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Dac acts like a microphone

I replaced the stock tudes in my Audio Note Dac to used Amperex 6922 tubes. When I powered the unit up there was a strange sound (as the sound of an AC unit running) coming from the left speaker. I took the tubes out and put them back in. The dac was now picking up sounds from my tapping the dac through the speakers. I got the feeling that I could sing into the dac and it would act like a microphone. As the tubes got hot, and two hours of running, I had no problems. Will this happen again because the tubes are bad?.

Thanks,
Gary
128x128glory

Showing 2 responses by jea48

jea48
4,266 posts
 
Sounds like a bad microphonic tube. If by chance you just bought them from a dealer send him an email. Most dealers will replace microphonic tubes. If they are a matched pair he should replace both. If you bought them on Ebay, well....
jea48
4,266 posts
 
>>"I bought them on Ebay. Why do they sound good now?. If it is a bad microphonic tube will it show itself again?"<<
>>>>

That is just a chance you will have to take.
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>>"When I powered the unit up there was a strange sound (as the sound of an AC unit running)"<<
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That was noise, could be caused from grid emissions, or a slight intermittent short.

Some times when an old tube lays around for many years strange things can happen when put back into service. If after you get a few more hours on the tube and it remains quiet you may luck out and have a good tube. If it does it again I would pull it and replace it. Shorted tubes can cause damage.

As for the Herbie's HAL-O tubes dampers I use them in my Sonic Frontiers Preamp, and ARC VT50 Power amp. Imo they are great.
In my preamp I have them installed near the top of main body of the tubes.
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