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Black glass KenRad 6SN7s take the cake

I've been experimenting with 6SN7s in my VAC 70/70:

ElectroHarmonix: good tube! and great for the price. Much better than I though it'd be, but ultimately sounded too edgy and sterile. Good control throughout, and good detail.

Sylvania VT231: twinkly and brilliant; great detail, tight bass, but much less fatiguing than the ElectroHarmonix; nice and smooth, but still lacking in the mids for me.

TungSol black glass, round getter: better than the Sylvania, in that it was a bigger sound. Lost the twinkly and brilliant quality. Good detail. Good overall, balanced tube. Nothing outstanding I thought, relative to the other tubes I tried.

KenRad, tall, black glass: THESE KICK!! very lush, deep, BIG BIG sound; the absolute best midrange; detail was good, and surprisingly, this tube is NOT DARK. very smooth, and less reserved sounding than the other tubes. Let's it loose... and that's the one drawback; the bass isn't as tight the TungSol or the Sylvania, but it didn't annoy me. What I gained from this tube far outweighed this drawback.

...that's just what I thought of these tubes in MY system. Who knows if these qualities translate to other pieces.
128x128dennis_the_menace
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
Dennis the Mennis

Where did you buy the Ken Rads and how much did you pay for them?

That is the exact quality I like too - big midrange and dynamic if I read your post right.

thanks for sharing
Phil
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace OP
467 posts
 
Got them off of ebay from this guy called "romhifi". Sounded like he had different stashes of tubes, including some National Union black glass that I wanted to try next if the KenRads didn't work out. He may have some more KenRads....

You could probably get some responses by posting a "wanted" here on Audiogon.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Dennis, my impression of the NOS Tung-Sols and Sylvania VT-231s mirrors yours in my Blue Circle BC21. Early this past spring when I was buying up tubes on Audiogon, I managed to snag three NOS US Navy Ken-Rad VT-231s dated January and February 1945. I've enjoyed the Sylvanias so much that I stopped rolling the tubes in my BC21, but I've always wanted the qualities you describe in the Ken-Rads. The Ken-Rads will be going in my Blue Circle right now, I'll report back in a few days.
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