Need Kt88s Genelex? or Shuguang?


I'm looking to upgrade my Winged-C KT88s in my McIntosh MC275 and keep them as back-up. I was tending toward the Genelex which some recommend highly but have also read several reliability problem reviews. The Shuguang sound competitive.
Any suggestions? Which are more reliable? Which sound best?

Thanks.
Ag insider logo xs@2xjgiacalo
I'm extremely happy with the KT-88 Genelex Gold Lion reissue. I've had them for about 6 months. They're great tubes, top to bottom. My amp is a Music Reference RM-200. Solid bass, mellifluous midrange, excellent on up, very nice all around. They're a big step up from the stock tubes (branded RAM but I believe they were fairly generic chinese tubes). I don't think you can go wrong with them. Jim McShane is a good guy, btw, and knows his tubes. Triode Electronics. Or any number of places sell factory matched quads. Jim McS's matching may be more precise than the factory matching.
Hi,

I also have 2 Mac's 275's and I have heard form members here that the PentaLabs/Shuguang KT88SC's are quite good. I am changing my 12ax7's and 12at7 first beofe I change the 88's but I may go with the PantaLabs or GL's.

Rick
I purchased a Shuguang 502B integrated amplifier from Pacific Valve. It comes equipped with Shuguang KT88-98 power tubes. After upgrading the coupling caps and beefing up the power supply it really put out some good sound but, I noticed a loss of resolution at the high frequencies. At a friends suggestion I replaced the KT88-98 tubes with the Genelex Golden Lion Rebuilds. This cleared up the high frequency response beautifully. I recommend spending a few extra bucks and buying the tubes from a dealer who actually matches them. However, I don't recommend buying anything from Pacific Valve. They misrepresented the features of the amplifier.
Thanks for all the advice. Following it I've ordered the Genalex KT88s from Jim McShane and can't wait for them to arrive.
BTW Jim said that there were, in fact, some reliability problems with the Genalex tubes but that they were limited to about 2% bad tubes from a single, earlier production run.