5751 tubes and Rogue Tempest?

As I posted in more length in a similar thread, I preferred the RCA 5751 over the Telefunken 12AX7. The Telefunken was more dynamic, I guess, but 5751 seemed to give me a sweeter sounding system. But it wasn't so much the dynamics but rather the musicality and reduced noise that the 5751 gave. I describe it as like going from ultralinear to triode all over again. But whatever the actual proper way to describe it, I just preferred the 5751 and am happy with the dynamics of my system. And my system is plenty dynamic.

System:

Rogue M-180 monoblocks with RCA 5751, RCA 12AU7, Gold Lion KT88

Rogue 99 Magnum preamp with RCA 5692

Kimber KS-3035 speaker cables; Kimber select interconnects throughout

Silverline Bolero speakers

The system sounds fine to me.

Caveat: the bottom line is that you need to try a couple of the tubes you are considering and see how they sound in your system. What worked for me may not work for you.

Samzx12,

I actually never owned the stock tubes. I ordered the M-180's with the GL KT-88's - they were about a $300 upgrade from the stock EH KT-90's.

I would like to be able to give you a more insightful answer regarding the comparison of the two tubes, but I went with the 88's on instinct and haven't actually compared the 88's to the 90's. I asked the guys that own the local audio shop which they thought I should get and after talking about it they recommended the 88's. I don't recall the attributes they mentioned, but I have been very happy with the 88's. I do find that the combination of the 88's and the RCA small tubes I have make for a very musical system with a very low noise floor... I run the system in triode 99% of the time.

Sorry that I couldn't be of more help.

Samzx12,

You're welcome. When we talked with Rogue about tubing my M-180's we were told that one of the factors influencing Rogue's decision to go to KT-90's was that they were having quality issues with the stock EH KT-88's (no quality issues with the Gold Lion KT-88's however). Your comment about having trouble with two of your tubes may be an yet another example of the quality issues they were seeing.

Samzx12,

I talked with the guys at the shop yesterday regarding their opinion of the sound differences between the KT-88's and KT-90's (it also reminded me again why I went with the 88's). The comments they made were that the KT-88 is a little warmer, more delicate and three-dimensional than the KT-90. The KT-90 having more a little more slam and power.

I hope this helps answer your earlier question about the sound differences between the two tubes. As I mentioned, I didn't audition the EH KT-90 - I just went with the GL KT-88 right out of the gate and have been very happy.