Audio Research Vs115

Resistor blowing, with tube arcs, and shorts, is only true with ARC amps and is IMO a reliability issue. ARC in the Twin Cities will "never" send a tech to your home for any repair! The amp always goes back to the factory for any repair!

BAT, Quicksilver, VAC, Atmosphere, Manley, Rouge, and VTL amps "never" blow out parts if a tube arcs!

It is a poor design choice by ARC!

I now live in fear of my Jolida being destroyed by a tube arc...not likely to happen, but still...also, is this all stemming from the fact that ARC and "arc" are the same letter grouping? Coincidence? hmm...I smell a conspiracy...or my tubes melting...or something

Sorry Don, there are a lot of amps which will take out a resistor in the bias circuit when a power tube blows. ARC has a lot of company, including I suspect some of those you mentioned. But I agree it is a PITA especially when you aren't handy with a soldering iron. Usually it is simple to replace the resistor.

BTW, since you have stated that it is a "poor" design choice, what design would be preferred, and how would its utilization affect the performance of the amp? I suspect that designers may have concluded that using the resistor as a fuse was a preferred solution as opposed to inserting a fuse in the bias loop. But I'm not a designer.....

Smatsui, I'm sorry to read about your troubles. It's hard for me to react to your situation, other than I'm glad you found an amp that suits your needs.

Just a couple of responses to your last post. Yes, the power tranny does get quite warm, but that is normal for the VS-115. As far as humming is concerned, I wonder out loud if what you heard was the power caps charging. I've heard humming too at start up, but it goes away pretty quickly after warm up. Perhaps Gary (Hifigeek1) could add another comment or so to put your observations into perspective.

There are no reliability issues with that amp that I am aware of.