Hello all,

Before I pose my question, I must say that I am truly enjoying my Torii Mk2 amp. It is without a doubt, the sweetest-sounding amp I have ever heard!

Now to my question: Last night, while listening to Les McCann & Eddie Harris Live at Montreux, the Torii suddenly went black - all lights out. As I suspected, the fuse had blown. I replaced the fuse with the spare and the amp fired right back up again. What is the likely cause of the blown fuse? I have the amp plugged into a surge protector, so a power surge cannot be the problem, unless I am missing something. Has anyone had this experience?

Thanks,

Neil

Hey Lon,

I hope that you are having a good weekend, waiting and dreaming about your new Torii Mk3 and ERR's...

Thanks for your reply. Do you use a surge protector with your equipment?

Neil

You might want to check all the sockets and all that. I had a unit that did that.

Lon,

Out of curiosity, did you order the new Torii Mk3 with the modern base, or the ornate base?

Beautiful! That is what I would order as well. I do like the cool Decware cut out that glows red on the Mk2; I don't think that the Mk3 has that...

DPC,

That's too bad, it's a really nice detail. I also really like the way that the tubes reflect off of the black chassis of my Mk2, something that the white chassis probably doesn't provide as well. I really do like the new Walnut base that Steve/Bob are building. Now a Walnut base with a black or clear-finished, burnished chassis, and the Decware cut out THAT would be kickass!

Probably because Bob is an, er, Professional!!
I'll bet it looks (and sounds) great!
Best, Don

Never mind my previous post, I just figured out how to get the fuse out.  I replaced it with the spare in the unit, and then plugged it in.  Figuring that I was now good to go, I turned the unilt on.  The right side powered up as normal, but it took the left side OA3 tube a little longer to light up than usual.  When it did, if flickered briefly (had never done this before), then the rectifier tube lit up brightly (looked like it fried), then the unit went dead again.  I know I blew the new fuse, but I am curious about the tubes.  I don't have a spare rectifier tube on hand, and only have a used OA3 that I replaced when I bought a new one for my ZP3.  Does the OA3 flickering indicate that it probably fried the rectifier tube?  Any comments will be appreciated.  I will have to order new tubes tomorrow, and locate new fuses I hope locally.  Looks like I am watching TV for a week or so.

bill

My head amp had the rectifier socket loose; that took down 2 rectifiers and 2 fuses. Then Steve replaced the rectifier socket and I did not have that trouble again.

OK, this is weird, because I just had a similar experience to Bill's. I just received my Decware interconnects moments ago. I plugged them into the amp and cd player and no sound at all?

I re-plugged the old interconnects in and powered up. Just like Bill, my left side 5Y3GT rectifier tube lit up like a Christmas tree and then settled down. I now have sound through the old interconnects?

So, what is going on here? Could the Decware IC's be defective?

Anyone?

nsj - don't you just hate it when something happens, and you don't know what caused it?  Drives me crazy!  Glad everything on your end is up and running again.  I wish that I knew what caused my tubes to go.  If it was just premature failure on one tube, I can live with that.  But if there is another underlying problem, I would also like to know what it is.

bill

Well, I am up and running again.  Got my replacement tubes yesterday and got them into the ZP3.  Got my tubes that I was concerned with tested today, and got them installed back into the Torrii MKII.  Everything seems to be working just fine.  The root of all my problems MUST have been a catastropic failure of eithe the 5Y3GT or the OA3, I wish that I knew for sure.  Anyway, it is good to be spinning vinyl again.

bill

Neil,

While you are waiting to hear about whether or not Decware will provide a replacement tube, I would recommend purchasing another just the same.  That way, you will have a spare around once you get the replacement.  I was just starting to do that (started with the longer lived tubes - go figure) when my system went down.  When I ordered the replacement tubes, I only got one rectifier tube as a spare (I will use that for the ZP3 phono stage).  I am trying to decide what to get as spares for the Torri.  I am thinking of getting a pair of 5U4 rectifiers, but am having trouble on deciding on which brand.  Am looking at Electro-Harmonix or JJ tubes.

bill

Thanks for your recommendation Lon.  Although I had read where they were great tubes, I really didn't think that I wanted to go NOS for various reasons, one of which was the cost.  Then earlier this evening I saw a reference to a tube dealer that I had been unaware of while surfing the WWW.  When I checked the site, I discovered that they had very reasonable prices and had quite a selection of RCA tubes listed.  I will probably talk to him next week and may order a couple of his tubes.

Will let you know what I decide to do.

bill

Great Bill!  I predict you'll like them.

Glad your tubes are on the way.  

I havn't ordered tubes too often befroe, but when I did, I ordered either from the TubeDepot, or from thetubestore.  Both have seemed pretty honest to me and straight forward to me.  Both carry current production tubes as well as NOS.  I have a few other sources bookmarked, but primarily for informational purposes only.  The outlet that I just located for NOS tubes is Vintage Tube Services.  If you run a search on any of the sources that I mentioned, I am sure that you will locate them.

I am running Sventlana EL34 tubes.  They are the only power tubes that I have used.  My Rogue Cronus integrated amp (the one that preceded the torri) came with these tubes, as did the Torrii.  I have been very happy with them although I did have a failure of one in the Cronus after only a hundred hours or so, and I had an issue with one tube on the Torri when I first got it.  I have been trying to decide what to get as a spare quad for the Torrii, and my indecesion is the primary reason that I started with the input tubes.  I will be sticking with EL34 tubes whatever brand  I decide on however.

I just reread your post and I see you asked about fuses and not tubes (sorry).  I got mine from Radio Shack.  I am in rural montana and the store that I got my replacements for only had two packs of 5amp 125volt fuses, so your local store may or maynot have them.  Look at them carefully, as the store clerk was going to sell me the 250volt fuses instead.

Did you get your Torri used, or straight from Decware.  I didn't think that Decware provided KT88's for their amps, although I do know that you can use them.  I would like to hear a quad installed in mine, but I am not going to go through the expense of trying them.

bill

Bill,

I ordered from TubeDepot as well. I was just curious. I will check Radio Shack for the fuses.

My Torii was/is used, but, it was sent from Decware with all of the tubes as part of the deal.

Lon,

My amp does have the CCE mod, as that was ALSO part of the asking price. What is strange, then, is that the amp came with KT88's instead of EL34's. My guess is that the KT88's were what the previous owner had left over and they were just thrown into the deal...THAT means that there is improved sound out there for my amp by using EL34's?!!!!!

I can't believe that it could sound any better than it does already  :D

The Winged Cs are not really the same tube as the Svetlana. . . I've used both and think the Winged Cs are the better tube. The Tung Sols, it's funny, because I've used vintage Tung Sols and the reissues, and they're just a bit dull and thick sounding for me. But worth trying in your system.

Neil, you do have an option for a different sound. It's been a long time since I've heard an amp with kT88s but I think the EL34s will make a different amp out of the Torii.  I'd definitely try it since you have the "mod."

:)

nsj - thanks for the info.  BioAudioWorks is one of the sites that I have bookmarked for informational purposes only.  When I initially came across their site a month or so ago, I was looking for info on the new Tung-Sol EL34 tubes.  They had good things to say about them, and that they would be doing a review in the near future.  They ALSO state that they answer email questions 24/7.  Well, I emailed them asking how the review was going.  I have yet to hear back from them.  Because of that, they will NEVER get any buisness from me.

On another note, I reinstalled the SED Winged C's this morning.  I will pass along my initial impressions a little later.

bill

Glad that you found improvement!

I like those tubes, great stuff.

Well, as I indicated a couple of weeks back, I ordered and today, received, a pair of RCA 5U4-G rectifier tubes to replace the stock 5Y3 tubes in my Torri MKII.  I have just over two hours of listening to the tubes so far.  Much to my surprise, I noted a marked improvement already.  First off, the new tubes allow the OA3 tubes to power up within a second or two, not the 15 seconds as with the 5Y3 tubes (this really dosn't conern me much, however).  Second, the noise level has dropped off signifcantly.  Sometime since I first received the Torri, I picked up a hum.  It is apparent in both channels when up close to the speakers, esp the left channel.  The hum was barely audiible from my listening position, so it didn't bother me too  much.  With the new tubes, the right channel is now almost hum free, while there is still a barely audible hum from the left channel.  Neither channel hum is discernable from my listening position.  Third, the music presentation is now much "cleaner".  This could be a result of lower hum, but I think that it is much more than that.  The music now has much more "punch" than before.  Hard to tell for certain, but I believe that I also have better defined imaging from before.

Complety happy with the new tubes!

bill

nsj - havn't heard from you in awhile.  Just curious if you have solved your blown fuse situation yet, and if you have installed any new tubes yet.

bill

Glad to hear that you havn't had further incidents with the fuse.

Also saw on antoher topic that you received and are really happy with your new speakers.  I would like to hear the ERR's, but when I purchased my HDT's, I was more interested in trying out single full range drivers.  I am extremely happy with the HDT's, but I undoubtly would get better soundstageing with the ERR's.

Yea, love the listening room.  Spend a couple of hours in there almost every nite.  The lack of comfort from my recliner is the only thing keeping me from being in there even more.  Will be in there listening to two new albums tonight (Michael Brecker and Mark Knopfler).  Can't wait to here them, especially Brecker's album.

Hope the pup is doing great.

bill