ZMF Aegis Official Thread

[Toonartist]

Yeah the new production sound better than nos EI kt90 in my system when used with the gz34 f31 fat base. The gold lion took about 100 hours to settle in. The fat base rectifier seems to unleash more power and energy out of the output tubes. When I had the f32 version, kt88 tubes were lacking punch and the kt90 were only ones I liked. The f31 fat base changes things up. Gold Lions are excellent with this rectifier. I’ve read the nos GEC are the best but can cost like over $800 a pair. Also heard the Gold Lion might be best for my taste since are supposed to be one of the punchiest kt88 tubes while still being rich and liquid sounding.

The GEC aren't cheap but if you time it right, you could pick them up for around £400 or so. Still, a sizeable £$ outlay. As you can mix and match, you can also buy them as singles and cut the price further. Just buy them with test results close/ish to each other.

That said, the longevity of the GEC KT88 can, in the long run, make them a cheaper alternative as they can last several times longer than new production.

 

[SunRa Fan]

Yeah the new production sound better than nos EI kt90 in my system when used with the gz34 f31 fat base. The gold lion took about 100 hours to settle in. The fat base rectifier seems to unleash more power and energy out of the output tubes. When I had the f32 version, kt88 tubes were lacking punch and the kt90 were only ones I liked. The f31 fat base changes things up. Gold Lions are excellent with this rectifier. I’ve read the nos GEC are the best but can cost like over $800 a pair. Also heard the Gold Lion might be best for my taste since are supposed to be one of the punchiest kt88 tubes while still being rich and liquid sounding.

Have you had a lot of experience with the Gold Lion KT88s? I see lots of reviews that caution of premature failures.

 

[meomap]

My Ray Reserve KT88 tubes are coming this weekend....They are finally starting to ship out this week.

 

[iamoneagain]

Have you had a lot of experience with the Gold Lion KT88s? I see lots of reviews that caution of premature failures.

No, I don’t have much experience. Only heard it was excellent in sound quality for a new tube but now seeing some reports of failures. Not sure if higher than other new tubes out there.

So yeah, wasn’t exactly recommending it to others but just saying how I found it musically in my setup. And shocked that sound wise it’s beats the nos EI kt90, which are heavily touted. And the EI kt90 is excellent, but finding these better. Now that’s not to say some of the other more expensive new kt88 tubes out there might be more reliability and possibly sound even better. But I don’t find anything lacking with the Gold Lions.

 

[SunRa Fan]

No, I don’t have much experience. Only heard it was excellent in sound quality for a new tube but now seeing some reports of failures. Not sure if higher than other new tubes out there.

So yeah, wasn’t exactly recommending it to others but just saying how I found it musically in my setup. And shocked that sound wise it’s beats the nos EI kt90, which are heavily touted. And the EI kt90 is excellent, but finding these better. Now that’s not to say some of the other more expensive new kt88 tubes out there might be more reliability and possibly sound even better. But I don’t find anything lacking with the Gold Lions.

For sure it gets glowing reviews. At least one of them said it sounds so good they just buy more when it fails early. Now THAT's loyalty. I'm a big fan of KT90s so your comments caught my interest. Since they're relatively inexpensive I'll probably still take a shot at them. Good sound is good sound. The NOS Ei KT90s are unobtanium these days unfortunately.

 

[iamoneagain]

For sure it gets glowing reviews. At least one of them said it sounds so good they just buy more when it fails early. Now THAT's loyalty. I'm a big fan of KT90s so your comments caught my interest. Since they're relatively inexpensive I'll probably still take a shot at them. Good sound is good sound. The NOS Ei KT90s are unobtanium these days unfortunately.

So the crazy thing is the kt90 tubes I have are actually cheaper than most of my other tubes. They are the type II but rebranded Audio Research and the guy sold 3 of them for just $75. He said he dropped one and I’m guess he had an amp that need quad output tubes. So I’m going to still keep them. If I want to play something extra thumpy, they’d be good. Or if the kt88 fail early I can throw those back in. It’s actually pretty close in sound.

So not sure what rectifier you’ll be using with the Gold Lions. I haven’t gone back to test my gz34 f32 but don’t plan to since the fat base is clearly better in every way. I also have the RCA 5R4GY dual getters that people seem to love that I could try again at some point. When I just had the cheap kt88-98 outputs in there, the gz34 fat base was much better for my taste. Tight, controlled, more powerful, and fast. The Gold Lions improve upon the kt88-98 in texture and smoothness.

 

[SunRa Fan]

So the crazy thing is the kt90 tubes I have are actually cheaper than most of my other tubes. They are the type II but rebranded Audio Research and the guy sold 3 of them for just $75. He said he dropped one and I’m guess he had an amp that need quad output tubes. So I’m going to still keep them. If I want to play something extra thumpy, they’d be good. Or if the kt88 fail early I can throw those back in. It’s actually pretty close in sound.

So not sure what rectifier you’ll be using with the Gold Lions. I haven’t gone back to test my gz34 f32 but don’t plan to since the fat base is clearly better in every way. I also have the RCA 5R4GY dual getters that people seem to love that I could try again at some point. When I just had the cheap kt88-98 outputs in there, the gz34 fat base was much better for my taste. Tight, controlled, more powerful, and fast. The Gold Lions improve upon the kt88-98 in texture and smoothness.

I actually tried to buy the Audio Research tubes new from a dealer....it was amusing how many ways that dealer found to tell me no without having to actually say it.

 

[tholt]

And shocked that sound wise it’s beats the nos EI kt90

Wow, interesting. Setup, synergy, tastes etc are certainly important but for me the ver 2 KT90s are the best power tube I've ever heard in any amp. I have a pair of Russian Gold Lions and I'd say they're good, but nowhere as involving or as good as the KT90s. Maybe I need to let them break in more, but the KT90s are just sooo good to me.

They are the type II but rebranded Audio Research and the guy sold 3 of them for just $75

Deal of the century. PM me if you ever want to sell them... I'd pay more

 

[theveterans]

From what I see, the power tube type that comes out really highly depends on both input tube and rectifier. Keeping the RCA 5R4GY DD as constant, I already rolled several input tubes for my specific Full Music KT88 and none of them even came close to the synergy of the Full Music 6SL7 which sounds drastically different than most NOS 6SL7 out there

With NOS input tubes, I really like the synergy with the TAD KT66 and they're okay but not very special with Full Music KT88 unlike the Full Music 6SL7 + Full Music KT88 where the sound is literally transformed to like a hybrid of KT66 and KT88 sound (having the muscular bass, punchy and deep, expanded soundstage as well as the midrange magic of the KT66 with the treble smoothness of KT88)

 

[tholt]

From what I see, the power tube type that comes out really highly depends on both input tube and rectifier.

Agreed. Synergy with tubes used together is key IME

 

[SunRa Fan]

Anyone know how well the wood front of the Aegis is attached? Wouldn’t it be great if ZMF offered limited drop fronts?

 

[Rhodey]

Anyone know how well the wood front of the Aegis is attached? Wouldn’t it be great if ZMF offered limited drop fronts?

Edit: Disregard! lol wrong thread haha

 

[iamoneagain]

Wow, interesting. Setup, synergy, tastes etc are certainly important but for me the ver 2 KT90s are the best power tube I've ever heard in any amp. I have a pair of Russian Gold Lions and I'd say they're good, but nowhere as involving or as good as the KT90s. Maybe I need to let them break in more, but the KT90s are just sooo good to me.


Deal of the century. PM me if you ever want to sell them... I'd pay more

So yes, break in took a while. Let it play for 75 hours straight. When first put them in, even the kt-88-98 ones sounded better. The Gold Lion kt88 sounded closed in and didn’t have great clairty. I wanted to just switch back to kt90 but I let the break in play out. The sound started to open up a bit and the bass really improved. But it wasn’t until around 75 hours that the clarity and sparkle shown itself. Now at over 100 hours, just amazing.

So when I put the kt90 back in the first thing I notice is slightly narrower soundstage. There is a touch less richness. The bass punch hits just a touch harder but the Gold Lion hit at the right level and have more deep bass. The kt90 are a touch more analytical compare to kt88. But as said, if didn’t have the fat base gz34 in there, only the kt90 hit hard enough for my taste with Caldera Open. So it’s all about synergy. I don’t feel the Gold Lion are lacking in punch at all fully burned in. I love punchy bass so was shocked when finding with fat base the kt90 actually had too much now.

 

[AnyDave]

Anyone know how well the wood front of the Aegis is attached? Wouldn’t it be great if ZMF offered limited drop fronts?

We would love to offer this, it just isn't feasible with the way that they are produced. We have them built in decent size batches and we have to commit to a single aesthetic for that batch before the material is procured. So we do have the ability make some aesthetic changes, but it needs to apply to 150 or so units. We can't do it for a single unit, unfortunately. And removing the front faceplate and swapping it out isn't trivial, so that's not really something we can do (or recommend for others to do).

For the Homage, we can (and do) offer customized enclosures, but the that is a different assembly process.

 

[tholt]

So yes, break in took a while. Let it play for 75 hours straight. When first put them in, even the kt-88-98 ones sounded better. The Gold Lion kt88 sounded closed in and didn’t have great clairty. I wanted to just switch back to kt90 but I let the break in play out. The sound started to open up a bit and the bass really improved. But it wasn’t until around 75 hours that the clarity and sparkle shown itself. Now at over 100 hours, just amazing.

So when I put the kt90 back in the first thing I notice is slightly narrower soundstage. There is a touch less richness. The bass punch hits just a touch harder but the Gold Lion hit at the right level and have more deep bass. The kt90 are a touch more analytical compare to kt88. But as said, if didn’t have the fat base gz34 in there, only the kt90 hit hard enough for my taste with Caldera Open. So it’s all about synergy. I don’t feel the Gold Lion are lacking in punch at all fully burned in. I love punchy bass so was shocked when finding with fat base the kt90 actually had too much now.

Gives me something to think about. Thanks for your insights. I'll try playing the Gold Lions for an extended period and see if they change.