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Rogue 88 problems

I bought an used Rogue 88(not magnum). I met couple of problems, hope somebody could help me out.
1. The fan gives rather big noise. My listening room is small (13X12), and it's really annoying. The seller told me the amp is about a year old. Is it about time to change the fan?
2. I hear sparks from the speaker in the first 20 mins when I turn 88 on. What could be the cause of this?
3. This one is not really a problem. When I switch from UL to triode, the volume of sound dosen't change. I am expecting the sound to go down, because the output is half of UL.

Thanks in advance.
pren

Showing 2 responses by marakanetz

marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Pren,

You're in the bad situation because

a) you can't get away without fan(due to high-biased tubes in amplifier)
b) fan is always noisy especially DC motor ones.
c) Rogue is known for its "innovative" designs that either have reliability or performance issues biting a consumer thereafter or even soon after the purchase is made.

Solutions:

a) Assuming that there is a DC motor try to use AC motor fan that is substantially less noisy. It's easy to reconnect the leads before the rectifying bridge if this is the case.

b) Don't use expencive speakers or make sure that the warranty of your speakers covers the poor amps' perfomance(s).
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
My information comes from not once heard complains about performance(not meaning a sound) of Rogue amps and preamps. I've never looked inside these units but I can assume that they're using high bias circuitry that makes a tube life short so freequent retubing may be neccessary.

I happen to see that in listening room with magnum M120 having a same described hiss and noise.

I guess that some models are built good and some of them aren't.

I'd perform overall look onto the solder joints but after one year it realy shouldn't be an issue in any electronic device.
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