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KT-88 vs 6550


bkwa1959

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I had a similar issue with my DH/LSii... I solved it with 350b's and a cbs/hytron 5692. Mainly the 5692 did the trick for me, but I went thru three of them after finding the first one to my liking... I bought two more, a red base and another black base and neither could quite equal the first one I bought even though all three were way better than anything else I tried.

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I've tried Gold Lion KT-88's in my Inspire amp, and wasn't impressed with them. I have the best sound with either vintage Tung-Sol 6550's or RCA black plate 6L6GB's. I'm not done tube rolling, so I may find something I like better down the road.

  I did swap out the rectifier tube for a vintage tube, which I think made it sound better. I also swapped out the 6SL7 tube with a few different vintage tubes.

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17 hours ago, bkwa1959 said:

I have a Dennis Had SEP amp that has Russian winged C 6550 tubes and I am looking for a little deeper bass ,has anyone used Gold lion KT-88's and if so could you give me your thoughts on the sound 

 

I have an Inspire amp driving Heresy III's. What speakers are you driving?? There is only so much you can do for better bass rolling tubes. You may want to consider a subwoofer. I did not think I needed one until I bought one.

 

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10 minutes ago, Les Lammers said:

 

I have an Inspire amp driving Heresy III's. What speakers are you driving?? There is only so much you can do for better bass rolling tubes. You may want to consider a subwoofer. I did not think I needed one until I bought one.

 

I agree. I use 2 subwoofers with my K-Horns, even though I get adequate bass from just the Horns themselves.

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On 3/13/2019 at 12:04 PM, Les Lammers said:

 

I have an Inspire amp driving Heresy III's. What speakers are you driving?? There is only so much you can do for better bass rolling tubes. You may want to consider a subwoofer. I did not think I needed one until I bought one.

 

 

 

That is what I was thinking. If the amp is properly designed rolling tubes shouldn't have big changes on bandwidth.

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13 hours ago, seti said:

 

 

That is what I was thinking. If the amp is properly designed rolling tubes shouldn't have big changes on bandwidth.

With Inspire amps it's possible to go from a few watts/channel (6V6) to around 10 watts (KT-150), so I think it's more about presentation. I've noticed some tubes will be more bass heavy with highs rolled off more, some have better midrange clarity, etc. All is subtle changes though, nothing drastic.

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2 hours ago, kevinmi said:

With Inspire amps it's possible to go from a few watts/channel (6V6) to around 10 watts (KT-150), so I think it's more about presentation. I've noticed some tubes will be more bass heavy with highs rolled off more, some have better midrange clarity, etc. All is subtle changes though, nothing drastic.

 

Oh yeah you are correct that makes a difference and I hadn't thought of that........ Clarity is one thing but rolled off bass or highs is another. Hmm is it properly designed if it can't present a width bandwidth with tube rolling? Just speculating I mean no offense. I know nothing of this design. Is there a swt spot for certain tubes. Do you roll driver tubes as well

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, seti said:

 

Oh yeah you are correct that makes a difference and I hadn't thought of that........ Clarity is one thing but rolled off bass or highs is another. Hmm is it properly designed if it can't present a width bandwidth with tube rolling? Just speculating I mean no offense. I know nothing of this design. Is there a swt spot for certain tubes. Do you roll driver tubes as well

 

 

 

 

My Inspire came with a 6SL7, and I've tried a few different vintage variants. I have read that you can replace it with a 6SN7 that will yield a different presentation altogether, with more pronounced bass. I've never tried it, being satisfied with the bass response with the 6SL7.

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I guess I need to have my ears checked,I installed a quad set of gold lion kt-66 tubes in my Inspire SEP  amp and not only was the bass better,but they smoothed out the top end too.I think it the end each person has to make the changes and decide for himself though I had a friend over yesterday and he could not believe the difference in the sound.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I bought a 30 tube, closely matched set of Penta Labs KT88SC not long after I got my VRDs and haven't looked back since. Add to that the old Valve Art KT100 20 pack I got for a relative song prior to that from AES and it's doubtful I will ever look at purchasing a KT88 tube again, save for lucking out into a deal for real vintage Tung-Sols.

 

I'm on my second quad of the Penta KT88SC's in use out of that 30 pack in 10 years, and I could probably make a quad out of those eight combined total tubes already used if I lost one out of the current quad and really had to do that. Pretty reliable and long lasting in my book.....

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