Fireworks in an Audio Research VT200

Call Audio Research ASAP, they have excellent support

Agree with Cytocycle. Do NOT continue playing. I set fire to a wood cabinet because of a pair of faulty ARC amps and almost burned my father's house down.

Okay Guys, you officially have me scared!

I always thought that this only happened to "power" amps manufactured components from so-so companies.
(This happened to me with a Counterpoint amp one time, as one of the tubes blew and a foot tall flame shot out of the top).

I do not consider ARC to be a so-so company, in fact, I own two ARC components. I own a LS-2 preamp (with one tube) and a PH-3 phono preamp (with 3 tubes).

Question: Has anyone ever had an incident with a tube preamp, (in particular an ARC preamp) where the unit either blew up the tubes or caught fire.

I ask, because I sometime leave them on when I am not home. The units sound best when left on for an hour or more before listening (as most tube unit do).

Thanks for your input!

I would definitely call ARC or your local ARC dealer ASAP. My guess is the flash you saw was a fuse that popped.

Kurt,

A year ago I was actually told by Counterpoint that they never had an amp catch fire. Hm!

The ARC amps my father had when i was a kid were D-60's and believe it or not, solid state. They'd been installed in a custom cabinet by the high end audio shop he got them from. I was listening to Neil Young at an ear bleeding level and luckily I happened to walk back in from the yard just in time to see that the whole thing was on fire...right underneath dad's oracle turntable. No idea why this happened (whether there wasn't enough circulation in the cabinet or what) but i think about that fire every time i leave the house with my COUNTERPOINTS on.

I'm hoping someone can provide a reason here why not to worry. Then maybe they can talk to dear ol' dad.