ARC Ref 3 and ARC Ref 110 tubes


I have a ARC Ref 3 and Ref 110. I am getting a crackling sound out of the left speaker. I am assuming I got a bad tube somewhere. I tried replacing the Power tube (6550C) in the Ref 3 but I still get the crackling sound out of the left speaker. I got 1500 hours on the other tubes in the Ref 3 and 1000 hours on the tubes in the Ref 110. Is there a way to narrow down which tube might be bad without playing a chess game of swithing tubes all around? It seems to me my system has also some slam loss.
tlg
You can narrow down the choices to either the preamp or amp. Switch interconnect channels from the preamp to the amp. If the crackle stays in the left channel, it's the amp. If it changes to the right channel, it's the preamp. Then go from there. Make sure you turn off both units BEFORE you change cables.
Pre amp tubes should last 5000 to 10k hours. Amp tubes 1500-2500. Personally, I only change output tubes in complete sets. If it's one tube, the rest are getting ready to go too.
Mofimadness can you explain the idea a little more. Sorry, but I don't get it yet?