I looked and can't find the thread I was thinking of but did see a thread where Kevin Deal chimed in and said KT77's are fine so there you go. Give them a try I doubt you'll be disappointed!
Sophia Electric EL34 or KT88 ??
Looking to upgrade my tubes on the Primaluna Dialogue HP Integrated amp.
Curious what people’s preference would be between the two, and why. Aside from the SE rebranding, I’ve heard some pretty decent feedback about these tubes.
They are expensive though, and frankly I’m
not sure why the different price classifications.
Trying to sort out the sonic characteristics of each before dropping the dime on a matched set of 8 for the PL dialogue HP.
Generally I like the factory EL34 musicality and tone. I love a holographic, real life feel and soundstage. I once tried a full battery of KT150 but sold them. Tried as I might to get acclimated to them, they didn’t have the Stock EL 34 magic. Seemed a little more dry. More powerful but also a tad more sterile.
So would the SE KT88 be any different?
Anyone with personal experience with these tubes?
Curious what people’s preference would be between the two, and why. Aside from the SE rebranding, I’ve heard some pretty decent feedback about these tubes.
They are expensive though, and frankly I’m
not sure why the different price classifications.
Trying to sort out the sonic characteristics of each before dropping the dime on a matched set of 8 for the PL dialogue HP.
Generally I like the factory EL34 musicality and tone. I love a holographic, real life feel and soundstage. I once tried a full battery of KT150 but sold them. Tried as I might to get acclimated to them, they didn’t have the Stock EL 34 magic. Seemed a little more dry. More powerful but also a tad more sterile.
So would the SE KT88 be any different?
Anyone with personal experience with these tubes?
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- 23 posts total
Funny you mention that. about a week ago I tried to used my older 15 dollar iron to resize a power strip for my cordless tool charging station...first time trying to solder something in the past year. Absolute garbage piece of crap. So I finally did what I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. Spent some cash and got a nice Hakko FX-951 kit. Going to practice up a little bit before attempting anything official on the PL. |
@stereo5 07-29-2020 11:20am Look here. Reads "Premium"only, and not all models. See the PrimaLuna-usa site. https://www.primaluna-usa.com/tube-rolling-legacy The other matter is some brand amps will run KT150s, and yes its safe for some, and yet the transformers, power supply, and plate voltage may not always be designed or upsized to drive KT150 tubes properly. In reverse, my current KT150 amps with much larger transformers and more plate voltage with manual bias cannot run KT88s or EL34s, it will burn them up prematurely. Best to always check with the amp designer. |
@whacky +1 Agon member @johnss mentioned one other tube above that I heard a year ago in a tube replacement situation on a friend's amp. As it turned out he was running the wrong spec tubes for the amp, TS KT150s, actually. Great tube, wrong amp for them. Went back to KT88s. The repair person, ex-dealer, chose a well-matched quad of PSVANE KT88 tubes for the replacement. We heard the before and after results. It was a notable difference. The right tube for the amp, or maybe lucky synergy. Still running after a year so far. Maybe another one to add to your research list, fwiw. |
- 23 posts total