gs5556
Responses from gs5556
| After a long, long sleep: ML-335 Don't plug it in and turn it on. You will need to invest in a Variac. Set the Variac to 5 volts (AC) and turn on the amp and leave it at that voltage for at least six hours and then increase the voltage in 10 volt increments, with each increment a... | |
| New Aurender conductor V4 app It looks too much like the iPhone app. I don't like that it doesn't have the Play triangle on the album's song listing showing which track is currently playing. I do like the feature of changing the size of the album covers, making it much easier ... | |
| POLL About Voltage Change on Audio Equipment Anything that plugs into a wall has to have safety information on the back panel. If the unit has, for example, a multiple primary transformer that can accommodate different voltages, then all those voltages will be printed and clearly visible. Us... | |
| Why Can't Modern Tube Manufacturers Make a Proper Tube? I wouldn't necessarily generalize things. Back in the 40's, 50's and 60's tubes were in everything and were literally a dime a dozen. So maybe the tubes that are around today were just heartier than the rest and the vast majority weren't so great.... | |
| What do you hear with a better/bigger power supply and output capacitors in same amp? If you bridge two amplifiers it will be difficult to tell if the change in sound quality is from the doubled capacitance or the doubled power rating of the xfmr's. However, monoblock amplifiers themselves have no sonic advantage over a single box ... | |
| Tubes trouble? To me this sounds like a mechanical hum. First thing to check would be the screws that hold the circuit boards and transformer are snugged. Then I would call AR tech support and ask if it’s okay to remove one or all of the tubes and then power it ... | |
| Help needed with Rattle in my floorstanding speakers. Without knowing what speaker it is, I would suggest removing the grilles (if any) before going further. Some grille frames are steel or aluminum and may very well cause an audible rattle if not secured against the speaker or if the frame came loos... | |
| Is this describing a blown tube, or two blow tubes? From what you describe I would say it's a typical tube failure if you did not have any problems with the old tubes. Unfortunately, tube infant mortality is quite common as tube factories do not have the greatest quality control, which is why the b... | |
| How much hum is normal from a new tube amp Mechanical hum is mostly from a poor grounding layout. Sometimes it's caused by heater wiring and sometimes by bad transformer construction. I have solved a couple of tube amp buzzing problems by simply moving wires with a wooden chopstick. You sh... | |
| Stupid class A question Most likely yes. Class A amps produce heat regardless if a signal is passing through and in many cases the current (and heat) at idle is greater than the full volume current going to the speakers. | |
| Mark Levinson Repairs Whoever you spoke to gave you bad information. ML has three authorized service centers: Pyramid Audio (TX), United Radio (NY) and Technetron (NYC). All of them have the schematics for your amp. I would first contact Pyramid, their owner was a tec... | |
| Levinsos 585.5 No Power Out. - Assistance? Those relays should only engage when entering standby mode. If you turn on the amp and the relays click without going into standby, there’s a problem. You can also try disabling [Auto Off]. Then turn off the power and start it up again. If this f... | |
| Levinsos 585.5 No Power Out. - Assistance? That clicking on startup is most likely the speaker relay engaging and cutting power to the speakers. Usually there are two ways that relay is powered: through the standby circuit and the thermal overload protection circuit. My guess is there is a... | |
| Levinsos 585.5 No Power Out. - Assistance? Is the power light steady (ready to play) or flashing (standby mode)? Did you download the manual and go through the all the menu functions? Those new Levinsons have nested menus and there are a lot of parameters that can mute or attenuate volum... | |
| Low Powered Tube Amp Distorting High Efficiency Speakers? Before starting any troubleshooting process with tubed gear, it's always a good idea to substitute new tubes first (or a stash that you know works). It's an expensive undertaking but unfortunately even new tubes can be defective or out of spec rig... |