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
hmm, anyone know what the life expectancy of the KT-120's are? I should have about 3000 hours of actual play( more if you include standby) on mine after 2 years of use in January. A quad of the KT-150's is running anywhere from $329~$400, so they are not pricey and could use any incremental power improvement I can get with the Prima Luna Premium integrated amp and Maggies.
David256, ARC has unofficially said that their tested and calibrated KT-150s will sell for almost $200 per tube. By contrast, ARC sells KT-120s for about $100 a tube. Way over my what I will spend for a tube. By contrast, Upscale Audio is charging about half those amounts.

When ARC blesses the KT-150, I'll probably go to Upscale. No f***ing way I'll spring for $200 a tube from ARC. My current set of KT-120s is getting long in the tooth. I might spring for the KT-150s with or without ARCs blessing ... maybe

Btw, I read somewhere that the KT-150 has a life span of 4000 hours, which is twice the suggested limit for KT-120s. Let's see what is officially reported, all of which I suspect will be shortly after the ARC G Series is released.

BIF
Another titbit from elsewhere.

" My dealer has checked with Audio Research and apparently I would be able to put the KT150 in my 750s tube amp without any modification to the units. The only reason I cant do that now is because they claim they dont have enought KT150s on hand to properly match the quantity I need for the 750s. I guess this means they might adjust the bias of the KT150 in such a way that it works with my units. I have no ETA from them since they claim being very busy with the G series at the moment.

I am tempted to try sourcing the KT150s myself but given I am not them impact of the bias current have and the matching issues as well if I was to get them from the web, I guess I will be patient. I only have 700 hours on my 750s anyway so I can live with the set of KT120s I have for now! "
It's been a while - any updates on arc kt150 acceptance and release dates of G series?
Sent another message to Kal. Waiting for a response. I asked him how the GS 150 differs from the Ref 150. The specs are identical, except the GS 150 uses KT150 tubes. I think there's a marketing wrinkle here.