Dan, maybe I didn't make my point clear enough. If there is a bad tube Berning should and will replace it. If one were to be conservative and not spend the money, the tubes should first be tested with a tube tester as noted above. I really believe the most ill advised thing to do at this point is to replace cables and cd players. Peter has 2 cd players and several sets of cables on hand and he is getting the same results. Process of elimination and common denominator leads to the prime suspect being the amp. Since David Berning's products have a legendary track record of reliability, my guess, based on the symptoms, is that there is a tube problem.
You are absolutely right, he should get acceptable performance from the amp stock. The problem is that he isn't so where does the problem lay? That hasn't been detemined yet. My recommendation is on the premise that there is a tube problem but this is not certain. Is the dealer readily available? How much would it cost to ship back to Berning to have him check it out? I am speaking of a 300.00-350.00 total expenditure for NOS and cryoed treated tubes that will improve the performance of the amp in the long run regardless of what the problem is now. If Peter's resources are limited I would recommend first getting the tubes tested to see if that is where the smoking gun is holing up.
You are absolutely right, he should get acceptable performance from the amp stock. The problem is that he isn't so where does the problem lay? That hasn't been detemined yet. My recommendation is on the premise that there is a tube problem but this is not certain. Is the dealer readily available? How much would it cost to ship back to Berning to have him check it out? I am speaking of a 300.00-350.00 total expenditure for NOS and cryoed treated tubes that will improve the performance of the amp in the long run regardless of what the problem is now. If Peter's resources are limited I would recommend first getting the tubes tested to see if that is where the smoking gun is holing up.