Black glass KenRad 6SN7s take the cake


I've been experimenting with 6SN7s in my VAC 70/70:

ElectroHarmonix: good tube! and great for the price. Much better than I though it'd be, but ultimately sounded too edgy and sterile. Good control throughout, and good detail.

Sylvania VT231: twinkly and brilliant; great detail, tight bass, but much less fatiguing than the ElectroHarmonix; nice and smooth, but still lacking in the mids for me.

TungSol black glass, round getter: better than the Sylvania, in that it was a bigger sound. Lost the twinkly and brilliant quality. Good detail. Good overall, balanced tube. Nothing outstanding I thought, relative to the other tubes I tried.

KenRad, tall, black glass: THESE KICK!! very lush, deep, BIG BIG sound; the absolute best midrange; detail was good, and surprisingly, this tube is NOT DARK. very smooth, and less reserved sounding than the other tubes. Let's it loose... and that's the one drawback; the bass isn't as tight the TungSol or the Sylvania, but it didn't annoy me. What I gained from this tube far outweighed this drawback.

...that's just what I thought of these tubes in MY system. Who knows if these qualities translate to other pieces.
128x128dennis_the_menace
Dennis the Mennis

Where did you buy the Ken Rads and how much did you pay for them?

That is the exact quality I like too - big midrange and dynamic if I read your post right.

thanks for sharing
Phil
Got them off of ebay from this guy called "romhifi". Sounded like he had different stashes of tubes, including some National Union black glass that I wanted to try next if the KenRads didn't work out. He may have some more KenRads....

You could probably get some responses by posting a "wanted" here on Audiogon.
Dennis, my impression of the NOS Tung-Sols and Sylvania VT-231s mirrors yours in my Blue Circle BC21. Early this past spring when I was buying up tubes on Audiogon, I managed to snag three NOS US Navy Ken-Rad VT-231s dated January and February 1945. I've enjoyed the Sylvanias so much that I stopped rolling the tubes in my BC21, but I've always wanted the qualities you describe in the Ken-Rads. The Ken-Rads will be going in my Blue Circle right now, I'll report back in a few days.