[moodyrn]

I have experience with the kt88 and 580s. I thought they sounded good with the kt88. Good bass impact and a faily neutral midrange. It was a little solid state sounding. It had plenty of power and drove them nicely. However there is a fair amount of hum. Not really noticable when powering speakers, but very noticable using headphones. A few months ago I listened to a Cayin Ha a1 and realized the the kt88 didn't sound as good as I thought. It wasn't in the same league. Unfortunately mine died after a year. You will be taking a gamble. I paid 225 shipped for mine. It's probably not worth much more than that.

 

[928GTS]

I just threw in some WWII era JAN Sylvania 6SJ7GT's to replace the 1985 vintage JAN Phillips 6SJ7WGT's I had in there and already I can sense there is a definite improvement in the sound especially in the soundstage and depth department. I'll post some more impressions as these tubes burn in.

 

[Skylab]

That does not surprise me. I like the WWII era Tung-Sols I use much better than the JAN-Phillips, as good as the latter are.

 

[928GTS]

So,I've had some time with the Sylvanias and here is what I can find about them over my mid 80's Phillips WGT's.

The sound stage is a lot wider and a bit less compressed so everything doesn't sound quite as bunched together. The overall background noise is a lot lower so everything sounds quite a bit cleaner and more crisp. The overall frequency response has flattened out a bit. I think there isn't quite as much mid bass in these as the Phillips but thats just fine. The mids definitely sound a lot more liquid and just a bit of the harshness has been removed. There are pretty much no instances of harshness in the sound unless the recording is rubbish. The highs have stayed about the same,maybe a bit smoother but I can't really hear anything problematic about the change.

Overall everything feels a lot more "reference" and wider with a great sense of accuracy. It sounds like a tube amp more just because the mids,although accurate,have that nice mid smoothness to it. I dig it,the Phillips are probably better for rock but considering I listen to a wide variety these WWII era Sylvania s fit the bill great.

I picked up 3 for $30 from the 'Bay and they usually go from $25-$45 for a set so they're pretty affordable. The neat thing is that mine were NOS and after sitting in their packaging for 60 years the first turn on had nothing more than a bit of hissing and rumbling through the 'phones for the first 3 minutes and then silence! Recommended!

 

[djork]

mine uses EL34.

 

[928GTS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by djork /img/forum/go_quote.gif mine uses EL34.

What do you think of it?

 

[Randious]

HI!
I'm also user of this amp.
I used it with AKG Sextett, which is good combination for me.
I'm also looking for proper tubes for them.
Please give me some good advice for easier tubes to be found.
I can only find tubes on EBay since I'm from Taiwan......

 

[928GTS]

For good tubes switch out the Chinese 6P13P's for the Russian 6P13S which can be readily found on eBay. For the driver tubes I quite like the WWII era Sylvania VT-116A/6SJ7GT but the JAN Phillips 6SJ7WGT's from the 80's are almost as good and a little bit cheaper.

 

[mark916Sac]

Nice review, I know this post is a few years old now, I have the same exact amp, I was also looking to roll some new tubes into it, came across this review. But the transformer has since burnt out, gives off a fishy smell with some smoke, so I'm getting a replacement transformer for it, looking for a local Sacramento shop that can replace it for me. Any suggetions on a better quality transformer or just stick to the same one from China?
 
Thanks
Noob here by the way on HiFi
Mark / Sacramento