Audio Research I/50

There is no problem in general with manual bias.  To my way of thinking having to turn the unit upside down and taking the bottom off to reach the bias pots is prehistoric.  Even my 40 or 50 year old Dynaco ST70 has the bias adjustments performed from the top of the unit, without exposure to other rather lethal areas of the amp.

Place the multimeter probes on the amp, turn the bias screw to the correct reading, or a little less than the manual recommends as oldhvymec alludes to, and done in 5 seconds.

Don't worry. They are on listening and I guess they will get the SE version pretty soon.

@stone1 Thanks for asking. I mentioned age as I second @chris_launder ’s observation that the multiple colors offered and relatively low pricing for an AR unit is meant to attract new and younger listeners to the brand. I bring this up specifically because I too wonder whether they expected the tube bias issue is something with which they either didn’t want to task young listeners (with no tube experience) and/or assumed even the mention of it would confuse or put them off.

I don’t see why they didn’t just apply auto-bias as a unit that people will assume needs a service tech and is a danger/pain to bias is probably even more off-putting than just saying, "hey, this unit does it for you with cathode bias." Even if hardly adjustable fixed bias sounds better, a lot of young listeners will still think the AR unit sounds appreicably better than most solid state to the degree that it’s worth checking out this old-timey exoticism. The VT80SE (with auto bias) sure does speak for itself.

We’ll see.

Darn, I thought I heard something about self-biasing in a factory tour last September. If there are meters-can't recall, that would at least tell you when they need adjusting right?

No meters, I don’t believe.