rogue audio m150 owners


I have rogue audio m150 monos that are a little over a year old , today I measured my power tubes on a tube tester and I was suprised that my tubes were barely testing "good" . they seemed to have lost most of there power. the tubes are EH kt88s . is this normal ? how many hours is average for this type of tube ? I am new to the world of tubes and I thought I would get 3-5000 hours of good use before needed replacement. Also, have any m150 owners tried any different brands of tubes? Is there one that stands out from the others? please help ! thanks and happy listening!
chrissain
thanks, Cyclonicman ,sometimes it easy to overlook whats right in front of you !! the tube tester works well with smaller tubes ie 12ax7 testing from bad to great depending on the tube,but all the kt88s I have tested weak. maybe there is somthing wrong with the socket for the kt88 on the hichcock tube tester. thanks for the tip and happy listening ! chrissain
Chrissain, when I had my Rogue Stereo 90, I switched from EH KT88's to SED KT88's. While the EH is a good sounding tube, I think the SED betters it from top to bottom and especially in the midrange. They are also more expensive than the EH KT88's I have also tried Svetlana's but preferred the SED's overall.
Yes, I was blowing tubes within a year. I was using EH KT 88's from The Tube Store. I was driving Proac 3.8's which are not a difficult load for these amps.
hey thanks for the replies on this old post ! I think I will try the sed kt88s next, has anybody tried el34s or
6550s ? the guys at audio research swear that the 6550s sound way better than the kt88s, I know its personal opinion but feedback would be much appreciated since I cant afford to try multiple sets. thanks , chrissain
Which ISO version do you have? Is the duplex receptacle located on the back side of the unit? If it is that version,it should only be used for digital, transport and preamp use.Joe made a prototype version that had the duplex receptacles on top of the unit but did not make very many. THe prototype was larger,probably weighed in at 30 pounds easy. The Iso I have has a large isolation transformer inside but i don't know the VA rating. My Iso is 5"tall, 7"wide and 11" deep and weighs 22 pounds. I hope this helps. I can give you Joe's email address if that would help. Good luck