[gooky]

  gooky, my PH's hummed quite badly when new, sometimes the hum came and went, sometims continuous. I found the hum could be silenced simply by holding the tube (using a cloth!) or gently prodding the base.
But gradually this hum subsided to silence over time (100+ hours). Even after this, they always still hummed in the first few minutes of start up, just like my current Mesa Boogies do, as did the stock JJs. It's seems quite common really amongst new production tubes.
 
In short, don't worry too much about the hum. It's the dying bit that you really need to worry about.

I noticed that too!  What is it about ringing tubes that makes you want to touch them?  I'm probably going to put my tube dampers on them.  And yes, I was gullible enough to buy dampers at one point.  Thanks for your experience, glad to hear your tubes work; hopefully, that'll be the case with mine, at least for a while.  I purchased it mainly out of curiosity, but I don't expect it to be very durable.
 
I don't think it's amp related, been using xf2 tubes on and off for about three years, and never had a problem (knock on wood.) 

 

[dude_500]

 
I noticed that too!  What is it about ringing tubes that makes you want to touch them?  I'm probably going to put my tube dampers on them.  And yes, I was gullible enough to buy dampers at one point.  Thanks for your experience, glad to hear your tubes work; hopefully, that'll be the case with mine, at least for a while.  I purchased it mainly out of curiosity, but I don't expect it to be very durable.

 
Tube dampers make my Svetlana's ring a lot less, good enough that it doesn't interfere with listening (it did before, super loud ringing)

 

[muscleking]

finally received my stax 4170. however the seller included the transformer is rated for 35w. it shuts down after less than 10 minutes. scare the hell out of me first. the transformer is extremely hot when it shut down. I didn't realized it was underpowered.
 
so I couldn't test it too long. but I listened to sarah brightman's eden and yeah I really liked the sound. heard more stuff then my sony ma900. so the longest I run the tube is 3 minutes. I gave to my mom to listen not a good song and she said I got ripped off. I said the tube is not heated up yet and there is like 200 hours break in period.
 
the crappy power supply transformer is TI-101, see pic, I ordered a TI-351 which is 120w on amazon.ca for 33 bucks shipped. but that will be received by like November. I packed the headphone away and put the amp on my desk with the plastic bag back on.
 
you guys should try the sony ma900. the stax is definitely not 13 times better. ma900 cost me only 120 bucks. this one 1600 bucks, Canadian dollar. you guys will see me talking about the 4170 in the next little while. definitely getting rid of that ad700 you see in the first picture. but again that thing is 80 bucks damn good value.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheAttorney]

I noticed that too!  What is it about ringing tubes that makes you want to touch them?  I'm probably going to put my tube dampers on them.  And yes, I was gullible enough to buy dampers at one point.  Thanks for your experience, glad to hear your tubes work; hopefully, that'll be the case with mine, at least for a while.  I purchased it mainly out of curiosity, but I don't expect it to be very durable.
 
I don't think it's amp related, been using xf2 tubes on and off for about three years, and never had a problem (knock on wood.) 

Over on the BHSE thread I posted a mini review of the Herbie Halo tube dampers. They had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the tube hum/buzz, but they did improve the SQ heard through the headphones, whether the tubes were buzzing or not.Go figure. I can't comment on any other tube damper as I've only ever tried one model.
 
My Treasures were one example of new production tubes that didn't hum/buzz at all on the BHSE. But they didn't sound anywhere near as good as the PHs or MBs - even when the latter two were buzzing loudly. Go figure.

 

[David1961]

The noise I hear from the PH tubes is kind of hissing / crackling sound when I first turn on the power to my BHSE, but this noise is only slight and after a few minutes it goes to virtually no noise at all, there is still a slight noise after those first few minutes, but in order for me to hear it I have to put my ears within inches from the tubes.

 

[yawg]

The noise I hear from the PH tubes is kind of hissing / crackling sound when I first turn on the power to my BHSE, but this noise is only slight and after a few minutes it goes to virtually no noise at all, there is still a slight noise after those first few minutes, but in order for me to hear it I have to put my ears within inches from the tubes.

I wonder about all that tube noise. Are the heaters in the tubes AC or DC?

 

[David1961]

The noise I hear from the PH tubes is kind of hissing / crackling sound when I first turn on the power to my BHSE, but this noise is only slight and after a few minutes it goes to virtually no noise at all, there is still a slight noise after those first few minutes, but in order for me to hear it I have to put my ears within inches from the tubes.

I wonder about all that tube noise. Are the heaters in the tubes AC or DC?

Sorry, but I don't know anything about the technical side of audio, but I'm sure someone will be able to answer your question.

 

[Jones Bob]

finally received my stax 4170. however the seller included the transformer is rated for 35w. it shuts down after less than 10 minutes. scare the hell out of me first. the transformer is extremely hot when it shut down. I didn't realized it was underpowered.

so I couldn't test it too long. but I listened to sarah brightman's eden and yeah I really liked the sound. heard more stuff then my sony ma900. so the longest I run the tube is 3 minutes. I gave to my mom to listen not a good song and she said I got ripped off. I said the tube is not heated up yet and there is like 200 hours break in period.

the crappy power supply transformer is TI-101, see pic, I ordered a TI-351 which is 120w on amazon.ca for 33 bucks shipped. but that will be received by like November. I packed the headphone away and put the amp on my desk with the plastic bag back on.

you guys should try the sony ma900. the stax is definitely not 13 times better. ma900 cost me only 120 bucks. this one 1600 bucks, Canadian dollar. you guys will see me talking about the 4170 in the next little while. definitely getting rid of that ad700 you see in the first picture. but again that thing is 80 bucks damn good value.

I would STRONGLY advise against ever setting a bottle of water on top of a tube amplifier that puts out 900vpp. Respect the lethal voltages! Even if unplugged at the time, dripping condensation, or a spill could put you at risk went powering up.

 

[astrostar59]

I was just about to say that!

 

[astrostar59]

Why do you need the transformer? Can't you adjust the taps inside the Stax amp to suit your home voltage?

 

[Jones Bob]

Should not need a transformer for the US. The SRM-006tS (seen in the photo) is the 117VAC export version.

 

[muscleking]

That's an empty water bottle just for size comparison when I put it on Facebook lol. Yeah I won't put anything on there when it's hooked up for sure.

I would STRONGLY advise against ever setting a bottle of water on top of a tube amplifier that puts out 900vpp. Respect the lethal voltages! Even if unplugged at the time, dripping condensation, or a spill could put you at risk went powering up.

 

[muscleking]

Should not need a transformer for the US. The SRM-006tS (seen in the photo) is the 117VAC export version.

I ordered it from Yokohama, on the back there is a sticker says AC100v

Why do you need the transformer? Can't you adjust the taps inside the Stax amp to suit your home voltage?

I saw some thread people modifying the amp. I don't really want to open something this expensive even though I solder pretty good and knows OK on electronics. But I will look into it.

I ordered the 120w kashimura transformer should be here like November. Someone said transformer will mess with sound if loaded more then 50%? So 50w on 120w transformer should be OK yeah?

Also btw my xonar stx playing music on stax is quite impressive. All flac files I use. Some are 24/192. Do you guys use something better then computer?

 

[Jones Bob]

I ordered it from Yokohama, on the back there is a sticker says AC100v

Hmmmm..... I thought the SRM-006tA were 100VAC for the domestic Jaoanese market. The SRM-006tS was the export version. I saw the outside box in your post. If it says AC100V on the back of the amp, of course it uses AC100V.

Happy listening.

 

[muscleking]

Oh there is a TA?
Mine when start up it goes to input 2. Is that right? There are 3 line input on back input2, then input1, then another one called parallel out. Makes a click sound like in my sound card when starting computer.

Going to Alaska for a week back next Monday. Less wait for the transformer. Lol.