KT-88's better than EH ...

I believe Bombaywalla makes an excellent point about amps being voiced with certain KT88s.

In my recent journey, three KT88 tubes were heartily recommended by several audiophiles: Svetlana Winged "C", JJ Tesla, and Penta Labs KT88sc/Shuguang KT88-98.

Regarding the Penta Labs KT88sc, and the following comment that

My favorite KT88 is the KT88SC is from Penta Labs. This is also a Chinese tube by Shuguang, but is reportedly made to specs of the Genelex 88's.

This is not entirely accurate. The Penta Labs KT88sc are not made to the factory specs of Genelex KT88, nor are the Penta Labs KT88sc made with the same materials or on the same equipment as the Genelex KT88. Penta Labs has a disclaimer on their website that the Penta Labs KT88sc is designed to cosmetically resemble the Genelex KT88, and Penta Labs makes no further claims to the similarity of these two brands.

Also, I think it's intriguing that one selling point of the Penta Labs KT88sc is their similarity to the Genelex KT88, including the three oval holes in the plate, and yet folks recommend purchasing the solid plate version, which is not like Genelex KT88.

I purchased a set of Penta Labs KT88sc with three oval holes, because I found a lightly used set, and they appear to exctly match the stock VAC KT88 that came installed in my VAC Phi 110/110.

Ken, the Penta Labs KT88SC solid-plates... http://www.pentalaboratories.com/product.asp?dept%5Fid=5020&pf%5Fid=KT88SC+SHUGUANG ...are VERY highly rated by the inmates of the Tube Asylum... http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/tv.pl?forum=tubes&s=U . I suggest you SEARCH there and learn a lot.

They were selling for only $22 each recently; be sure to call them to make sure you get the closed-plate versions.
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The Penta version with the 3 holes in the plates is the KT88-98 tube that you can buy through several online outlets. Penta advised me that they substituted this tube for the solid plate "KT88SC", when they were sold out of the solid plate version. The solid plate which is the true "KT88SC" that "I believe" is sold exclusively by Penta. There's a thread on Tube Asylum in which a Penta rep confirms much of this. In any event, you have to call Penta to ensure that you get the solid plate version, if thats what you want. I haven't compared the two, but the solid plate tube is very good.

Cruz123, what you say makes sense to me now that I did a quick web search and found a photo of Genelex KT88 Gold Lion tubes that have solid plates.

It's confusing, because the photo of the KT88SC on the Penta website used to show three oval holes, but now it shows a solid plate.

Now, I know why my Penta KT88SC quad was sold at a nice discount.

Recently there has been a seller on ebay with these solid plate Shuguang kt88sc. I emailed him the Penta link and inquired whether his are the same tubes. He confirmed they were. His handle is "thenidge".

His BIN price for a pair has ranged from 42.50 to 46.50.

I don't see any there currently, so to see them, goto "advanced search" and do a "completed items" search for his name "thenidge". For some reason, searching on "kt88sc" doesn't return them...even though it is in the title.

Anyways, it looks like he might have some quantity and is dripping them into the market just a few pair at a time.