Don c55 ... No question about it ... Pass Labs gear has a great reputation. And I am glad that you are enjoying your Pass Labs amp.
But let's put your comments into a little perspective. The D125 was introduced in 1988 and discontinued in 1991. My goodness, it's been almost 25 years since the amp was discontinued!! There's been a lot of water under the bridge since the D125 was on the scene.
As I already mentioned, I've owned 3 and a half ARC amps in the last 10 years or so: VS-110, VS-115; Ref 150; and Ref 150 with SE factory upgrade. NEVER had a flame out. Burned bias resisters ... yes. Massive circuit failures ... never.
Btw, I also own other ARC gear: Ref 5 SE (linestage); CD-8 (CD player);and PH-8 (phono pre). Never had a burned tube problem, flame out or any other problem for that matter.
I think most of the crabbing in this thread goes to the inherent nature of tubes ... they arc from time to time. No getting around that. Of course, the other point is that ARC does not use bias circuit breakers. If it did, it would be a simple matter to push a button and you're back in business. Voila.
I surmise that cost cutting is not the issue here. Jeez, the Ref 150 SE lists for $14K. How much could little circuit breakers cost?? Either Kal or Len of ARC told me many years ago that the reason ARC use bias resisters was to minimize artifacts in the signal path. I'm not a EE, so I can't speak to the pros or cons of that choice.
Heck, if I knew my way around solder and a soldering iron, I'd replace the darn resisters myself. Just afraid of messing up my amp.
As I posted above, if after auditioning amps, one chooses another brand because it sounds better, then what can I say?? Or, if having to replace tubes or, on the rare occasional, having to hire a tech to fix a burned bias resister is too much hassle, then an ARC tube amp is not the amp of choice. Personally, I'm ok with ARC amps and other tube gear.
But let's put your comments into a little perspective. The D125 was introduced in 1988 and discontinued in 1991. My goodness, it's been almost 25 years since the amp was discontinued!! There's been a lot of water under the bridge since the D125 was on the scene.
As I already mentioned, I've owned 3 and a half ARC amps in the last 10 years or so: VS-110, VS-115; Ref 150; and Ref 150 with SE factory upgrade. NEVER had a flame out. Burned bias resisters ... yes. Massive circuit failures ... never.
Btw, I also own other ARC gear: Ref 5 SE (linestage); CD-8 (CD player);and PH-8 (phono pre). Never had a burned tube problem, flame out or any other problem for that matter.
I think most of the crabbing in this thread goes to the inherent nature of tubes ... they arc from time to time. No getting around that. Of course, the other point is that ARC does not use bias circuit breakers. If it did, it would be a simple matter to push a button and you're back in business. Voila.
I surmise that cost cutting is not the issue here. Jeez, the Ref 150 SE lists for $14K. How much could little circuit breakers cost?? Either Kal or Len of ARC told me many years ago that the reason ARC use bias resisters was to minimize artifacts in the signal path. I'm not a EE, so I can't speak to the pros or cons of that choice.
Heck, if I knew my way around solder and a soldering iron, I'd replace the darn resisters myself. Just afraid of messing up my amp.
As I posted above, if after auditioning amps, one chooses another brand because it sounds better, then what can I say?? Or, if having to replace tubes or, on the rare occasional, having to hire a tech to fix a burned bias resister is too much hassle, then an ARC tube amp is not the amp of choice. Personally, I'm ok with ARC amps and other tube gear.