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In January I received a new Ayon Audio Triton III with a full compliment of Ayon KT88-sx tubes. Since then, two have died (tubes 1 & 3 out of 8). These tubes are expensive for KT88s, and the distributer wasn't interested in making the customer happy :-(
I have limited experience with tube gear, but my Rogue Cronus Magnum NEVER lost a tube so I am scratching my head as I pull more scratch out of my wallet to buy replacement Ayon tubes.
The question I have for you is: If you have experience with Ayon, and specifically their branded KT88 tubes - have you also seen such failure rates in less than 2 months? I am simply gathering background here to understand if there is a reliability problem with the Ayon branded tubes or just bad bad luck...
Follow Ups:
My understanding is that before being called Ayon, the company was a small tube manufacturer in Europe.
The tubes were said to be made in Eastern Europe.
My wall voltage is generally quite good (underground lines, residential area, few outages). I run all power through a PS Audio power regenerator and I limit output voltage to 120V.
If more of the Ayon tubes fail/or not I will re-tube with the 12 closely matched Gold Lion KT88s I have. If Gold Lions fail after the first week, I will be prepared to fix this problem one way or the other. At that point, I'll look into possibility of the heater being above voltage.
I was not aware that one could run KT150s in this amp, and it did come with Ayon KT88s. I'll leave the KT150s to a down-the-road experiment.
Thanks for your various comments! This is a friendly and informed community!
I agree with others that you should probably have your amp's operating conditions checked out. Knowing the plate voltage and fixed bias voltage as well as heater voltages will tell you how "hard" the tubes are working. You should also check the ACV from your wall outlet as well, which for a high voltage amp can have a significant impact on your amplifier's operating conditions. good luck, Dak
PS,These factors are supposing that your amp or tubes do not have a defect.
Edits: 03/12/16
The Treasures are crap tubes. Stay away from premium Chinese power tubes in general Buy standard Shuguang GEKT-88. Much more reliable, and very good bang for the buck.
I think the Chinese premium output tubes are right up there with the best sounding output tubes ever made. Certainly not crap in terms of sound. Yours is the first opinion I have ever seen that they are crap. Do they fail? Yes, so do every other brand of tube both current and past. If you deal with someone reputable they will treat you fairly given the cost of the tubes.
I have the Treasures, Pisvane black and grey glass and the Shuguang/Penta Lab KT88. The premium tubes are clearly better in my Rogue. Have you actually done a comparison?
Edits: 03/15/16
Ahoy hoy
I researched the Ayon KT88-SX. I think it's a rebranded Shuguang Treasure Series KT88. These are not cheap tubes, unfortunately. If you have any info about the matching of your current set, then use that to snag two new ones.
And, in order to diagnose an issue, you'd have to run a fair battery of tests. I'd bring it to a tech. I find it strange that tubes 1 and 3 are the ones that blew - sounds like one half of the PP setup.
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May your tubes be lively, warm, and long-lasting. Holy be thy heater.
The picture on the US site shows it full of KT150s.
What is most likely happening is your voltage is too high on the heater. When they die, i will bet the heater is dying. This is pretty common on foreign made equipment where the 6.3 volt heater is likely actually producing over 7 volts. The higher draw KT150 will probably fix the problem, but you should have your amp looked at and set up with the voltage you have at your wall.
Where were the tubes actually made? China? Russia? Chezk republic?
I know that the Ayon amps came with the Russian Gold Lion for a while. I can't say what the OPs tubes are of course. In any event, I don't think that they were made in Eastern Europe.
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