Speaker Balance Question

Thanks guys, just spoke to the dealer and he said if I swapped the valves round and the emphasis moved then they would send me a new pair of valves - if not they would have to get the amp in.

 

good one .....

I just consider valves to be consumables and factor that in so after about 18months I'll be due to replace them ...

 

I have the same problem with my Cayin, I think, never swapped the speaker cables, maybe I will try on the weekend...

The dealer said it cannot be a bias problem on the output tubes, and suggested I swap the small tubes, wich I did without change...

Luckily I have balance control, so at least it sounds ok...

 

Only the pre-amp stage of my integrated is valve. I swapped the vales and the emphasis changed suggesting that it is a valve issue in my case. Dealer is obtaining replacement valves for me.

Antonio I would like to get to the bottom of the issue even if I had balance control.

 

Excellent, sounds like you will have it sorted shortly then As Andy said you can buy matched valves.

 

I know what you mean kmac. If it was my amp and i had to alter the balance control to get the image right i'd always have a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that something wasn't right.
Terrible thing, compulsion.:JOEL:

Glad a solution's in the pipeline mate.

 

I do want to get to the bottom of the issue, but...

I am afraid I will have to replace the power tubes, wich means re-bias, and I dont want to do that, open the amplifier, buy multimeter, etc, so, if it is not the speakers, and I doubt it is, it will have to do with balance until further problems...

 

Got Golden Dragon replacement tubes - emphasis issues now sorted.

Antonio - is that your home set-up in your avatar? And are those room treatments behind your speakers?

Looks very good if it is.

 

Thanks...

They are leather and cotton Indian rugs to improve the acoustics of the room, there is also a rattan screen on the right corner and a bookshelf on the left...

 

...and now you're comfortable with swapping valves around, you can spend lots of time and money trawling the net for alternative brands/models etc! I quite liked the golden dragons I had, but I prefer the nos RCA's I replaced them with .

 

Well I'd say more comfortable than before. I understand I can now swap tubes of the same model but other brands.

What I don't understand is what determines which models can/cannot be used Any resources I can read up on this subjuct woukld be appreciated.

 

There are a lot of web pages and discussions about tubes which you can easily find, but to answer the simple question: what are the basic data and substitutes, I like the database at Tube Data Sheet Locator

 

KMAC
(I'm new on this Forum) - Has yr set-up been fixed?
How did you do it?
If not can you advise latest news-I'm reading yr post of 18Feb2007 -if you're not familiar with tubes (UK=Valves), I suspect you are better off leaving them alone, at least uuntil you have some replacements.
Incidently 12AX7 are small-signal valves, (probably under 2" high)....hope that helps. Are they glowing dull-orange equally? (like a torch that's nearly dead - is the best description).
Regards.

 

Thanks Harry but the dealer provided me with replacement valves (tubes, bottles etc) which have fixed the problem.

 

Nice big room, very tastefully decorated. May I be so impertinent as to ask where you got the sofas from Am looking for a good "listening couch"

 

Another good site for valve info is:
http://www.vacuumtubes.com/
It's a US site that sells a lot of vintage used and nos valves, but also lists a fair amount of variants and manufacturers so is a good source of info. This is the page for 12ax7 (ecc83) info:
http://www.vacuumtubes.com/12ax7.html

No good if you want recently manufactured valves though....as I don't think they sell them.

 

Looks like a good site - thanks for the info

 

I bought them in Riga, Latvia, a bit out of hand for you...

 

Yeah I subsequently noticed you location details.

Enjoy the set-up - it looks great

 

12AX7 and ECC83 are a pair of small-signal triodes - typically used in the middle-section (between main gain and output pair)..often the tone-controls will feature between the two sections and as far as I know they are still made in the east, probably on old UK/US equipment.
Also I recall that E88CC is another varient (specifically of ECC88) with additional "quality" mostly this is the degree of vacuum and gold-plating of the pins.
Glad to learn yr dealer fixed the amp - but what op-stage does yr amp have if the only obvious valves (US=Tubes) are small-signal triodes?

Could it be a transistor amp with valve pretentions - ie the valves are there to add that certain class?
If your source is a CD-player then I suspect you don't need the extra gain.
Another use of ECC83/12AX7 was as a phase-splitter..where each anode would feed into one power-stage via capacitors obviously. So it is possible there was one triode which wasn't up to it and hence that channel lacked something. This most obviously showed-up as being out of balance.
Everything is OK then?
It may be an idea to get some spares - valves are increasingly difficult to source. If stored carefully in their boxes they should last years. Furthermore they don't suffer "wounding" that can beset integrated circuits, although one on a pcb this effect is rarely seen. Valves can lose their vacuum, particularly if their pins get bent! so handle with care....but you probably sensed this....