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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
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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cleeds
5,647 posts
 
czarivey"... I just follow frequent facts about Ref series.
It doesn't look like tube(s) problem. It looks like functionality problem ...
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."

ARC has a tremendous reputation for long-term reliability, so I'm not sure why you feel that you have access to special "facts" just because you read A-gon. I base my opinion about ARC reliability on years of personal ownership and ownership by personal friends, rather than on hearsay posted to an online forum.

czarivey
5,680 posts
 
Your personal ownership is probably from at least 7...8 years ago. Now I feel that it's different. I haven't seen word dropped about Ref series reliability till recent and mostly on current models not ones built back than.
Tube amp designs have lots in common between each other and frequent blowing tube is functional or design problem. 
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cleeds
5,647 posts
 
"Your personal ownership is probably from at least 7...8 years ago. Now I feel that it's different. I haven't seen word dropped about Ref series reliability till recent and mostly on current models not ones built back than."

No, my experience is both long-term and recent with current ARC Reference components. ARC has an enviable reputation for reliability.
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