[Lord Soth]

Dear Vinnie,

I am interested in purchasing your products.

One of my concerns is whether there are any protective features in the event of a sudden Vacuum tube failure.

Will the fuse offer any protection?

Will any of the internal components be damaged if a vacumm tube suddenly shorts?

Regards,

Soth

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Soth,

Welcome to Audiocircle and the Red Wine Audio forum!

When you say "if a vacuum tube shorts" - which pins
of the tube are you referring to that would be shorting together?

I have yet to see a case of a vacuum tube failure in our design that results in
damage to any of the other internal components (and it is very rare to have a
tube failure in general in our design).

We do not run the tube on high voltage (no DC-DC step-up converters are used, as we
run both the tube heater and the B+ from clean LiFePO4 battery power).

We also use a 45-second warm up of the tube before applying the B+, and there is also
in-rush current suppression built-into our SMART board.  So the tube is treated with a lot
of love. 

I hope this helps,

Vinnie

[Lord Soth]

Dear Vinnie,

Thanks for reassuring me that your products do not overtax the vacuum tubes.

My question was meant to be a "What if" kind of scenario.

I don't consider myself to be a vacuum tube expert but I have used some tubed amps before.

As you are aware, vacuum tubes are essentially light bulbs.
All vacuum tubes will eventually "blow" like common light bulbs when they reach the limit of their lifespans.

So my question is more like, what if I were using a Red Wine Audio amp with music playing and the vacuum tube suddenly expires on its own?

Will the fuse be able to protect the other parts of the amp?

BTW, your answer is very interesting about not using high voltages for the vacuum tube. My experience with vacuum tubes is that for most tubed amps, they are normally run at high voltages e.g. around 150V for Preamp tubes and 300V for power tubes.

Out of curiosity, at what voltage does the tube component of your products run the ECC88/6922/E88CC/6N1P/PCC88 vacuum tube?

Respectfully,

Soth

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Soth,

If the tube failed, the internal components would not fail.  But the sound would be really bad 

Out of curiosity, at what voltage does the tube component of your products run the ECC88/6922/E88CC/6N1P/PCC88 vacuum tube?

Nominal is 25.6V for the B+
6.3V for the heater.

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Lord Soth]

Hi Vinnie,

I'm really glad to hear that the other internal components will not fail in the event of tube failure.

As for running the tubes at 25.6V, all I can say is WOW!
The tube will definitely last a very very long time.

My stock of spare tubes will probably be able to last a couple of hundred years instead of the typical 7 years in more conventional tube amps. 

I believe that I can finally stop amassing hordes of preamp tubes when I get a Red Wine Audio amp.

Cheers!

Soth