Progress so far in case anyone is interested.
ARC said that there was nothing they could do with the bent chasis/binding posts. Hence, I elected not to ship the amp. I[ve had shipping related issues with a used REF 5SE preamp I purchased recently so I am hesitant to ship the amp.
I just brought it into my local ARC authorized technician today. He verified the issues with the resistors. He was concerned that the resistor associated with the power tube did not blow completely but instead registers in the 300 ohm range. They are wire-wound resistors and blow when a power tube arcs. The teflon capacitor associated with the power tubes which blew the resistor seemed to measure properly.
We are definitely going to replace all of the tubes as they showed signs of age including the 6H30s. Also, I have no confidence in the tube counter based on other issues with the seller.
My tech is going to run the amp for awhile and monitor the voltage leakage, if any, across the teflon caps to see if they are suspect. If he doesn't like what he sees, he will order replacements when he orders the new tubes on Tuesday. I really hope the teflon caps are ok because I've heard that the replacement capacitors do not sound as warm. The amp isn't warm sounding as it is. Why would I want a leaner REF150?
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Digital W4S DAC-2v2SE, W4S Recovery powered by Uptone Audio LPS-1, OPPO BDP-105; Office: iFi micro iDAC2 Home Office: iFi nano iDSD with iPurifier2
Analog Rega Planar 2 (original) heavily modified; Benz Micro Ace; Aesthetix Rhea phono pre-amp
Pre-amp/amp Audio Research REF 5SE, Audio Research REF 150, Martin Logan SL3s, Shunyata Research power cords throughout
Last edited by birdland; 05-28-2017 at 01:41 PM.
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