2. tech-talk
  3. 119773-1438

To Variac or not to Variac?

Hi guys,

I have a pair of Manley 200W monos that I used almost daily for several years until about a year and a half ago.  Since then, they have not been powered up at all.  Should I use a Variac to power them up again for the first time?  Thanks in advance.
frogman
4 responses Add your response
jond's avatar
jond
5,655 posts
 
FWIW I always power my amp, a Deja Vu Audio PP EL34 17 watter, up with a variac and then just run it off the variac when I listen. I use a 20A variac so tons of current for my relatively low power amp and I noticed a nice drop in the noise floor when I first hooked things up this way.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

Too late now that you've done it, your were lucky.

Good idea to power up slowly (over a few hours) with a variac after long period of non use.

But!! being a big tube amps or any tube amps for that mater, one should never power them up without a speaker load or 8ohm power resistors attached to the speaker terminals, and also for good measure input shorting plugs.

As some tube amps can go into oscillation without a speaker/resistor load, and can take out the output transformer.


Cheers George      

frogman OP
7,339 posts
 
Thanks for your response, kijanki.  You're probably correct.  I did contact the manufacturer about this and their tech suggested that as a precaution it was probably a good idea to variac.  I did and all is well.  Thanks.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Year and a half is not enough time to cause any problems with electrolytic caps IMHO.
Log in to respond
More to discover
80x80
Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core 2 TB
80x80
Bricasti Design M5 ROON - AUDIRVANA - JRIVER
80x80
Ansuz Acoustics PowerSwitch