I’ve been into tubes for nearly 35 years and never felt the need. Sputter, as you described it occurs frequently and I believe caused by pin/socket connections, not bad tubes. I check my tubes and just wiggle the tubes a bit and it usually goes away. FWIW.
Anyone Here Ever Purchased A Tube Tester?
Once or twice a day a tube sputters for a brief second in my Audio Research Reference DAC. The Reference DAC is connected directly to my amplifier and it also serves as my preamp. Visually, all of the tubes look fine. Visually, I can’t tell which tube may be bad.
The tubes are: (4) 6H30, plus (1) 6550C and (1) 6H30 in power supply
Have any of you ever purchased a tube tester to test your tubes? If so, what tube tester are you using?
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i use a lowly B&K but in your case, The ability to properly test the 6H30 is key. I would invest in a backup set from ARC including the key 6550 in the power supply of your DAC, it is way more life limited than the 6H30. Then find a reliable vendor / ARC dealer w tester and have them grade your old tubes. |
A friend and member of my local HiFi Club has a substantial tube collection with items spanning two generations of collecting. A Calibrated Tube Tester is a important part of this enthusiasts activities. It is great to be introduced to same era Tubes with usage life beyond factory spec' and almost perfectly matched in each half of the Valve across Valve Pairs or Quads. It is only through being introduced to same Brand Valve as per the above and then compared to same Brand valves with a reduction in usage life and a wider range in the readings across each half of the Valve, does one discover the real attraction of very accurately match Valves. It is something quite special to experience a near perfect match array of Tubes. Having access to the Tube Tester for periodical readings helps greatly with assuring the optimised experience of Valves is being maintained. These Types are usually the Sunday best and lesser quality matches are identified do the daily grind/glow. |
@mitch4t Tube testers will not find a sputtering tube. The best way to find it is to swap it with the other channel if that is possible, if not, with another tube of the same type elsewhere in your system. It can also be a corroded tube socket as previously suggested, but IME your DAC is far too new for that to be an issue. The tube itself is far more likely.
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- 26 posts total