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New KT150 tubes?

Has anyone any experience with these pretty new tubes. There are already one or 2 amps I know of, that use them. The review of one of these amps in a UK magazine suggested they were a little warmer and more natural sounding than the nearly new KT120's

The article also suggested they were a straight swap for KT120 based amps, with no adjustment necessary. They are more than twice the cost of KT120's, but still not too costly compared with NOS tubes. I know changing from KT88's or 90's to 120's. did require some amp modification. I have an ARC reference 75 and might want to try the new tubes at some point, ARC don't seem to have a customer E-mail service, to ask the question
david12
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Joe ... that's an interesting bit of data. I understand that ARC is looking at the KT-150 now.

Here's my little dilemma. My KT-120s have about 1900 hours on them. According to Gary (Hifigeek1) and ARC, I'm just about at the end of their useful life and should get ready to replace them. I wonder how much longer it will be before ARC announces yeah or nay??
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
11-13-13: Wolf_garcia
Unfortunately, due to the shape of the KT150 I can only assume that emergency rooms will eventually be dealing with those who've decided to cram them up their...uh...nevermind...innapropriate...sorry...
Wolf_garcia (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
Fortunately not something you have to worry about ... well broken in with plenty of room. I bet break-in was shorter than your KT120s?
wolf_garcia
6,644 posts
 
It seems ridiculous that somebody would claim 1900 hours is "near the end of their useful life" for KT120s unless that person was trying to sell you something...that would make perfect sense. I'm shooting for 5000 hours or more for my 120s, which should bring me to the point where 150s are much less expensive than during the current feeding frenzy.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Wolf ... point taken. All I can say is that ARC and Gary (Hifegeek1) are touting the company line here. I contacted Kal at ARC by e-mail. He continues to hold that 2000 hours is when both the KT-120s and the 6550 WE regulator tubes should be replaced.
wolf_garcia
6,644 posts
 
If the 120s or any tube for that matter start to SOUND bad, become hard to keep biased, or explode and destroy your hamster sleeping in his ball next to the hifi (this is sad as you should never leave the hamster in the ball)...then certainly they should be replaced.
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