Microphonic from Vacuum Tubes?


HI,  I have a question regarding microphonic from vacuum tube.  I have a Cary SLP-05, and I've changed the output gain tubes to some NOS RCA, and also recently purchased a pair of Linlai for the balanced buffer stage.

I now occasionally hear a loud pop in the music.   It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is quite loud.   This happens when I am streaming digital music, so it can't be those occasional pops you hear from vinyl.  

Can someone tell me if this loud pop possibly caused by microphonic in my tubes?  if so, how do I track down which tubes?   My guess there is no easy way but change one tube at a a time, which can be extremely time consuming.   Also I don't own a tube tester.  I wonder that would help tracking it down.

Also I read something about vacuum tube damper rings,  would that help calming down possible microphonic?

I still  consider myself a newbie in tubes,  so any hep will be appreciated.  Thanks very much.

128x128xcool

@buellrider97 , as a fellow Cary amp owner, which Cary amp was that?

@xcool

I'm inclined to think that the culprit could be something with the preamp or the new tubes.

I understand gut feelings.  As we have the same preamp, I follow your threads with interest.  You have been up & running with it for quite a while now since that earlier fiasco you experienced, haven't you?  I sort of remember you posting about the tubes you bought from Brent Jesse and it seems like that was a good bit ago (which obviously wouldn't eliminate them), but it sounds as if the Linlais are a fairly new addition.  Maybe you are on to something with your theory, so I'll wish you luck tracking this down, but just out of curiosity, with all else aside, have you been able to form an impression of the Linlais yet?

 

@xcool 

I’m pretty sure you are not having Microphonic issues.  Do you use a power conditioner? Are you streaming when this happens? what service are you using?  I’m using Amazon and there is often a pop when the tracks change.  It’s kind weird, like they are using tracks from different recordings. 

Just a thought.

@buellrider97, thanks for sharing your experience. I might try reinstalling my new tubes and see what happens. When I first got the Linlai tubes, I was inserting them into a pair of tube socket savers. I did that because I was thinking about doing some A/B testing with the stock EH tubes. After deciding that the Linlai do sound better, I removed the socket savers and inserted the Linlai directly into the sockets of my preamp. I cannot remember when the very first time I heard the pop, whether the socket savers were already removed. The latest pop I heard was this morning, and I know for sure the socket savers were no longer there.

@immatthewj, yes I did buy the NOS RCA tubes from Brent and I do like them better than the stock EH tubes. The EH tubes sounded a little too bright for me at the gain stage. The RCA took the edge off and sounded warmer. As with the Linlai, I do like them quite a bit. I was going to post an update to the long going Linlai thread, but haven’t gotten around to it. The Linlai has tighter bass and better sound stage than the stock EH tubes.

As with the Cary, I actually had another issue a couple of months ago. I was so pissed off that I was going to start another thread venting my anger, but I decided not to. I did mention it in an old thread because someone posted a question. Lucky it was a fairly minor issue and I was able to resolve it without having to ship the unit back to Cary.

@curiousjim, I do have a power conditioner. I was most likely streaming from Tidal when I heard the loud pop. Thanks for sharing your experience with Amazon. It does seem kind of weird.

Slightly off topic , but in the same area. You might want to add some sort of unit isolation underneath and tube dampers too. Not related to your popping , but at your level of involvement it never hurts. Cheers , Mike. 

Thanks @buellrider97,  I've been thinking about tube dampers.   I have read some good comments about them.