Other than misusing the term input when you meant output, your setup sounds perfectly all right…assuming the white speaker terminal is labeled negative or 0. If the amp is set up correctly for your voltage, it was defective. You should return it.
**Smoking integrated tube amp, advice needed:
Hey folks, first time tube amp owner, first time poster here.
I just received my first tube amplifier - a Mistral MT34 integrated tube amp (35 wpc), and am excited to experience the warm analogue sound that I’ve been saving toward for such a long time. After plugging it into my system, however, it almost immediately started smoking from what looked to be the preamp section/tubes, so I immediately switched it off and disconnected it. The filaments were **glowing** red, and the room filled with electrical smelling smoke.
The component chain looks like this:
Pro-Ject Perspective turntable > Bellari VP129 Phono preamp (100 ohms output impedance) via RCA to the AUX port of > Mistral MT34 integrated amplifier (100k ohms input impedance) > KEF Corelli speakers (8 ohms).
I connected the black side of each speaker cable to the white amp input, and the red side to the red 8 ohm tap of the amplifier.
Is there a catastrophic mismatch between my equipment specs that could have caused me to fry the amp? Have I set it up incorrectly? There’s a new electronic safety test sticker from April 2024 on it as I bought the amp from a charity shop on eBay, so this is throwing me. The description said it was turned on and functioning before the sale, however, so if the seller plugged it into power without connecting to speakers first, could this have damaged the circuitry/caused damage that might have led to this smoking? Would a single blown tube lead to this outcome?
I’m worried I may have fried or permanently damaged the amp, and now face a hefty spend on investigating this with a local AV repair specialist - a cost which I didn’t anticipate, and which has dampened my excitement, honestly.
I’d also liked to know what caused the issue before I try to integrate it back into my set up and do the same thing again.
Any thoughts or advice appreciated. Thanks so much!
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@fugazikid1991 Sounds like the amp was damaged prior to your placing it in your system. Was the shipping box damaged? |
I had a Yaquin hybrid integrated that went up in smoke after using it for a couple of hours on day 1. Back then Yaquin was no well known and trying to get warranty service from China, forget about it. Return shipping to manufacturer was more than I paid for the amp. I believe I sold it for under $100.00 as is to a tech guy who told me later he couldn’t get parts for it. You buy crap you get crap. |
Hey everyone, thanks for the help! I think it’s necessary to highlight that I don’t have any ‘in real life’ friends or family who are into this hobby, so I’m very much reliant upon communities such as this to help with my education. I appreciate the anecdotes and insights into your own experiences, mishaps and successes. I’m admittedly wet behind the ears when it comes to this, but I exercised as much due diligence as I could in the lead up to this moment, triple/quadruple checking that everything was plugged in correctly and the tubes were well-seated prior to powering the amplifier on - aware as I am of the potential dangers of running tube equipment incorrectly. (I even turn the Bellari off whenever I leave the room, so I’m vigilant in this regard.) There is no damage to the shipping box, but unfortunately the seller didn’t reply to my request to remove and individually package the tubes prior to posting, so there’s every possibility that something may have been damaged in transit. I’m covered by the 30 day money back guarantee, so I have no concerns there - just a little disappointed, but mainly relieved that the rest of my component chain seems unaffected. “assuming the white speaker terminal is labeled negative or 0[…]”
I’ve learned some interesting tidbits from this thread, but lets also not speculate on the circumstances surrounding, nor the motivation for the purchase (or even my dedication [or perceived lack thereof]to taking this seriously). I also don’t think we should be prescriptive about the ways that people can enjoy this hobby! We all start somewhere, following different paths to get to where we are, making mistakes and picking up vital lessons as we go. That’s the beauty of this for me, and while frustrating, I’m glad for the potential to learn from this. All this being said, I really do consider it a privilege to lean into the evident collective expertise of the group here, so sincerely, thank you to everyone for taking the time. I’ll likely take the amp to a local AV specialist for a verdict, as I’ve read only positive reviews of the unit online. Cheers everyone! |
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