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Problem with Ref 5SE

I recently purchased a 5se and took delivery the other day. Did not get a chance to open it up until last night. Upon installing it into system I switched it on and after it warmed up, I was very much interested in hearing how it sounded against my current 27. After listening to several tracks with the 27 I switched pre's and after a couple of minutes playing a CD I got some noise, almost a loud static sound coming from the right channel. It was not effected by changing volume controls or input selector. It went away after 10-15 seconds and then returned. At that point, as it was late, I shut everything down and figured I would take another look in the morning.

This morning I removed the top cover and pulled and reset the output tubes and then the power tubes. I fired it back up and still had the 'static' sound but now it also had a humm, like an impedance type hum and constant. I do not believe that the humm was present last night as it is quite noticeable. 

The static type load noise seemed to have abated after the unit warmed up after maybe 15-30 minutes.

Can I assume that perhaps a tube was damaged during shipping? Do you ARC guys think a new set of tubes will fix this issue or am I looking at something more severe? Any additional suggestions to try and pin this down?

I rerouted the IC going to the amps to get them further away from source IC's and no help...

I am a little bummed, as my initial impression it that it is a leap from the LS27, my current...
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Showing 3 responses by ghasley

ghasley
2,439 posts
 
Do what elrod said. If the sound follows from right channel to left, youve narrowed it down. You also have two good 6h30 tubes in your ls27 so if the sound moves channels, borrow one 6h30 from the ls 27 and replace one of the potential issue tubes at a time to isolate. The same can be done to try to isolate the hum (You didn5 say if the hum is in the right channel or both channels) but first try reversing your interconnects on that channel, etc. are you using balanced or single ended interconnects?

After its all said and done, it may need a trip back to arc. 
ghasley
2,439 posts
 
Ive had several ref 5se’s, running into multiple different amps (arc, pass, even a shindo) and they were always dead quiet with my 96db speakers. You need to send it to Arc for service.
ghasley
2,439 posts
 
You should send it back to the seller for a full refund. Heres why, you will go several weeks, maybe a month or two and the claim will be denied by the shipping company. Why? The seller improperly packed it. It wasnt the shipping companys fault. The seller will dispute the denial, and the shipper will prevail. You would have noticed the box damage. In addition, you are not a party to the contract between shipper and seller.
As time passes, things will slow to a crawl and you will see on the horizon your ability to dispute the transaction slowly fading into the sunset. Get your money back, you are already out a bundle on time, inconvenience and the tubes you purchased but may never use.

good luck.
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