1. Home
  2. amps-preamps
  3. 197111-150037

Good idea to swap McIntosh amp stock tubes?

Having experienced a blinking red light issue with a Macintosh amplifier, I replaced the small tubes and for now seems to be fine

I have heard that mac stock tubes are used as part of the design process of the amplifier and the recommendation is not to swap the tubes with something else. The rationale is the amplifiers don't need tube modifications to alter the sound which has already been optimized.  Tube amplifiers that reflect sound changes when tube swapping occurs may not be designed very well. you shouldn't need to change out the tubes to improve sound of your amplifier.

Further because McIntosh amplifiers are so sensitive with all their built-in circuits that sense all kinds of voltage irregularities and power irregularities and tube irregularities, it may be risky to use tubes not designed for the amp.  McIntosh does not support using any tubes other than those that were designed for the amplifier.  

Interested in what people think about swapping out tubes for McIntosh amplifier and I'm talking about small tubes primarily right now. Do you really note changes that enhance the amplifier if you do swap out tubes? Is it a good idea to not use stock tubes?

emergingsoul
westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

faustuss, I do trust Luxman engineering team to select tubes for their amp design! Amp ran 5000hr + on original tubes, and after years tubes are still within spec, on lower end though! If the Luxman tubes are made by OEM (special order from JJ?), that fact alone helps JJs reputation! Next time I will try Telefunken Black Diamond series tubes (JJs?), which uses some more advanced materials and rigorous testing, unfortunately increasing price, but oh well.. JJ factory originally  was based on legendary Tesla factory tooling (West Germany made, same as Telefunken?), and now they are working to use most advanced tech available to upgrade it. 

emergingsoul OP
1,536 posts
 

jj tubes are really cheap to the manufacturers. McIntosh charges $50 per tube which means they're paying probably $15.

There are reasons why people remove the tubes.  They are reliable because they'll last a long time but do they improve the sound as good as they probably should the answer probably is no.  It's a shame manufacturers with this very expensive gear do not do a better job furnishing their amplifiers and they probably do it because most people just don't care.

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

"do they improve the sound as good as they probably should the answer probably is no"

how do you know? Are you fella analog design expert, specializing on tubes? 

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

"It's a shame manufacturers with this very expensive gear do not do a better job furnishing their amplifiers and they probably do it because most people just don't care"

-data please, or else! 

emergingsoul OP
1,536 posts
 

@westcoastaudiophile 

Read through commentary on this esteemed website and you’ll see JJ tubes are not well regarded. Further stock tubes generally are not seeing as of quality to keep in amplifiers so many people choose to swap them.

Again it’s troubling that manufacturers do not provide a higher quality of tube in their extremely expensive amplifiers.

These are my opinions and are shared by many on this esteemed forum

More to discover