2. amps-preamps
  3. 144387-480

Life of KT150 tubes on ARC Amps

I have Audio Research 250SE amps and the tubes in it have 2400 Hours. I wanted to hear experience from other ARC users if they replaced KT150 tubes before 3000 Hours.  I am not sure if i need to replace them now or wait for some more time.   I dont have new set of tubes for me to compare with my current tubes and wanted to hear from other people who replaced the tubes.

veerapaneni
keithr
1,306 posts
 
I got around 3500 hours out of mine, but replacement was noticeably better (purchased from Kevin Deal). 


pianosteve22's avatar
pianosteve22
15 posts
 
I have an ARC VT200 amp that I love(d) (with an ARC LS25 mk II preamp) - it sounds great - but the pain and expense of retubing it has become just too much for me. I just bought a pass labs X250.8 amp to replace the VT200. 
It's wasn't just the expense of retubing it - it's also 20 minutes it takes to warm up when wanting to listen to music - and the hassle of getting the amp to someone who can retube it for me. I once ordered the tubes myself to save money and one of the tubes arc-ed and i had to send it to get fixed anyway. 

I leave the pass amp on all the time and if i want to listen i just need to press PLAY on my CD player remote - I can play it whenever and not worry abt using up my tube life. 

The VT200 did sound great though :)

Steve


flip944's avatar
flip944
1 posts
 
Audio Research runs their power tubes at 50% so 3000 hours is about right.   Good article in Stereophile last year about the new REF 160(kt150) amps. They discuss tube life.🎵
More to discover