KT 150 Amp Options

04-16-15: Tubegroover
Quicksilver has the option of using the KT150 in both the V4 and Silver 88. Both suberb sounding with this tube.

Quicksilver V4 is an excellent suggestion and according to Mike Sanders, SE model has superior SQ to XLR.

Also checkout Carver Crimson 350 and Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP.

I was seriously considering QS V4 but THANKS to a lousy BM dealer, I purchased ARC Ref250 with ZERO regrets.

04-17-15: Oregonpapa
If you want to go with an ARC amp, you can get adapters for your single ended cables. Check this out: www.doublehelixcables

In contrast to most amps having balanced internal signal paths and providing only balanced inputs, many and I suspect most such ARC amps will not work properly with adapters. I believe that what would happen if a single-ended signal is provided to those amps via an adapter is that only one half of the balanced signal path would see the signal. Among other consequences, that would reduce the power capability of the amp to not much more than 25% of its rating, since the maximum output voltage that could be provided would be not much more than half of what it should be (power being proportional to volts squared).

What would work in a reasonable manner is to use a suitably chosen audio transformer between the preamp and power amp, which would convert the single-ended signal to a true balanced signal pair. The Jensen PI-2RX or, at a higher price point, the SMc Audio Flex-Connect, would most likely be suitable choices for use with a stereo (not monoblock) amp. A pair of single-channel Jensen PI-RX transformers, and perhaps also the Flex-Connect, would be suitable for use with monoblocks.

Regards,
-- Al

Jedinite24, I am surprised to hear that the Jolida 502P amp can handle the KT150 tubes. Recently I was speaking with Jerred, a tech at Jolida, and he told me that Jolida is working on producing an amp that is designed for the KT150 tubes although it will be considerably more expensive than the 502P. He says the KT150 tubes sound way better than the KT90 and KT120 tubes, which to his ears sound "brittle" and not as musical.

I agree with Zd542. Just because an amp uses the same type of tube does not mean a thing! If that was the case then all amps would sound the same! More goes into the design of the amp than the type of tubes used. That being said, I do like the Quicksilver amps I have using KT88's or EL34's.

I do have to change my answer a bit. What I said in my first post doesn't change, but I wasn't aware that you could use KT 150's as alternates in an amp like the V-4's. It would be pretty hard to mess up with a pair of those. And if you don't like the 150's, you can use something else. Going with an amp like that makes a lot more sense.