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From: jhess@orion.oac.uci.edu (James Hess)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Tubes or Transistors: The Matching Game
Message-ID: <8687@uwm.edu>
Date: 4 Jan 91 14:52:28 GMT
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In article <8547@uwm.edu> chu@ims.alaska.edu (Chirk Chu) writes:
>
>Power here in Fairbanks, Alaska is not the best in the world. The other day
>the power went down just for a fraction of a second. The resulting power
>surge promptly killed a driver tube (6201) and a output tube (EL34) in one
>of my VTL 225W monoblock. 
>
>Transistors are more reliable. Do not get tube amps unless one is willing
>to give plenty of TLC to your amps. Tubes also need replacement every
>1-3 years and they are not cheap.
>

Must of been one heck of a power surge!

While I can't speak authoritatively on this specific design, in general Chirk 
is wrong--tubes are more tolerant of overloads and surges than transistors.  
Faults that would take minutes to seriously damage tubes will eat transistors 
in milliseconds.

As to replacement, while I imagine golden-eared audiophiles will dissent, I 
have seen tubes, particularly in low-power sections of the circutry, operate 
for years with no measurable deterioration beyond the tolerance ranges of new
components.  Of course, if your circut requires devices to be matched within 
+/- 1%, plan on spending lots of money....

J. Hess