2. tech-talk
  3. 119773-1438

To Variac or not to Variac?

Hi guys,

I have a pair of Manley 200W monos that I used almost daily for several years until about a year and a half ago.  Since then, they have not been powered up at all.  Should I use a Variac to power them up again for the first time?  Thanks in advance.
frogman
4 responses Add your response
jond's avatar
jond
5,794 posts
 
FWIW I always power my amp, a Deja Vu Audio PP EL34 17 watter, up with a variac and then just run it off the variac when I listen. I use a 20A variac so tons of current for my relatively low power amp and I noticed a nice drop in the noise floor when I first hooked things up this way.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

Too late now that you've done it, your were lucky.

Good idea to power up slowly (over a few hours) with a variac after long period of non use.

But!! being a big tube amps or any tube amps for that mater, one should never power them up without a speaker load or 8ohm power resistors attached to the speaker terminals, and also for good measure input shorting plugs.

As some tube amps can go into oscillation without a speaker/resistor load, and can take out the output transformer.


Cheers George      

frogman OP
7,441 posts
 
Thanks for your response, kijanki.  You're probably correct.  I did contact the manufacturer about this and their tech suggested that as a precaution it was probably a good idea to variac.  I did and all is well.  Thanks.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Year and a half is not enough time to cause any problems with electrolytic caps IMHO.
Log in to respond
More to discover
80x80
Wisdom Audio P20m
80x80
RSX MUSIC SERVER RSX MUSIC SERVER
80x80
Aurender N100H
FREE SHIPPING!