2. amps-preamps
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Rogue Audio. Reliability issues? Anyone?

I recently have been loving an Atlas Magnum power amplifier. I had a tube go bad, a fuse blow, and now red-plating. All of this could be related. But I am trying to decide if I want to pay shipping both ways ($90 each way), pay Rogue’s $175 bench fee (minimum) and then spend ungodly amounts on tubes that are hard to find.

I have friends, two to be exact, inform me that Rogue is notorious for this crap and their amplifiers are money pits. Is this normal tube stuff? Should I go for it or cut my losses and buy something else. I really love the way it sounds amd I really want to love Rogue. 

128x128nickrobotron
falconquest's avatar
falconquest
1,108 posts
 

Gee, I just spent $200.00 one way to send my behemoth solid state amp across the country for repair. It may cost $1000.00 by the time I'm done. Can I replace a $10K MSRP amp for that? Nope! I suggest looking at accessories here or on that other audio mart and find a pair of matched tubes to fit our needs. Then you have a spare when the next one fails.

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grover30
21 posts
 

I had a rogue integrated and one of the boards inside was bad from the get-go. On the positive side, they got back to me promptly over the phone and sent me a board so I could replace it myself. Worked good after that.

bigkidz
3,381 posts
 

box it up and send it to me for repair and upgrades.

 

Happy Listening.

sryeager
125 posts
 

What I will say in addition to really liking my first foray into tubes with a Cronus Magnum II, is that I experienced my first fried tube, I got someone on the phone the first try at Rogue, and they didn’t want to sell me a power tube until they walked me through how to make sure nothing else was damaged.  I think I was on the phone with them 2 or three times in an hour or so, and was confident replacing the fried tube would be the cure.  

Great people who will get further business from me.

perkadin's avatar
perkadin
286 posts
 

@Robotron I think it’s just bad luck, I doubt you’ll have issues going forward, if there was a design issue w the amp it would be common knowledge by now. I hope things go smoothly after you get the amp back, the sound is worth it.

Regarding power tubes, as others have said, no need to match if you have some form of bias adjustment. I actually just went back to the stock KT88s that came w my Willsenton R8 to preserve the life of my Golden Lions now that they are so much more expensive, and I can’t really say I notice a difference. And one of my original tubes is different because it was a replacement they sent me after one of them arrived with noise issues, so I know for sure I don’t have a matched set. In fact the internals look slightly different then the other KT88s. Lol it’s stamped KT88 but for all I know it could be a 6550. Sounds great though and it’s been about two weeks since the swap.

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