Audio Research REF 750 pre July 4 FIRE WORKS. TUBE ARC.


Well I just had time to finally hook up my new Audio Ref 6 se for the first time as I got it back from AR last week. So I waited patiently for my night off from work last night and was also very excited to finally hear that for the first my Audio Research REF 750s. that came with the KT 150s with 660 hrs on them. I was really enjoying the beautiful sound of these phenomenal amps for a few hours and called my wife up to hear how amazing Barbra Streisand sounded playing The way we were. I had all the lights off in my listening room and we were lost in the sound quality as my B&W matrix 800 speakers disappeared and melted also to the beautiful sound of her voice and when all of a sudden there was an explosion as I had first thought. The middle of the top KT150s there was a loud SIZZLE a FIREBALL and a loud POP !!!! And WHITE SMOKE and then cut off. We immediately jumped up and my heart sank as I yelled OMG. I jumped up and ran to my L amp and I pulled the plug while the R amp and speaker was still playing. I said WTF happened?? My heart sank in my stomach as the first thing I thought was now after all the anticipation of that night to finally arrive I was now devastated as I had no idea WTF just happened. I was numb. I finally calmed down some looked over the amp on top. Didn’t see no damage and texted my guy that I bought them from and he told me it sounds like a tube arc. He then told me to take all the top tubes out but u can leave the 2 inside ones in. He then said to carefully take off the top cover as I did. I turned the cover over and saw black underneath as I then turned it over I saw it was V10. He said now look at the resistors by V10 socket. Sure enough the wire leads were gone. He said your V10 tube is shot and u will need to replace the resistors by V10 socket. I said does it have to be sent to ARC ? As I just got delivered the REF 6SE that had been upgraded and just got it back from ARC on Tuesday. I couldn’t think now about packing up the Left Ch REF 750 and shipping it back to ARC. He said nope no need to. Just have the Resistors replaced and get a new V10 tube with the same number on it from ARC. And call your ARC dealer here in NJ to see if his technician can come to my home and replace and solder the new resistors back on. Put the new KT 150 in and you will be back in business. So now I am waiting for my ARC dealer to open this morning and hopefully he will tell me some good news. Just don’t understand how or why this happened? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Wow I will tell ya that it was a very scary thing.BTW I never owned a tube amp except for my REF6 SE pre so this is still very new to me.

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xtattooedtrackman

Inasmuch as the OP's situation has been addressed, and a fine example of Audiogon community support I would like to add, what stands out to me is why and how John Rutan has so distinguished himself! Stories of John's praise have appeared here for years - it takes time to establish such a legendary reputation. - I don't think that is too strong a characterization. He stands as a defiant answer to the many Audiogon threads about reasons for the demise of so many dealers. His perfect response, even before the "doors were opened", assuaged the OP and enacts a plan of action to solve the problem. Well done John, and a notable example of a key element of success! *

* Though not a customer, I have spoken with Mr. Rutan and found him to be very helpful, as well as knowledgeable.

@truman   Thank u so much for that terrific response about Mr John Rutan. I have known him from 1991 from my first purchase from him. At that time there were many brick and mortar hi end audio stores around in the tri state area where I am from NY NJ PA. I’ve been around to many of them but there was no one like John. He has always been there for me on many buying experiences, demoing equipment in my home ,servicing equipment , making me custom speaker cables, knowledge , patience, kindness and any questions I ever had in those 32 years. Always has been there for me and I know that he is there for anyone that has questions or needs help with anything audio related. A true stand up guy. A great asset to the audio community. I am very lucky to have gotten to know him for that 32 years and counting. 

This shows why this company just went bankrupt have heard similar stories about McIntosh

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@rbyington711 

I don't know where you heard that about McIntosh, but it is not true. You may or may not like the sound of their gear, but it is reliable.