Has anyone kept the 6550 regulator tube past 2K hours in a ARC REF6?

carlsbad

1,213 posts

12-31-2022 at 03:41pm 

I’d say a very low percentage of tube amp users actually log hours.  Most tubes are run to failure.  

I'd say very few ARC Ref 6 run them to failure as the remote to the Ref 6 makes in incredibly easy to check tube hours. ARC does not make it clear in the manual but I believe someone reported here than when his 6550 arc'ed it took out a board. At 2000-2500 hours it ought to be replaced. 

From the ARC REF 6SE manual:

The 6H30 tubes in the Reference 6 should have an expected life of approximately 4,000 hours, while the 6550WE tube in the power supply should have a life expectancy of approximately 2,000 hours.

That said, I demo'ed a REF 6SE with 5000+ hours on its tubes and it sounded marvelous. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, YMMV.

In my experience, sonics start to deteriorate around 1500 hours (on the 6550) the odds of a failure increase shortly after.  Running the 6550 to failure is likely to damage the Ref 6.