2. amps-preamps
  3. 1360100356

Opinions on ICL, Inrush Current Limiter

I have a friend and technician that works on my vintage tube gear. In my opinion he does very excellent work. However on every amp and preamp whether its ARC D70MKII, D90B, HK-Citation II, Lafayette KT600 etc., he wants to put in a In-rush Current Limiter circuit. I always ask the original designer (i.e., fameous!!) did not employ this circuit, why do you? He is adament about putting one in. It does seem to help the big amps as they slowly come up to power and I have tried to hear a loss in dynamic range but I can't...after it warms up.

So any opinions on this circuit? Should the ICL be put in vintage gear? or was it too expensive?? Are there pros and cons? Thanks any comment would be greatly appreciated. Larry
apfdirtdoctor
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,098 posts
 
Hifigeek1, nearly every amplifier has line fuses. A current inrush limiter will have a high value at turn-on, but a negligible value under normal load. This prevents damage to switch contacts, rectifiers and the like.

The 'thermistor' you refer to BTW is probably a CIL- CILs are a form of thermistor with an inverse temperature coefficient.

The HK Citation II is an excellent candidate for a CIL addition, as it has a large current inrush due to its voltage-doubler power supply. The filter caps are taking a lot of current at turn-on and will thus last longer.
hifigeek1
770 posts
 
Atmasphere..it was a joke.
csontos
1,311 posts
 
Hilarious
More to discover