AR amp w/ variac

[Mrdi]

My Audio Research D115 AMP and SP11 pre-amp have not been run in over a year.
They have been mine since new and were operating well before their hiatus.
I bought a Variac to bring them up slowly.
Do I disconnect speakers from the D115 AMP?
What procedures are recommended with the Variac for each/both?
All comments and help welcome.

Thanks

Mrdi

20 AMP 110V VARIAC AUTOTRANSFORMER VOLTAGE REGULATOR POWERSTAT 0-130V

 

[DonH50]

Some tube amps can oscillate when unloaded (some SS, too...) so I always used a power resistor on the outputs and a shorting plug on the input. Most ARC power amps include a relay circuit that lets the supplies come up before applying full line voltage; you may have to bypass the relay. You might want to use a shorting plug on the preamp and a load resistor on its output as well; I used 10 k to 100 k ohms just so it wasn't seeing an open circuit on the outputs. In the past I would bring the voltage up slowly over several minutes to maybe 60 ~ 80 % and then let it sit for an hour or two to help recondition the capacitors.

Make sure you test all the tubes first.

HTH - Don