Thanks Warnerwh for the input. I talked to Alfred at KR Audio products. He was really helpful, and given that one tube has gone, and at least one other is on it's way out, I ordered a fresh matched quad of tubes. He recommended the KR 842 tube though, to better drive by average-efficiency Virgo IIs (89db, 4 ohm). Still, it is very worrying that two tubes in two seperate monoblocks with a supposed life of 4k hours would appear to blow at the same time - coincidence, or more likely some other factor at play - I"m just worried about some other power issue that may plague my amps even when I get the new tubes up and running. Anyway, any input very welcome.
Power Amp Tubes Blowing - what's wrong?
Hi Folks:
A couple of days ago one of the tubes on my power amp flared up and blew. Then yesterday, another one (from the other power amp) looked like it was going to flare up too, but I turned it off in time. I'm at a loss as to what's happening, and how I can prevent the loss of the tubes. I've a pair of KR Audio 6000 modified power amps - each uses a pair of KR Audio 300BXLS tubes. Output is about 22wpc. I've been enjoying the amps for a couple of years, and I'm at least the second owner. Another symptom is that I've noticed the odd crackle now and again as I'm watching movies - not sure if it's related to the tube issues. i'm using no power conditioner at this time - one of the amps is plugged into a PS Audio Juice Bar, the other directly into the wall on the otehr side of the room. Power cords are FIM Gold.
Any ideas on what is amis and how I can eliminate the problem? These tubes are very expensive - a new pair is about $530, and I may even need two new pairs now if the other one goes out. Do I need a power conditioner? Is there something else amis?
Thanks in advance!
A couple of days ago one of the tubes on my power amp flared up and blew. Then yesterday, another one (from the other power amp) looked like it was going to flare up too, but I turned it off in time. I'm at a loss as to what's happening, and how I can prevent the loss of the tubes. I've a pair of KR Audio 6000 modified power amps - each uses a pair of KR Audio 300BXLS tubes. Output is about 22wpc. I've been enjoying the amps for a couple of years, and I'm at least the second owner. Another symptom is that I've noticed the odd crackle now and again as I'm watching movies - not sure if it's related to the tube issues. i'm using no power conditioner at this time - one of the amps is plugged into a PS Audio Juice Bar, the other directly into the wall on the otehr side of the room. Power cords are FIM Gold.
Any ideas on what is amis and how I can eliminate the problem? These tubes are very expensive - a new pair is about $530, and I may even need two new pairs now if the other one goes out. Do I need a power conditioner? Is there something else amis?
Thanks in advance!