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People who are Irrationally Afraid of tube amps

Recently I've had a tube amp For Sale on this site. It's a well respected, great amp from a major mfg. I've owned it for 3 years, with absolutely no problems, only enjoyment. I'm only selling it because I sold the speakers I used it with, & my current speakers are a lot more power-hungry. And it's the 2nd tube amp I've owned, my first being a really early model VTL ST-85 that was several years old when I bought it, then I had it for 5 years, & the only problem I had in all that time was replacing a fuse once. And I know almost nothing about electronics, but I learned how to use a multi-meter & successfully biased & replaced tubes in both amps.

Here's the thing: Almost every person who has written to me about my amp for sale asks a zillion questions, you know the routine, e-mails back & forth, then finally says they are too freaked out at the possibility of replacing tubes someday to buy it, whining about the (relatively modest) expense, etc. (And my amp has new tubes!!). Now, these queries are from presumably experienced A'goners because most of them have a large no. of positive feedback ratings here. I mean, we're not dealing with the average shopper at Circuit City, presumably.

My questions are: 1. Why do experienced A'goners waste so much time shopping for tube gear if they're freaked out over the potential traumatic effect that replacing tubes may have on them someday? There's plenty of SS gear FS if that's what they want. 2. Why do many even relatively experienced audiophiles still believe in the "tube hassles" myth? 3. Are there no tube afficiandos who are willing to put up with a minor inconvience every few years?

I feel like putting a warning in the next ad I run for a tube amp: WARNING: THIS DEVICE CONTAINS HIGHLY VOLATILE "TUBES", WHICH MAY BLOW AT ANY SECOND & COULD DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD! USE AT YOUR OWN PERIL, PREFERABLY IN A NON-POPULATED AREA. EVEN IF THEY DON'T KILL YOU, THE TRAUMA OF REPLACING THE "TUBES" SOMEDAY COULD REQUIRE YEARS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, & MAY BANKRUPT YOU & YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY.

Well, at least that might discourage the "tire kickers". Now, if I could just afford those Cary 805C mono-blocs I've been wanting for years........& thanks for listening to my rant!
steveaudio
twl
3,251 posts
 
I made the switch to tubes quite awhile back, and I have found my tube gear to be just as reliable as my SS stuff. I have changed tubes, but not because any of them went bad. I just wanted to get better tubes for the sound quality. I have never had a tube go bad in any of my tube gear.

My amps have been self-biasing, so I don't have to fuss with that, and it is just as easy to use as any SS amp. I feel reliability of the tube gear I've had is not an issue.
sean
6,229 posts
 
Most of the "reliability factor" or lack of it that goes along with tube gear is due to poor design, cut-corner build and too many bean-counters. If these products were built the way that the engineers designed them, they would probably be more reliable. The bean-counters say "this product is too expensive to produce and we won't make enough product, so find some way to knock the cost down by XX percent and we can put it into production". The end result is that they use 1/4 watt resistors when they need 1/2 watt, use plastic where it should be ceramic, etc...

Then you get into the guys that insist on keeping the circuit as short and simple as possible. Whie this may be a valid approach, it leaves little room for safety factors and protection circuitry. Even if one were to build such a design like the proverbial "brick out-house", when something fails, it fails BIG-TIME !!!

Bare in mind that this also takes place in SS gear. Since tubes run MUCH higher voltage though, the potential for increased arcing and / or "flame out" is drastically increased.

As to Elizabeth's comments above, Counterpoint was known for not being a real reliable product line. While many people loved the sound of these products, many also cursed them for all the problems that they brought with them. As far as amps go, i think that ARC's are the "king" of "spitting fire". Then again, ARC has probably sold more tube amps than any other manufacturer, so that could account for why we hear about them "putting on a fire & light show" more so than other brands. Sean
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onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
Tubes are very reliable, especially in line level applications (preamps, DACs, etc.) and even tube power amps can be made to be as reliable as solid state power amps. Sean makes some good points above as to why this isn't always the case. My main grip against tube power amps is that they are very big, require gobs of power and throw off alot of heat. To the extent that anything in the audiophile world is practical, tube power amps are not that practical. But then again, there is the Berning.
jrd351
332 posts
 
going through two amps in several years hardly sounds like a trouble free situation.
ecclectique
509 posts
 
I think it must be a mental disorder similiar to claustra-phobia.....perhaps....let's call it popatube-aphobia. Do you think this phobia could be documented for the Medical Journals? Personally...I believe that good tube design to be a whole lot more reliable than SS stuff.Back in the 70's I blew up a phase linear 700b on more than 1 occasion as well as an ampzilla and a pair of Kenwood monoblocks.Built a dynakit st-70 back in 1967 that is still used every day in my kitchen.Other than replacing tubes for performance,I have never had an issue with it.I still use an ARC sp-10 preamp from 1985 and have never had a single problem.I foolishly sold the D-79b last year. Same thing...never had a problem.There are literally multi- thousands of old classic Macintosh,Marantz,Dynas,Scotts,Fischers etc from the 50's and 60,s in fine operation as we speak.Do you think any of the ss stuff of the era is still working today? I doubt it!
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