2. amps-preamps
  3. 1249856770

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
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,993 posts
 
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.
elevick
2,637 posts
 
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.
tlg OP
69 posts
 
Mofimadness can you explain the idea a little more. Sorry, but I don't get it yet?
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,993 posts
 
Plug the right channel cable output from the preamp into the left channel input of the amp and vice versa. This is just switching the channels. If the left channel output from the preamp is faulty, the noise will shift to the right speaker. If the left channel of the amp is bad, the noise will stay in the left speaker.
More to discover