. So I waited patiently for my night off from work last night and was also very excited to finally hear that for the first my Audio Research REF 750s. that came with the KT 150s with 660 hrs on them. I was really enjoying the beautiful sound of these phenomenal amps for a few hours and called my wife up to hear how amazing Barbra Streisand sounded playing The way we were. I had all the lights off in my listening room and we were lost in the sound quality as my B&W matrix 800 speakers disappeared and melted also to the beautiful sound of her voice and when all of a sudden there was an explosion as I had first thought. The middle of the top KT150s there was a loud SIZZLE a FIREBALL and a loud POP !!!! And WHITE SMOKE and then cut off. We immediately jumped up and my heart sank as I yelled OMG. I jumped up and ran to my L amp and I pulled the plug while the R amp and speaker was still playing. I said WTF happened?? My heart sank in my stomach as the first thing I thought was now after all the anticipation of that night to finally arrive I was now devastated as I had no idea WTF just happened. I was numb. I finally calmed down some looked over the amp on top. Didn’t see no damage and texted my guy that I bought them from and he told me it sounds like a tube arc. He then told me to take all the top tubes out but u can leave the 2 inside ones in. He then said to carefully take off the top cover as I did. I turned the cover over and saw black underneath as I then turned it over I saw it was V10. He said now look at the resistors by V10 socket. Sure enough the wire leads were gone. He said your V10 tube is shot and u will need to replace the resistors by V10 socket. I said does it have to be sent to ARC ? As I just got delivered the REF 6SE that had been upgraded and just got it back from ARC on Tuesday. I couldn’t think now about packing up the Left Ch REF 750 and shipping it back to ARC. He said nope no need to. Just have the Resistors replaced and get a new V10 tube with the same number on it from ARC. And call your ARC dealer here in NJ to see if his technician can come to my home and replace and solder the new resistors back on. Put the new KT 150 in and you will be back in business. So now I am waiting for my ARC dealer to open this morning and hopefully he will tell me some good news. Just don’t understand how or why this happened? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Wow I will tell ya that it was a very scary thing.BTW I never owned a tube amp except for my REF6 SE pre so this is still very new to me.
Showing 11 responses by tattooedtrackman
@jasonbourne71 That’s ok. For this kinda sound it’s definitely worth it. 👍 |
@tubegb Wow yes u are so right the fist thing I noticed was like how much heat these 750s put out. It was like having 2 big heaters on high with them. I heard they would be putting out some heat but they really blow some high heat. Lol. I thought my Krell FPB 600 put out some heat lol. Also yes I definitely have AC in my listening room. I would definitely would not be able to stay in there without one especially with the REF 750s. In the winter it will be nice as I don’t get the best heat upstairs in my listening room. |
Thank you all who responded. My ARC dealer in NJ contacted me this morning. John Rutan from Audio Connection in Verona NJ. Even before I had the chance for his store to open and call him first. He read my post and called me as soon as he read what happened. He also explained how and why this could happen. And said to call ARC and order the V10 K150 and some extra resistors also to have on hand. As soon as I get them delivered from ARC to call him and he will have his Service tech come to my home and repair what has to be with the REF 750. And basically said it’s not a big deal that this does happen ever so often with a bad tube. Hopefully it wouldn’t ever happen again but I am grateful that I don’t have to send it back to ARC for repair. I have known John Rutan since I bought my first amp and preamp from him in 1991. It was a Counterpoint SA 220 amp and an SA 2000 pre. He is such an awesome guy and SO very knowledgeable. He really left me feeling so happy and positive about what happened last night. Thank you so very much John !!!! |
@jjss49 Yep I finally made it !!! 😂 |
@gpgr4blu 💯. @audphile1 I definitely will 👍. @mulveling I totally understand that s””it happens. But the first 3 hrs or so of listening to them for the first time. Wow what a thing to happen. And I’m definitely a virgin to tube amps . And wow what a way to find out about tube arching with a REF 750 KT150. 😂 |
@yesiam_a_pirate Wow. That’s awesome to hear that u found a great local tech and what a great price. I am very grateful to have my ARC dealer and friend and extremely knowledgeable I have known for 30 yrs John Rutan from Audio Connection in Verona NJ. |
@fsonicsmith1 No need to apologize for being critical. I appreciate it. U made some very good points and the tubes had 660 hrs on them. All the tubes were purchased from ARC matched set. I even bought a brand new 2nd matched set from him that he also purchased from ARC. I would never buy these tubes from a middle man. I would rather pay 💰 a lot more for them from ARC knowing they will be the best out there and matched. 1 thing I did not do when they were warmed up for about an hour was check the bias on them. I did ask my seller if I needed to and he told me he checked everything out completely right before he shipped and said they should be totally fine. I also went by the meter that showed they were in normal operating range. I ordered the new KT150 with the exact number written on the tube from ARC and also new fuse and extra resistors. When John Rutan and his service tech comes to my home to do the work I will have him check everything out with them and see if they can check the tubes out and bring a tube tester also. The amps were bought from a member from here and I have spoke to him and texted each other for hours and he is extremely knowledgeable about these Ref 750s and explained everything I had questions about and many more that he brought up. Any questions I had he was always there for me. As a matter of fact he was the first person I contacted when this happened. And he was the first one who said it’s not a big issue. And told me exactly what to do and what to look for about the arching. And said it definitely does not need to be shipped to ARC for repair. As a matter of fact he boxed up all the tubes and made sure to number them and put them all back in there exact valve socket locations. And also told me to make sure there were all securely pushed down in place. I really don’t think there was nothing that he left out for me to do and explained everything I really needed to know and more. We also became friends and text all the time I know he will always be there for me also with any questions or concerns I may have. I even sent him my Straightwire Crescendo quad wired for my B&W Matrix 800s as they were Bi wired for my Krell FPB 600. He reterminated them for me. Changed and soldered the spades to Cardas to the exact size I needed for the binding posts on the REF 750s. Beautifully shrink wrapped the ends. .Custom made beautiful oak blocks that he mounted them too about a foot where they get connected to the 750s. BTW he is amd works as an audio engineer. |
@musicfan2349 I would enjoy talking to u about the B&W Matrix 800s. 👍 |
@fsonicsmith1 I believe the ones u were referring to were the 600s. |
@truman Thank u so much for that terrific response about Mr John Rutan. I have known him from 1991 from my first purchase from him. At that time there were many brick and mortar hi end audio stores around in the tri state area where I am from NY NJ PA. I’ve been around to many of them but there was no one like John. He has always been there for me on many buying experiences, demoing equipment in my home ,servicing equipment , making me custom speaker cables, knowledge , patience, kindness and any questions I ever had in those 32 years. Always has been there for me and I know that he is there for anyone that has questions or needs help with anything audio related. A true stand up guy. A great asset to the audio community. I am very lucky to have gotten to know him for that 32 years and counting. |