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Tired of Problems with Tube Equipment

I switched over to tube audio equipment in some form some years back, and have certainly enjoyed music played back through them. I have had amps, preamps, and DACS at different times utilizing tubes. One unfortunate thing that's been common to all the tube equipment I've had are problems. It doesn't seem to matter whether the manufacturer is large or small, built in the USA or overseas, they all have had problems. Capacitors blowing out, bad solder joints, tubes only lasting a short time, loud pops that mysteriously go away on their own, etc. Although I have enjoyed the sound (and that beautiful glow!), I am starting to get tired of this and thinking of going back to solid state.

Have any of you also gone back (or thought about it) to solid state for this reason? What has your experience been with the reliability of tube equipment?
smeyers
gsm18439
895 posts
 
In my limited experience reliability issues are more manufacturer-dependent than whether the equipment is SS or whether it uses tubes.
jallen
502 posts
 
I had SS equipment, and had bad capacitors, faulty relay switches, bad output transistors, and I went to tubes, and have had a few bad tubes, but less problems than with SS, and I can listen to the tubes longer. There are no service-free roads in the audio journey. That is just the way it is in audio world.....Then a few years go by with few problems and you are glad you remained in there....
ras422
182 posts
 
This thread is all about personal preference- and experience-there is no right or wrong --tube vs ss--I personally had a tube preamp that probably didn't mate well with my ss amps --had lots of problems and settled on a ss pre from the same co. as my amps-that I just love and have had for a number of years and am very happy with the sound--it is just not feasable for me to try multple amps and preamps---others have gone that route and found what they were looking for--have friends that love their tube gear and other with ss that are just as happy with theirs --so enjoy the journey
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jax2
3,031 posts
 
I can't say I've had a tremendous diversity or breadth of experience compared to what is available, but I have used tubed components for many years. I've been using various tube components, practically exclusively, for eight or nine years now. I've mixed in a few SS devices during that period as well, but they don't seem to last long with me (there's your personal preference), though I've certainly enjoyed them for various reasons. Unlike Smeyers I have not had many problems at all over the years with tube components. Most, not all, of the stuff I've used is point-to-point wired. I've not owned that many tube components that are primarily assembled using circuit boards. My experience echos Jrb25: I've owned five different pairs of Quicksilver amps (among a handful of others) and never had a single problem with any of them, including the Quicksilver SET amps I've had for about six years. I'm not counting arcing tubes, which have always been current production Russian tubes (this has happened three separate occasions with three entirely different amps), as none were the fault of the component. It could have something to do with the actual components you've chosen...perhaps? Smeyers - can you give us a rundown of some of the components you've had the problems you've described?
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