[turkey]

While I appreciate Grant Fidelity's in-depth explanation, and may very purchase items from them, I also believe that other vendors who have in some cases 100% positive feedback on different selling sites, would not be able to maintain these ratings if they were making a practice of selling inferior tubes.

I strongly suspect that Rachel is 100% correct. Most of what these factories are putting out is crap, and the end user never even knows because they have no way of measuring what's really going on.

[woodsyi]

I picked up a dozen new production Mullard 12ax7s from Deep Surplus and 3 were DOA.  They sent 3 other ones right away without asking for the duds back.  I got 4 matching pair out of them.  I still came up ahead since they were being sold for less then 1/3 List Price.  If I just wanted 1 or 2 good pairs, I would go to a reputable retailer.

[bunky]

I bought two factory matched Quads of Genelex Reissue KT77's from Deep Surplus and they worked perfectly in a pair of VTL MB100 Mono's 

[turkey]

I bought two factory matched Quads of Genelex Reissue KT77's from Deep Surplus and they worked perfectly in a pair of VTL MB100 Mono's 

But how well-matched are they, and how long will they last?

[bunky]

I buy very expensive NOS tubes from Kevin Deal of Upscale Audio, Brent Jessee and Andy at Vintage tube services and they seem to come up with the very best rare tubes and test all parameters to insure the best sets of matched tubes. that being said on the other hand Black Treasures are current manufacture and are not at all hard to come by nor are they rare. in my opinion i dont think charging NOS prices for these tubes is a fair practice but in a free market economy you can charge whatever the consumer is willing to spend. the seller in Hong Kong does not rely on the factory test data and tests and matches all of the tubes before he ships them. i bought a perfect pair of matched CV181-Z for $124.00 shipped to my door from the other side of the globe and they are the best sounding tubes ever to grace my Rig. this is a fact 

[bunky]

But how well-matched are they, and how long will they last?

they were matched well enough to sound great and i have never had a tube that i bought new fail.i did have a Teslovak KT88 fail that came in a used Quad i bought with a Sonic Frontiers SFS 80 that was my 1st tube power amp but i was a novice and had no way of knowing how many hours they had on them  . the thing looked like a lightning storm in a bottle  i retire most power tubes after 3000 hrs or so because if they let go they tend to take other parts like resistors or worse with them.

[Wind Chaser]

Black Treasures are current manufacture and are not at all hard to come by nor are they rare. in my opinion i dont think charging NOS prices for these tubes is a fair practice but in a free market economy you can charge whatever the consumer is willing to spend.

Re: Black Treasure 300b, yes they are current and yes they are pricey, but you can pay a lot more for an inferior NOS tube.  Same thing with the Pavanes...

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=88490.0

There's a price to be paid for performance.  I'd rather pay a premium for a current production high performance tube over a NOS tube, especially if the current tube sounds better.

[bunky]

OK,i have been burning in a quad of Black Treasure KT66-Z's for about 30 hours.they sound very good and will no doubt continue to improve with more hours on them.percussion instruments sound so real it is downright scary. the money i saved buying these CV181-Z and KT66-Z tubes from the dealer in Hong Kong allowed me to purchase Herbies cone spike decoupling gliders for my Sonatina 2's and a used 1 meter pair of Morrow Audio MA3 Biwire speaker cables from Mike Morrow for my speakers as well. I may be frugal but my rig sounds great.

[rklein]

William:

Can you give me some insight on how your BT KT-66's differ in presentation from your KT-88's?  I already have a quad of GL KT-88's and instead of buying another quad of BT KT-88's, I might opt for the KT-66's.

Thanks,

Randy

[bunky]

Hey Randy,i have not run KT88's in several years. the KT66 is in the same family as the 6L6/5881 but is configured as a kinkless tetrode instead of a beam pentode.these are the 1st KT66's i have ever owned and they are really nice  these tubes have tight deep bass and sound very open. acoustic and percussion instruments have a startling clarity and the rig has a wide/deep soundstage that extends several feet beyond and behind the loudspeakers.you will make more power with the KT88's vs  the KT66's if that matters to you.

[rklein]

Hey Bunky:

Not sure why I thought you were running KT-88's.   Anyhoo, I know I can get more power with the KT-88's.  However, sound is most important.  BTW, I have been running Mike Morrow's SP3 Bi-Wire Speaker cables for over 6 months as well as his MA-4 IC's.  Like'em alot

Maybe someone else could chime in on the difference in presentation between the 88's and 66's.

Randy

[Ericus Rex]

Hi Randy,

I have tried both KT66 (GL) and KT88 (Shuggy) in my Quicksilver GLA.  Please don't call my interpretations 'definitive' but here's what I thought of the two.  The KT88 has more bottom-end heft.  The low-end is very rich and full, I thought a little too full (in my amp and with my speakers).  The 88s also had a larger presentation; more 'space' between the instruments, they made my speakers seem 8 feet tall (though not the players - just more expansion to the sound).  The KT66s had a much more punchy, taut bass that was less full.  Though I felt the entire frequency spectrum was more even.  Presentation was reduced slightly but I certainly wouldn't call them small sounding.

In the end, I've tried just about every tube the GLA could take (EL34, fat bottle 6CA7, tall bottle 6L6, KT66 and KT88) and ended up sticking with the KT66.  I had just gotten some new speakers which put me in a tube-trying frenzy to fine tune the bass response.  What my speakers needed was a tighter, punchier bass and definitely not a fuller bass.  I also really appreciated the fact that all frequency ranges sound good with the 66s.  It really is a great tube that should be used more than it is.

Hope this helps!

[bunky]

I just ordered a Quad of cryoed and matched Gold Lion KT66's from Cryoset to compare with the Black Treasure KT66-Z's. Pez was also very impressed with the GL KT66 and said it was the best power tube out of all the GL reissues.

[rajacat]

I like these Russian 6l6GC more than the Gold Lion Genelex KT66s. Cheap too. I bought a matched quad and will probably buy a backup.  I'd like to try the pricey Black Treasures too.

http://www.cryoset.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=293&osCsid=42e74b7919bbc0ba9433f1a9405f3700






-Roy
-

[bunky]

these are also one of my favorites. Loc Vu from the Yahoo Golden Tube Group included these Russian coin base 5881 tubes in my modded GTA SE40 and i have bought a matched quad of them from Jim McShane as well. the Sovtec 5881 is very similar and probably the best tube sovtec ever made 

[bunnyma357]

I like these Russian 6l6GC more than the Gold Lion Genelex KT66s. Cheap too. I bought a matched quad and will probably buy a backup.  I'd like to try the pricey Black Treasures too.

http://www.cryoset.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=293&osCsid=42e74b7919bbc0ba9433f1a9405f3700






-Roy
-

I like these tubes as well - although mine aren't Cryo'd or Matched. In my amp they sound better to me than the more expensive Valve Art 350B's - which were also nice sounding. A great value.


Jim C

[rklein]

I like these Russian 6l6GC more than the Gold Lion Genelex KT66s. Cheap too.  I bought a matched quad and will probably buy a backup

Those look like a great buy!   At $59.95, and strong recommendations it would look like a no-brainer.

Thanks,

Randy

[rajacat]

I just ordered a Quad of cryoed and matched Gold Lion KT66's from Cryoset to compare with the Black Treasure KT66-Z's. Pez was also very impressed with the GL KT66 and said it was the best power tube out of all the GL reissues.

Are you ready to report on this comparison?

-Roy

[bunky]

Are you ready to report on this comparison?

-Roy

Hey Roy,i installed the Gold Lion KT66 reissues in my Niteshade NS-40 about 4:00 pm yesterday and they are in the process of burning in.they sounded really good right out of the box in this DC fillament equipped circuit but the presentation was somewhat foreward. if they settle in just a tad it is possible that i may prefer them to the Black treasure KT66-Z

[bunky]

I have been running a matched Cryoed quad of Gold Lion KT66 reissues from cryoset since 1-2-2011 in my NS-40 along with Create Audio 6SN7's in the input and driver positions. Black Treasure CV-181 Z's are used in my Purity Audio Basis linestage preamplifier. i am using NOS RCA 6922's labled made in Germany which were manufactured by Seimens in my Canary Audio CD200 redbook player. i really feel that the GL KT66 is a stellar performer in the NS-40 circuit and i may slightly prefer it to the Black Treasre KT66-Z in my system.the GL KT66 is very nice power tube