X260.5 Owners Manual
Fortunately the amplifier is not sensitive to the capacitive/inductive character of some of the specialty speaker cables, so feel free to experi- ment.
We have found that about 90 per cent of bad sounding cables are in reality bad sounding connections, and we recommend that special at- tention be paid to cleanliness of contact surfaces and proper fit.
Speaker cables should be firmly tightened down at the speaker output terminals, but do not use a wrench. These connectors will not with- stand unrealistic
Hardware Facts
So how long will this hardware last? It is our experience that, barring abuse or the odd failure of a component, the first things to go will be the power supply capacitors, and from experience, they will last 15 to 20 years before needing replacement. Fortunately these components die gracefully; typically with years of warning and are easily replaced. After that, the longevity will depend on the number of operating ther- mal cycles, but we can attest to having had amplifiers operating in the field in excess of 20 years with no particular mortality except capaci- tors. We don’t have good information beyond that. More to the point, we would suggest that you not worry about it. This is a conservatively built industrial design, not a tweaky tube circuit run on the brink of failure. If it breaks, we will simply get it fixed, so sleep well.
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