DON:T WAIT! Replace Those Old Power Tubes!

I originally bought the Raven Nighthawk. Then, Raven Audio offered an upgrade to the transformers to toroidal, and an upgraded PC board, and other upgrades were offered so Raven recreated my Nighthawk into something better. I'm unsure what to call it now! I had read your earlier post about the Reflection. It sounds totally amazing. (And it looks incredible!) These Chinese NOS are a bit pinched up but soon will open up I expect. The quiet background is beyond anything I've ever heard on my amp from the very first day. After just getting my sub issue worked out, and now these new power tubes, it will be hard to get anything done around here. LOL

Yes a tube tester is on my short list of "important" items needed. Honestly that level of commitment was what I feared originally about tube equipment but despite myself I'm overcoming my xenophobia. The quality of musical reproduction  is so "human" that I'm getting braver and beginning to embrace the cool details of tube design and magical sound quality. I'm so techno-phobic that tubes seemed unnecessarily demanding. But, contrary to my stubborn comfort zone addiction, I've begun to embrace the additional knowledge set that tubes require. "Old dogs new tricks" adage rings true for me except gaining amazing music quality beyond anything I've ever thought I could own has lead me down a path which contained delights worth the uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty. Yes, Chinese NOS which, I'm reliably informed, far out performs current production models. Not cheap though at $400 per quad for Raven Heads through Raven Dave of Raven Audio but my ears have never experienced such a treat!!

The Raven Audio amps seem to be tough because due to my overuse of nano contact enhancer on tube pins I shorted out, red plated a couple power tubes. Very scary when a tube glows bright red in the main body of the tube and a horrific howl blasts from one's speaker. Being a complete novice and never even knowing about or ever seeing such an event I was both terrified and intrigued. Immediately put it off. let it cool, removed offender and "kept calm and carried on". (All nano enhancer has been cleaned off now on tube pins TIP: Use sparingly, extremely sparingly) Occasionally a tube would begin to "red plate" I will shut off unit, reseat tube, and it will act normal again. But as I said, these amps can withstand a lot of user misuse.My normal idea of learning by experience may be on my tomb stone. "Experience Is The Perfect Teacher to He Who Lives Forever" (For mere mortals, read the instruction book)

I'm not sure how the tube sockets are attached but after I cleaned off the nano contact enhancer which can move around a little with heat and getting these NOS power tubes no more problems with any thing. As usual its my fault for over using the nano stuff and being too cheap to just get new power tubes which I suspected I needed for a while. (Didn't;t realize just how much I needed the new tubes) AND, I was always changing around tubes to discover the best sound with each combination. So intriguing to hear the changes as I try different preamp tubes especially from all around the world and from different time frames of manufacturing. All NOS in this amp. If anything could crack I surely would have cracked it by now. Did have one of the 9-pin tube leave behind one of its pins before and I shoved another right along side of it! Iy played but was a little weird so I checked to discover the extra pin lodged in a slot. Not good. Raven Dave is sending a free replacement as if he's personally responsible for all things Raven Audio which I appreciate endlessly of course. May I say Raven Audio (as many here have confirmed) is profoundly committed to personal customer care. Chris Botti CD playing right now beautifully. Over and out