In Reply to: Ceramic Tube Sockets posted by cmathes on February 23, 2005 at 05:38:27:
Ceramic sockets are not particularly helpful in an OTL. The reason is because ceramic is helpful to prevent arc-over damage to the socket that occurs due to high voltages. These voltages do not exist in an OTL.Another reason that ceramic sockets can present issues these days is due to the material used in the contacts. If the contacts are silver or gold, they will fail in fairly short order (perhaps in only 1 or 2 years, depending on how many times tubes are moved in and out of the sockets). This is because such materials are fairly soft and do not survive repeated use very well.
This is why Atma-Sphere amps have had the sockets that they have- tin-plating is much more reliable, plus it has the additional benefit of being corrosion resistant, and is the same material as the tubes in use. So there are less diode elements in the connection.
Sorry for the longish answer...
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Follow Ups
- Re: Ceramic Tube Sockets - Ralph 15:56:07 02/23/05 (1)
- Re: Ceramic Tube Sockets - cmathes 16:42:58 02/23/05 (0)