How much hum is normal from a new tube amp


I just bought a great sounding Lab12 Suara KT120 tube amp. The issue I am having is a hum that is coming from the transformers. I can hear it with no music playing faintly from my listening position 12 ft. away. The question is, should I return it, or is this normal acceptable. 

blue-magoo

Showing 1 response by carlsbad2

Is hum from the transformer or from the speakers?  Speaker hum is generally from AC heaters and low level is often considered acceptable.

Hum from transformers is a different story.  power transformer, not output transformer.  There are many threads chasing transfoermer hum.  many chase  "dc offset" but I find that highly unlikely--maybe I've just been lucky.

It is generally caused by either poor design or an unbalanced load.  Some designers put fuses in the outpot of the voltage rectifier tube.  there are 2 legs to this tube and if one leg blows a fuse the amp will still play fine but the transformer will hum.  I've found this once in an amp I owned and helped others find it twice.

 

Jerry