I am sorry that I did not read that, you start with:
And then:
The tubes are in the PS Audio supply. Not your bad, not the tube suppliers poor quality but PS Audio’s supply:
In short, a rather new amplifier set for US$ 6000 with a tube that went microphonic / loose (manufacturing issue) due to its unfortunate horizontal mounting (design issue), needs a dampers (design issue) and preferably different tubes (personal taste).
If opening and messing around with tubes is your hobby, more than just listening to music your final conclusion may be right.
But if somebody is looking for an out of the box good SQ, your message clearly is:
Look for something more convenient.
Did Brodric help you write this or write it for you. Sure sounds like him and not you. Seriously get a clue. At this point in history our package delivery services are more under pressure than they have ever been an d gentle handling of fragile merchandise has never been their strength under the best of circumstances and certainly not now when time is even more important. So a tube got partially dislodged from rough handling not the end of the world and tube choices are personal preference. Stuart liked a different tube and many people like the supplied tube just like with the BHK pieces. Quit making judgements about gear you have never seen much less heard or had in your system. What credibility you have goes down with every post like this one.
Actually, I see my experience as an odd bounce. Its my guess that very few people will experience a microphonic tube like I did. It’s good practice to check on the seating of your tubes after shipment and you don’t have to open the whole case. There is an easy access panel on the back that will take you all of five minutes to initially check them. I did this when I first unboxed them and they seemed to be fine. Because I was comparing several amps, I was swapping them out frequently and jostling the M1200’s quite a bit. I suspect that that was what had loosened one of the tubes. I decided to take the lids off so that I could examine the boards and take some pictures for my review. It did make tube swapping a little easier, but it isn’t necessary.
As for the tubes, you are quite right about personal taste. For the vast majority of listeners, the stock PSVane tubes are going to function perfectly and sound so good that they won’t even think about swapping them. So your interpretation of my conclusion is incorrect.
That is pretty much a standard on the way he sees things. There are many tube choices and everybody finds the one that works in their system. The Psvane’s are not to my liking but that doesn’t mean they aren’t somebody else’s favorite.
I see the tube could also have loosened during transport. I don’t suppose you were not careful during swapping the gear either.
Czech EAT sell great tube and dampers too and provide cross check tables for tube rolling.
This process is not for everybody. I thought with hybrid tube amplifiers the tubes would be of lesser worry. Hence my reaction.
Octave Audio in Germany ships their tube amplifiers with the tubes in a separate box, and provides a manual how to install them and adjust the bias. Not less complicated, but avoids damage to the tube or loose contacts and is a straight forward message to let the customer know what he / she is getting into.
The tube placement in the M1200 needs major revision
for ergonomics…how the placement of the tube access
in the most inconvenient place at the back of the amp
was allowed to go into production is beyond me …BHK
or not…
For those who place the M1200 in a rack…having to move
them around to gain access is just poor design…
Would have been far better ergonomically for the user
Somewhere on the front panel
Wish this could have softened, this…it’s how I see it…
David, so nice to see your response here, both for your experience and for the Kingdom ( glory ). I certainly understand your issue with the tube “door” placement. If I had the amps in a rack with difficult access to the rear and was making frequent changes, I might be a little less gracious. I have a large, mostly horizontal cabinet where I place monoblock amps on the bottom shelf of each end. When I’m reviewing multiple amps, I’m pulling the amps in and out of the cabinet frequently in order to test each amp in the exact same setup. Since I’m taking them completely out of the cabinet anyway, I really don’t mind a rear placement of the tube “door.” The average user is probably not going to be messing with the amps after initial setup, so unlike us meticulous, persnickety types, they probably won’t care as much about the placement.
In my recent experience, I heard the most improvement by around the 200 hour mark (my burn-in regimen is aggressive). I think that by 400 hours you can safely conclude that there will be no further improvements. In my case, I doubt whether I could objectively identify any such improvements after about 250.
Off course. With gear this expensive I focus on overall quality.
Happy that it cracks you up, hope that you will take action to transport the tubes in a extra safe package in the box. It will safe potential trouble with loose tubes after receipt and avoid the reporting of a loose and microphonic tube that Stuart provided. Should be easy you can add the tube puller / placement tool to the package that way.
I’ll be curious to hear what they have to say. I know what I hear and I like what I hear. Even if I could afford BHK 300s, I can’t pick the damn things up and put them in my rack. My M1200s are keepers for sure!
I already had one of my BHK 300’s bought before the 1200’s came out or I most likely would have bought the 1200’s instead. The 300’s are glorious but very heavy even if for all of the right reasons. I may pick up a set of 1200’s and A/B them against the 300’s just to find out.