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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
emergingsoul OP
1,539 posts
 

I have bought from Jesse, and some of his tubes went bad after a while and it's not because of him it's just it was NOS, which are unpredictable.

As for these other tube sellers who knows what they do. They send out a lot of of tubes and the tube tester doesn't deal with issues that arise while tube is in use it may not be the best way to evaluate the tube.

Basically it's a crapshoot, and then you have manufacturers who put different logos on their tubes and no one has a clue where they come from or how they were manufactured. Claims are made all over the place and it's difficult to get comfortable with all these claims. I don't even know what McIntosh really does because I have problems with their tubes too.

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

@faustuss "Just look at them!"

so.. you are tube fashion designer, did I wrap your competencies right? 

decooney
2,565 posts
 

@emergingsoul "...Claims are made all over the place and it's difficult to get comfortable with all these claims. I don't even know what McIntosh really does because I have problems with their tubes too."

 

Sure seems like a lot of issues going on there.  Honestly, not sure about others - i just don't have much of a problem with tubes going bad in my preamps, amplifiers, or DACs - at all, nadda.  Gotta ask, is there some kind of unstable electrical power or connectivity challenge between components occuring at all? Is there an audio and electric professional near you who can sit down and carefully evaluate your system, power, and connections at all?  i.e i had a bad power cap in an amp wreaking havoc in an older system years back.  Put it on a scope and got it resolved. It does not take much to create system instability, it can happen. Best of Luck.  

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