The transformers are rather bullet proof. The only thing that might wear or you want to update are the caps. They're film so very long lasting. I wouldn't update them unless there was an issue for fear of changing the sound.
Went to buy Vandersteen 2C speakers and came home with a conrad-johnson Premier 11A.
I found a great deal on a pair of Vandersteen 2C speakers with Sound Anchor stands. I didn’t need them, but they are identical to a pair that I had back in the 90s. While I was there, the seller mentioned that he had an amp that he wanted to sell. It was on a shelf in a basement collecting dust. The price was right, so I bought it. He said there are about 40 hours on the tubes. Hopefully, the caps are ok. I’m thinking I’ll try a Wiim Ultra streamer with volume control just to see if everything works. I have old preamps by NAD and Rotel, but they aren't good ones.
Is there anything special that I should do before firing up the old girl? This is my first tube amplifier.
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Your unit's manual (doesn't say operating watts in from wall) The small Variac has a 5 amp fuse, the larger a 20 amp fuse. https://conradjohnson.com/owners-manuals/prem11man.pdf You might want to have spare fuses available: "Internal Fuses The Premier Eleven power transformer is protected by a fuse on the ac power line (F1, located on a chassis mount fuseholder), and by seperate fuses (located on the small pc board near the back of the amplifier) on secondary windings for the filament supply (F2, - the fuse nearest the front of the chassis), the bias supply (F3) and low voltage supplies for the bias indicators (F4 and F5). A failure of any of these fuses is a symptom of a more serious problem, and a competent service technician should be consulted. In no event should fuses be replaced with a value or type different than that originally supplied.
The correct fuse values and types are: F1: 5 amp, slow blow If configured for 100 or 120V: 3 amp, slow blow if configured for 220 or 240V. F2: 4 amp, slow blow F3, F4, and F5: 1/4 amp, fast blow" /////////////////////////////// here's a medium size/price 15 amp version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ3TV6ZR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw
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@elliottbnewcombjr Thank you for the information! @alvinnir2 Thank you for the feedback. I've never owned any tube gear with any of the three tube types used in this amp, so I don't know which tubes are good tubes. My guess is that it has decent, but not great, tubes in it now. I haven't been able to find a brand name on the four small tubes, but they appear to say Made in USA. |
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