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What is your scariest moment in High End audio?

After upgrading my digital front end, with another glass of wine in hand, I thought perhaps the analog setup deserved an upgrade from the entry level Kpetsu.

I then discovered that Koetsu was over! A search found a source for a Rosewood Signature Platinum, which I duly purchased and installed, together with a 3 gm weight in the JMW Memorial arm. That went OK, and I set it up using the VPI Scoutmaster jig, set the tracking weight to 1.9 gms, aligned the azimuth and made sure that the Sutherland Duo was set to 100 ohms and 64dB gain.

I settled down to a glorious hour or two of listening.  Then I thought "Did I get the downforce right.  Checked it & spot on.

i put another record on, lowered the arm to the record.  SILENCE (I could actually here the stylus in the groove but that was it.)

OMG.  Yes the cables were in.  Yes the pre was set to input from the deck. Had I destroyed a $6,700 inadvertently?

After 5 minutes of panic I turned off everything and restarted. All OK.  Who knew that a pre-amp could need rebooting?

 

 

retiredaudioguy

Showing 1 response by retiredaudioguy

retiredaudioguy OP
57 posts
 

Reading the great posts triggered another memory.  I had bought a store's (several years old) demo unit of a highly regarded PP 300B amp, with its tubes.  Some months later, as I was listening, smoke came out of the ventilation grid on the chassis top, and a bright red anode appeared. A 300B tube filament had sagged and touched the grid. Instant destruction of the tube and the bias resistor.

I sent the amp back to the factory where they repaired the damage and installed the protection circuitry of the newer version.  To this day I try to never leave a running tube amp unattended for any extended period.

The 300B specs do state that the tube is best used used in a vertical position, or if that is not possible, with the filaments' long sides vertical.

 

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