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Audio Research Reference 150 severe distortion

My Reference 150 is emitting severe distortion in both channels. I checked the bias of the K120 tubes and one tube in both channels is reading as low as 20, rather the the standard 65 range.

Does anyone know of a possible fix that will not involve me shipping the amp back to Audio Research?

Both bad tubes are less than 3 months old.

I gotta play my Liberace Christmas music!
128x128shaq
czarivey
5,680 posts
 
It looks like AudioReseach Ref series are similar to Ferrari that have great performance but for the price of poor reliability.

oblgny's avatar
oblgny
845 posts
 
...which is the reason why I will never own a Ferrari!
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cleeds
5,645 posts
 
czarivey1"It looks like AudioReseach Ref series are similar to Ferrari that have great performance but for the price of poor reliability."

I don't know much about Ferraris, although I think many of them look sharp. But I can  tell you that ARC products are very, very reliable. Yes, they require periodic tube replacement. But the gear is very reliable and very serviceable.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
czarivey1"It looks like AudioReseach Ref series are similar to Ferrari that have great performance but for the price of poor reliability.


Czarivey ... strongly disagree.  I am waiting for Sha to respond to my post.

czarivey
5,680 posts
 
Cleeds, I just follow frequent facts about Ref series.
It doesn't look like tube(s) problem. It looks like functionality problem.
bifwynne, you've mentioned bad bias resistor which may go with bad tube didn't you?
OP mentioned that tubes are less than three months old... What does it tell?
Just count facts and science becomes simple math.
Go with more facts throughout Audiogon posts about Ref series reliability: frequent premature tube blowing, bias resistor, bias DC cap etc... All these combined dictate sending unit to repair facility and back to get ripped off just like Ferrari owners do.

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