Fisher Tubes - HOT HOT HOT

Thanks again guys. I'm confused though about evidence of red plating - in the exemplar posted above, the plate itself still looks grey-ish to me. It's the glowing rod inside of the tube that looks red. On my receiver I think I'm only seeing that rod glow orange/red and the plates themselves are staying grey. Am I in the clear?

I was listening to it again last night, and man, the sound is just insane. I'm listening through an older pair of Wharfedale 8.1 speakers that are fairly transparent, and they totally expose the warmth of the Fisher unit. It's a different listening experience. A buddy of mine has a fancy system and playing records is like being in the same room as the recorded musicians. The Fisher unit doesn't really do that to my ears. But it does give you a clarity and an ooey-gooey warmth that makes listening to records so much fun.

 

Your unit sounds OK at the moment. The rods in the center are the heaters and they do glow orange. The grey plates should always remain grey. Here is a photo where you can see all the heaters glow and one of the tubes, the one in the foreground, have its plate glowing as well. That is not normal and indicates either a fault in the amp or in the tube.



-Bill

 

When I had a Fisher 400 in my 8 x 12 room, it was very uncomfortable in the summer, especially since I had to keep the door closed.
My current amp, a Fisher X-100, has a lot fewer tubes and doesn't give off nearly as much heat.

Some folks like to run tubes during the cool months and solid state during the summer.

 

Hot amps? How about central AC in your house! It is not the 1950s era.

 

Here are a couple more pics I took last night in the dark:





Looking ok still?

 

But dang, the noise of my central AC and the air rushing through the vents interferes with my listening experience! But I do it anyway, because I need my music fix fairly often, even during a heat wave.

 

As best we can tell from a photo; yes, that is what it should look like. To be sure the unit is fine, you need to have it gone over by a tech who specializes in old gear or at least one who services it regularly.
-Bill

 

Not everybody has that luxury. (My house was built in 1961.)

 

I also went from Yamaha SS to Mcintosh tubes and it was a revelation to me. The Yammy was just awful by comparison. and yes, tubes get HOT. As long as the Fischer is serviced and spec'd out ok, you're fine.

 

In my home office where I'm running tubes, I'll likely buy a small TPA3116 or similar for the hot months. We'll see. Tube sound is pretty sweet and I am a sucker for that glowwwwww.