Tube arch


Ok I’ll keep this short. So my last post was about a tube arc. Took out a resistor on one of my Audio Research Ref 750s. I replaced the resistor and put in a matching KT150. My question is how can I avoid this from happening again. Someone said that when the tubes get up there in hours there is a very good chance of an arc will happen again. After a certain amount of hours should I just change all the 18 KT150s ? Even if they still sound good ? Btw. I have always had SS amps and pre amps. I finally bought an Audio Research REF 6 pre a few years ago and had it upgraded to the 6SE. But as far as tubes amps the Audio Research REF 750s are my first tube amps. This will always be on my mind now especially when the hours of the tubes start reaching a high hour number. Thank you. Mike. Ps I heard that this was a pretty rare thing to have happened and it was probably caused by shipping.

tattooedtrackman

Showing 1 response by ghdprentice

I have to ask. Are you sure you need all that power?

I had monster solid state amps for well over thirty years. It was clear that more power made a big difference in the overall sound quality. Overpowering was always good.

 

A few years ago I switched to tubes. Audio Research Reference 160m and 160s. They can be run in ultra linear mode with 140 wpc or in triode mode… 70 wpc. My Sonus Faber Amanti Traditional have an efficiency of 90db… 3db less than yours. I have found they sound better in triode mode (a touch more musical). So I run them in triode mode. There is no noticeable difference in volume between the two modes (yes, counterintuitive). I find with tubes the wpc is very little difference in sound unless you are really under powering, unlike solid state.

I listen to them in the 70db - 80db range at most usually. I had some youngsters over here to listen to them. They listened at way more… in the 90s. They sounded great… no loss of dynamics. Although I had to leave the room… I don’t like music that loud anymore. They were listening in triode mode (70wpc).

The new Audio Research Reference amps REF 80, Ref 160, and the new REF 320. Have automatic biasing. Also the tubes are slowly brought up to full power over three and a half minutes to increase tube life and prevent the power surge that can pop tubes and take out resistors. Tube life is three thousand hours… and retubing is only 8 power tubes in total.

Taken together, I would recommend you consider trading your amp for a REF 160s or REF 160m monoblocks. I have had both, the monos have a wider and deeper sound stage… the stereo has a bit greater impact.