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Paranoid on Tube Amp Install

Can speakers cause a tube amp to catch fire? The last tube amp in my system 3 years ago caught fire (just 2 minutes after installing). I always assumed the amp was damaged in shipping. I just ordered another tube amp and I'm both excited and nervous about installing. The speakers are Acoustat 3300 electrostatics and I've been using ss amps since without issue. I really don't want to sit in my chair again, frozen in shock, as I watch a blue flame.

Thanks for any feedback,

Glenn
simmonsg
rhljazz
1,250 posts
 
Bias it up outside of your system and let it run in for an hour before you risk you speakers.
4est (Threads | Answers)

All tube amps I am familiar with should never be powered up without a load connected (ie speakers).
rockadanny
1,222 posts
 
And might want to get you a long-handled broomstick to push the power button on. Wood, preferrably.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,636 posts
 
Speakers cannot cause any amp to catch fire. I've been in the amp business in one form or another (worked in serveal service centers and then in manufacturing) for 37 years. So far I have yet to see an amplifier catch fire, tube or solid state. That's... rare.
4est
507 posts
 
Rhljazz,
There are very few tube amps that cannot be on w/o a load and no signal. Maybe I am weird, but I have always turned on my tubes amps unconnected initially to check bias.

In either event, the speakers weren't the problem, and tube amps don't generally start on fire. Here's hoping you have a better experience with tubes. I rather like them...
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Simmonsg- I would check w the amp's maker before I turned it on w/o a load if it were MY amp. Many (can't say most, cause I don't remember, but it was more than just a few) of the tube amp manuals I have read say never to power on w/o a load.
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