Another D'Yquem Tube Failure

[NOLG4EVR]

I am very unhappy to report I experienced another 300b tube failure several days ago with my Shindo D'Yquem amplifiers.
This is my second pair of brand new amps to cause a tube failure. My first pair caused a tube failure the second time I switched them on last November. The amp was sent back to my dealer and tubes were replaced and the amp was re-biased and returned back to me. After a few days the same 300b tube failed again.

It was decided that a new pair would be ordered to replace these and my dealer would send my original amps to Japan for repair.

My new pair were delivered last December and have worked fine until a couple of days ago when exactly the same tube started glowing bright red on turn on and failed within a minute.

Very strange to have so many tube failures in such a short period of time. JH has been responsive and thinks it is simply faulty Gold Lion tubes. If so, I must be the lottery winner of bad tubes to have so many brand new tubes fail.

Not sure what the issue is but my experience so far with this model of amp has been less than stellar. When they work, the amp is amazing. Unfortunately for me the dependability has left me doubting whether I want to continue using these in my system.

The irony is my dealer is now sending me my original repaired amps back to use temporarily until we decide how to resolve the problem. Hopefully they will arrive next week.

[Masterlu]

J.J. Sorry to hear this; I hope they can figure out what is the cause of these failures.

[NOLG4EVR]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

J.J. Sorry to hear this; I hope they can figure out what is the cause of these failures.

Thanks Ivan. I hope so too.

[Vinyljh]

Hi JJ- Just an fyi and of course I'm very sorry for the trouble- your first pair was not repaired, they were sent to Japan for a full check out and found to only have a bad Gold Lion 300B. So for the record and clarity on the forum, none of the amps ever failed, several tubes have failed. The amps didn't cause tube failures, the tube manufacturing caused the failures. The tubes are run rather conservatively as in all Shindo designs. Its unfortunate as these Gold Lion tubes sound fantastic and so far most are holding up well. My pair has been my most used amps since they arrived and must have over a thousand hours with no issues. As I mentioned to you in our emails, it could be a production run tube issue or just that tube lottery. We'll take care of you. Jonathan

[Bluemcintosh]

JJ , I'm sorry to hear that as well. I remember you told me about it too. I had same kind of problem with my first MC275 in first 4 months. Now it works fine for last 2 years. Hopefully everything works out well. Coz I have my eyes on your amp too for my speakers

[JPrest]

The 300b tube has had a long history of premature tube failure. Check out the posts of individuals who have paid extremely high prices for WE tubes to only have them fail after 6 months. I personally think the Siemens F2a is a better tube, certainly more reliable rated at 50,000 hours. Try to find a rating for tube life of a 300b????

[NOLG4EVR]

Originally Posted by JPrest

The 300b tube has had a long history of premature tube failure. Check out the posts of individuals who have paid extremely high prices for WE tubes to only have them fail after 6 months. I personally think the Siemens F2a is a better tube, certainly more reliable rated at 50,000 hours. Try to find a rating for tube life of a 300b????

My first ones failed at less than 2 hours. Seconds at about 6 hours. Thirds at about 300 hours. Very frustrating. I am thinking of giving up on these amps and tubes as it is difficult to to deal with failure when you don't have a Shindo dealer nearby.

It maybe an amp issue. Only ten of these have been produced. It's possible that the power on parallel SET Shindo amps has yet to be be perfected. Who knows. What I do know is I have no music. Very disappointing.

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by NOLG4EVR

My first ones failed at less than 2 hours. Seconds at about 6 hours. Thirds at about 300 hours. Very frustrating. I am thinking of giving up on these amps and tubes as it is difficult to to deal with failure when you don't have a Shindo dealer nearby.

It maybe an amp issue. Only ten of these have been produced. It's possible that the power on parallel SET Shindo amps has yet to be be perfected. Who knows. What I do know is I have no music. Very disappointing.

I feel very badly for you with all the tube failures, expense and lack of music in your home.

I have two words for you which I doubt will bring you any consolation: solid state

I hope Shindo and the tube companies can get their acts together so you can get back to your music. Sometimes we spend too much time with the equipment and not enough just listening.

[NOLG4EVR]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

I feel very badly for you with all the tube failures, expense and lack of music in your home.

I have two words for you which I doubt will bring you any consolation: solid state

I hope Shindo and the tube companies can get their acts together so you can get back to your music. Sometimes we spend too much time with the equipment and not enough just listening.

Thanks Gary. I unfortunately have been very unlucky with my tube experience recently. I have owned previously other tube amps with no failure whatsoever.

I don't see switching to solid state at any time in the near future as the 300b tube sound is just so right for me.

Frustrating as my experience has been for now I will continue to give it another try. Hopefully it will all work out.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

I feel very badly for you with all the tube failures, expense and lack of music in your home.

I have two words for you which I doubt will bring you any consolation: solid state

I hope Shindo and the tube companies can get their acts together so you can get back to your music. Sometimes we spend too much time with the equipment and not enough just listening.

Gary,

For a tube lover, SS is a almost a bad word.

When you have the " ears for tubes ", like when you have the " ears for vinyl", for sure, it takes efforts. It can be painful. But all this is rewarding to us by a much better sound than solid state. Solid state amps are boring to me. Not right away. But with time, they all get boring. While my love is always burning for my tube amps. I sold my Snappers to Georges, just because I had too many amps. I could buy them again in the blink of an eye. I still love them.

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