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Arc Ref 5se owners

I bot a used Ref 5se as my first encounter with tubes. It’s about 10 years old. The tube meter clocked in at about 3500 hours.

I’m getting a crash course and learning quickly what I don’t know about tubes. 

The heat from the power tube caused some warping in the poly cover.  After 10 mins or so of listening the area above the tube swelled 
 

I used an infrared gun to measure the temperature. The power tube was about 250f degrees and the smaller tubes measured less than 200. heat is a known problem but I’m not clear about whether excessive heat that deforms the cover is an issue. 
 

Anyone experienced this? Is this a big problem? 
 

Thanks in advance  

 

tee_dee
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,928 posts
 

@yesiam_a_pirate 

I never knew about preamps, but having owned two English cars, I can attest to the oil leaks!

Thanks for the laugh!

Do you know why the British don't make stereo preamps?  They can't get them to leak oil.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,677 posts
 

Oil can be added there is no known effective exorcism for the bad electrons in Lucas Prince of darkness components…. 

mroverkill
6 posts
 

It is common for the acrylic top covers to warp. asthetics/sonics over function. the 6550 is too close to the top cover. and YES ARC experimented with many types of top covers. some are better, but they all seem to warp with time.

cleeds
6,535 posts
 

 

mroverkill

It is common for the acrylic top covers to warp. asthetics/sonics over function. the 6550 is too close to the top cover. and YES ARC experimented with many types of top covers. some are better, but they all seem to warp with time.

My Ref5SE has been on my rack since June, 2015. The cover hasn't warped yet. My Ref2SE is almost as old and its cover is also like new. It's all about ventilation.

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