I guess it could prob prove costly aparently these output valves have about 3000 hours in them and cost £200... ...
Marco, haven't you got some valves that last for donkeys years?
I guess it could prob prove costly aparently these output valves have about 3000 hours in them and cost £200... ...
Marco, haven't you got some valves that last for donkeys years?
CS Port TAT2 - Benz LPS - Funkfirm Houdini - DS Audio Vinyl Ionizer - CS Port C3EQ - Kondo G70 - Kondo Gakuoh II - Maxonic TW1100 MKII - Isol-8 SubStation Integra
Yeah, the G.E.C KT88s in my Copper amp were first installed (brand new) in 1997, so they've had thousands of hours of use, yet test great, and above all sound superb...
That's quality for ya, ma man!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
The TESLAs in mine have only roughly the same hours of expected use yet cost more than the GECs...
Having said that, the Copper amps don't drive output valves quite as hard as the Puresound but then the power output (30wpc) and HT are lower.
NB: we can't really refer to your amp as an A30 (refering to the rated power output in Class A) as Anthony's mods raised its measured power output to just shy of 40 wpc.
The good news is that Anthony has set aside two quads of GEC KT88s to replace my TESLAs and Marco's aging GECs. Marco's are over ten years old and 20 years of life is not unremarkable (more than we can say for Naim caps )
Alex,
Another factor to take into account is thermal cycling I.e. lightbulbs always blow on switch on or off.You would get more hours out of valves by leaving them on rather than switching them on and off a couple of times a day.Not to say you should just leave the amp on all the time,just reduce as much as you can the amount of times you turn it on and off.
Thanks Ali. To be honest, I'm thinking valves would be a longer-term standalone project - I have plans to build an extension in a couple of years and we are hoping to include an "adult" lounge - (no not that sort of "adult" Marco! ) so that the current lounge can become a Family Room, and we'll have a nice valve-based system in the "adult" lounge, with the Garrard 401 as a main source, (duly fettled) into some nice shiny bottles... Unfortunately the cash for the building project won't be available for a couple of years though. Well, we all need dreams, don't we?
Alex
Main System: Digital: HP Laptop/M2Tech Hiface/Logitech Media Server/FLAC; Marantz SA7001 KI Signature SACD Player and other digital stuff into Gatorised Beresford Caiman DAC Vinyl: Garrard 401/SME 3009 SII Improved/Sumiko HS/Nagaoka MP-30
Amplifier: Rega Brio R. Speakers: Spendor SP1. Cables: Various, mainly Mark Grant. Please see "about me" for the rest of my cr@p! Gallery
A.o.S. on Facebook - A.o.S. on Spotify - A.o.S. on Twitter
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing Aristotle
Sounds like a plan! Be great to have the chance to build a listening room from scratch.
Well, three of the GEC KT66's in my Crofted Quad II's date from 1962 and are still running fine I think (HiFi dave gave me another GEC to replace the duff one), although they haven't had the kind of use that Marco no doubt gives his...
Alex - might it not be better to move when the time comes????????
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Oh God no, I hate moving, hopefully I'll be here until they'll carry me out in a box (speaker enclosure, obviously!)
We'll see - but we love this house, and even after 5 years still pinch ourselves sometimes that it's ours (well, half ours and half the Britannia's!) - would just love a bit more room someday, not that we're short of it, really, would just be nice.
Alex
Main System: Digital: HP Laptop/M2Tech Hiface/Logitech Media Server/FLAC; Marantz SA7001 KI Signature SACD Player and other digital stuff into Gatorised Beresford Caiman DAC Vinyl: Garrard 401/SME 3009 SII Improved/Sumiko HS/Nagaoka MP-30
Amplifier: Rega Brio R. Speakers: Spendor SP1. Cables: Various, mainly Mark Grant. Please see "about me" for the rest of my cr@p! Gallery
A.o.S. on Facebook - A.o.S. on Spotify - A.o.S. on Twitter
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing Aristotle
Last edited by Spectral Morn; 09-12-2009 at 22:29.
Regards Neil