2. amps-preamps
  3. 123103-14154

should i go with kt150's now or wait a bit??

simple question folk's,    I have two jolida 502 amps running in mono.  kt120 tube's with about 200 hours. just broken in lets say.  this is almost going on two years now so I guess Im not listening as much as I should be. I will take care of that!!    the amps are running the top end of my infinity 1b speaker panel's.   mid's and high's.  no bass work here. so the question is is it worth installing kt150's at this point in time.    for $600, I would need eight of them, what kind of improvement in sound would I get.  with just 200 hrs on 120's would you run them a little longer to at least get some use out of them.   everybody like's the 150's for the solid bass they get out of them but I would not see that running the mid/tweeter panel.   what would you guy's do if you had the $600 ready to go??  (don't answer that)   can we assume in time the 150's price will drop a little more and just wait it out .   I know it's such a tough decision here, just help me out ok. thanks
tomtab
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
This particular "sucker" waited until my trusty 120 reached the end of their road (3 years of hard pressed tubing), and I would have certainly bought another quad of them except for the fact that 150s had engendered such raves and cost $269 for a no bullshit quad ("factory matched" no "cryo me a river" or Careful Selection price increased ARC style nonsense) from the people who sold me the 120s previously. A 100% reputable Ebay seller with a return policy. They KILL in my modded Jolida…actually they don't kill anything except microphonics supposedly, and when they die I'll get another quad unless New Sensor comes up with something else.
tubegroover
2,279 posts
 
Ahhh cynicism, you have to love it in our hobby, I sure do, it keeps things real. I am curious though, how many of the posters past Tomcats last and Wolf’s most recent have heard and compared these tubes with others in something they are quite familiar? Oh btw, I put my money where my mouth is and just received another quad yesterday, Putin’s Russia is a very real reason of concern for me, you just never know! And btw, if really interested, give Mike Sanders of Quicksilver a call and ask him what he thinks. I didn’t feel the need to as I heard for myself but from others I’ve garnered that he likes this tube quite a bit.
tomtab OP
97 posts
 

just to let you all know i did pick up the 150's.  not in yet but going in tomorrow. i will let you all know how it works out.

now about the remarks on the not yet here kt 180's,, kt200's,  kt250's  and so on.  i did mention in the past that since we have the kt 90,kt100,kt120 and now the kt150,  we would all assume somewhere in the works is a new tube.  why not??  why stop at kt150.  just a conversation piece for now.  sort of a joke if you know what i mean. but lets just imagine.  all of a sudden there it is, the new kt200 capable of 100 watts per tube. all yours for $150 each. i can see it down the road. and we are all going to run out and buy them.  just the nature of the beast.  technology doesn't stop, we all know that.  so who's first  for the new future tube. 

wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
I compared the Tung Sol 6550s (stock with the Jolida 502p) and a set of Sovtek Kt88s to the 120s and the 120s were better sounding, although the other tubes sounded pretty damn good…note the front end tubes were swapped all over the place until I wound up with a Gold Lion (12AX7)/NOS Mullard (gold pin 6201/12AT7) combo that works well…the 150s sounded much better than the 120s but the 120s were on their last legs anyway.
tomtab OP
97 posts
 
well,  i  installed the 150's today.  had both amps running for an hour before one amp shut down!!!.   usually when that happens its for a reason.  it happened to me once before when a 120 blew and took out the fuse with it.  so i was expecting a blown 150 for some reason.  i started the amp back up and it stayed on.  after 20 minutes i reset two of the tubes bias. was below 500mv.  all are at about 550mv. so i shut her down after about a half hour. we will see what happens tomorrow when i want to run them again.  so i will say with the one hour i have on the tubes they do sound good right out of the box. cant say they blow away the 120's right now. that will need some time for break in.  right now i would just like to see the amps stay on for more then an hour without shutting down.   since others are running 150's in their jolida's why shouldent i be able too.  dont worry, the 120's will go right back in if there seems to be a problem here. 
More to discover