July 13th, 2009 by 
adam
Jason Victor Serinus has some news over at Stereophile that is fairly interesting. A pre-amp with housing made of heavy duty pipes, like the ones used in plumbing.
“The BC301FY preamplifier, which looks nothing like other companies’ products, dispenses with the standard aluminum or steel box, engraved logo, designer controls, and other cosmetic frills. Housed in nine ABS cans—a type of heavy-duty plastic commonly encountered in drainage and sewer piping—its packaging is said to reduce consumer cost by over 40%.”
More info at bluecircle’s product page.
source: Stereophile
July 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
How long before the individual vacuum tubes need to be replaced?
July 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am
it appears average tubes can last between 5000 or even 10000 hours. but some last much longer. 25,000 hours or more. It appears to depend on the tube quality, and conditions of use. If you google “life span of a vacuum tube” you’ll find all kinds of results, along with some studies done by the IEEE.