Life of KT150 tubes on ARC Amps

veerapaneni OP107 posts01-30-2019 7:32pm

I read they are good for 3000 Hours but at 2400 hours they are not sounding that great and always played at very low volumes. I am doubting the 3000 hours number now and that’s why i posted this topic originally, to get other user opinions on the SE line Amps.

I read they are good for 3000 Hours but at 2400 hours they are not sounding that great and always played at very low volumes.

"at 2400 hours they are not sounding that great"........

Time to replace the tubes!


At $44000 I would want the amps to sound their best. Period. No way in hell I would go over 3000 hrs. What do you think it will cost to send one or both amps back to ARC for repair if a tube/s shorts out and causes internal damage?


.

I got around 3500 hours out of mine, but replacement was noticeably better (purchased from Kevin Deal). 

I have an ARC VT200 amp that I love(d) (with an ARC LS25 mk II preamp) - it sounds great - but the pain and expense of retubing it has become just too much for me. I just bought a pass labs X250.8 amp to replace the VT200. 
It's wasn't just the expense of retubing it - it's also 20 minutes it takes to warm up when wanting to listen to music - and the hassle of getting the amp to someone who can retube it for me. I once ordered the tubes myself to save money and one of the tubes arc-ed and i had to send it to get fixed anyway. 

I leave the pass amp on all the time and if i want to listen i just need to press PLAY on my CD player remote - I can play it whenever and not worry abt using up my tube life. 

The VT200 did sound great though :)

Steve

Audio Research runs their power tubes at 50% so 3000 hours is about right.   Good article in Stereophile last year about the new REF 160(kt150) amps. They discuss tube life.🎵