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Total cost of ownership - how to reduce it

Audiogon members love their music - but I am not alone, I think, in finding that the requirements in terms of cost and time for keeping the system running at optimal, can become too steep. Can we help each other out?

Today I have spent two hours trying to find a failed tube in my system. Two months ago I had a bad episode with a repair service that did not repair and did not return my stuff. Some weeks ago, I blew a speaker driver, I am still waiting for the replacement. Thinking, I need a tube tester, since my system has a lot of tubes - I got the tester, but it blew tubes, not "dead on arrival" but "over-excited" - and has to be repaired. I am perhaps especially unlucky. But I ask myself, how much is enough? When such experiences accumulate, I can understand people plugging into Mp3, it is simple and it works.

I have thought about my situation and diagnosed two main types of problems - maybe, relevant for other Audiogon members also.

The first is where you buy a thing used and then get it upgraded by the manufacturer. You pay quite a lot for this, and you would expect the whole thing is checked - but it is not. In two cases now, I have experienced that even if the upgrade works fine, the box as a whole is not checked, and develops problems a year or two after the upgrade.

The second case is where you pay for an upgrade that is more like a new build (e g of a speaker) or rebuild (of a cartridge). Now, there is no lagging wear and tear problem, but it turns out that the upgrade parameters were not fully developed, things have to be changed or checked afterwards (speaker drivers dont work optimal, needle not quite in place, etc).

I would be the first to recognize that some of these costs (time, mainly, but money also) should be accepted. I have paid local repair costs without complaining, and have used many hours of my own time. As an advanced user, I accept some extra costs.

It is just that, sometimes it gets too much.

I would like other Audiogon users' thoughts on this dilemma, and especially, what can we do to reduce the total ownership costs.

Your thoughts and experiences welcome.
o_holter
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
LOL, I have tube gear and it doesn’t have to be unreliable to increase the cost of ownership. It is eating up the output devices and small signal tubes whenever it is on. Tubes are consumables, and output tubes generally have limited life spans, So IMHO, all things being equal - and they never are - they will increase the cost of ownership.

Tube replacement is maintenance, not necessarily repair.
That doesn’t even address the gravitational pull of wanting to see what other brands of tubes will sound like, as that will further increase the cost of owning tube gear. Not being able to easily change the output devices in solid state gear is a blessing, and may well be a curse as well.

The OP is not asking what sounds better, and my answer would be a gross generalization anyway, so I’m glad he did not ask.
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
Replacing tubes every couple of years is a negligible expense, as many great tubes aren't expensive, unless your amp has 14 tubes. Mine has 4. Besides, most tube amp owners enjoy trying different tubes and wind up with a collection of the things that insures decades of backup tubes, and rarely replace them simply due to them wearing out. The cost of a SS amp of equivalent musical quality can often be more than a simple tube amp's cost, obviating the tube cost issue. An exception could be when a tube amp owner finds a particular tube and has to stick with it as it offers something better than others...I just switched to Gold Lion KT77s in my SEP amp (it only has 2 power tubes) and can't imagine a better sounding tube in this amp, so more of these are likely in the future. There goes my tube theory.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
"retirement downsizing" ??? When I retired first thing I did was spend another pile of money on improving my stereo. Now eight years later another big pile this year.             
I guess if you are have to move to some assisted living? Or selling the big empty house for a cottage...                   
I live in a small one bedroom apartment and still have Magnepan 20.7 In fact just bought them this year, eight years into retirement.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
Yup Wolf, Gold Lion are making real good tubes, and they are reasonably priced. Still have to match them, of course. RAM Tubes is great at that.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Modern power pentodes are fine, but IMHO new production small signal triodes are inferior to vintage, and the same holds true of rectifiers, and that’s where the cash register really starts ringing.

Most pure tube push pull amp and preamp combos take at least a dozen tubes. My integrateds take 11, 11 and 9 tubes respectively. So the cost of tubes can mount up pretty quickly.
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