illkemist
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2007
- Posts
- 332
- Likes
- 10
Mods, if there is a better place to post this, please do not hesitate to move it. But I figure the CS300 is a tube amplifier with a headphone output, so this should be okay.
I bought this amplifier a few months back from another head-fier. Great transaction, no problems whatsoever. Lately, it seems that the amp is only outputting to one channel reliably. The left channel works consistently. The right channel is intermittent. I haven't thought to check how long it goes in and out, but it almost sounds like someone is switching the balance of the music. Only, the amp has no balance controls set and my DAC has not been adjusted in this way.
The sound is the same through my speakers (Usher S520) and all of my headphones, so I don't think it is a problem with the speaker outputs or the headphone jack. The amp has a pair of GE 5751s. I switched these and heard no change. In other words, the problem still existed in the left channel. I also tried swapping the EL84s, moving the two leftmost tubes to the right, and vice versa. This did not help either.
Can anyone offer any advice? I can buy a new set of EL84 tubes here from my local vinyl shop. But I don't want to spend the money (US $100) unless I can confirm that the problem lies with the 4 Sovteks that I am using. I'm currently in Taiwan, so shipping to Japan for repair might be costly. I'm really unsure of what to do.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I bought this amplifier a few months back from another head-fier. Great transaction, no problems whatsoever. Lately, it seems that the amp is only outputting to one channel reliably. The left channel works consistently. The right channel is intermittent. I haven't thought to check how long it goes in and out, but it almost sounds like someone is switching the balance of the music. Only, the amp has no balance controls set and my DAC has not been adjusted in this way.
The sound is the same through my speakers (Usher S520) and all of my headphones, so I don't think it is a problem with the speaker outputs or the headphone jack. The amp has a pair of GE 5751s. I switched these and heard no change. In other words, the problem still existed in the left channel. I also tried swapping the EL84s, moving the two leftmost tubes to the right, and vice versa. This did not help either.
Can anyone offer any advice? I can buy a new set of EL84 tubes here from my local vinyl shop. But I don't want to spend the money (US $100) unless I can confirm that the problem lies with the 4 Sovteks that I am using. I'm currently in Taiwan, so shipping to Japan for repair might be costly. I'm really unsure of what to do.
Thanks in advance for your help!