Bifwynne, I was a big ARC fans too. My first hifi preamp was ARC LS-1 in the 80's. I had used the 40th Anniversary and recently upgraded to Ref 10.
I brought a pair of Reference 250 last year and in the first week, one of them failed to power on after shut down. They were finally replaced. My recent experience with ARC have been fairly bad. Reliability is a real issue.
ARC had lost my support on power amp. My amp had been changed to Pass Labs and to me Pass Labs sounds better. It is kind sad to see ARC losing its long time customers. |
I've been running four KT-150 in my VSi75 for about a month. At first I was enthusiastic. The sound has more power and more depth as somebody else already said. But, it sounds a little less "sophisticated". It sounds great, but has less finesse. Maybe that's the difference between something that is specifically designed around a specific tube. Anyway, if you like more power in the most basic meaning of the word, this is it. What a bargain upgrade. |
PS: What I meant to say is that to me the KT150s sound much better. Out of curiosity (audiophilia nervosa) I plugged the KT120 back in a few times and even tried to mix both types of tubes but I always quickly returned to just using the KT150s. |
Just found this on another site.
ARC amps and KT150's
Audio Research finally clarified this morning in writing that the KT150's are electrically compatible with the following:
VSi60
VSi75
REF75
REF150
REF250
REF750
However, because the KT150 is physically larger than the KT120, technical compatibility has not been confirmed at this time. For example, they indicated there might be a "clearance problem" with the top cover of the REF75. MEP can you confirm?
There should not be an issue with the REF150 or REF250.
They made mention that the proper selection of the bias range and device matching of the KT150 tubes for each model is of critical importance for optimal sonic performance. They recommended customers purchase properly matched and biased KT150's from Audio Research for their particular product - when they become available from ARC - later in the first quarter.
They mentioned that KT150 tube sets will not be available for the REF750's for quite a while due to the tube matching requirements for a pair of the big 750's.
ARC made mention that they will NOT be held responsible for damages and/or repairs to a product if the KT150 tubes were installed that were NOT purchased as a set from Audio Research. Interesting.
No mention of pricing |
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Bifwynne...Have you given in to the Dark Side for your replacement KT's ? |
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Xti16,
I have Octave Re290 setup for KT120.please confirmed the KT150 tubes can support for this amp.cause I really want to try on the KT150.
Mazad6 |
My Jolida Fusion 3502 , not the S model has much more premium parts
And has many upgrade options.
I use all 19 50s preamp tubes Big upgrade and switched out the very sweet EL34
Power tubes 50wpc. Now the KT 150 tubes up the power to 80 wpc.
The midrange is almost as sweet as thd el34 ,but better by far in the midbass low bass dynamics much more slam soundstage depth as well as size is bigger.
Online a matched quad $270 delivered. Fantastic tube. If using a smaller or older amp check first. Upgrade to bigger power supplies if possible to optimize for this tube. |
Add the new VAC IQ 200 to the list. KT88 stock but can roll KT120 and KT150.
Kevin Hayes said all tests between KT88 and KT150 in the factory and dealer sites, KT88 win hands down.
Very interesting!
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Not sure that statement is true or it's subjective but what kind of KT88 is Kevin Hayes referring to? I have some EH KT88 and tried them in my Primaluna Dialogue and didn't care for them at all. The TS KT120 sounded better and that wasn't saying much. |
Kevin is highly complimentary of the Gold Lion KT88 reissues, as is Roger Modjeski of Ram Labs and Music Reference. |
The KT150 is a fantastic tube, but after a year they seemed less so, and I perceived that they were putting some strain on my beloved Jolida 502p (ear to speaker I could hear the Jolida softly saying, "help me…help me…"). Back in April I put in a set of matched and balanced (I assume "thetubestore" uses a small scale to balance these as they do seem to be the same weight) Gold Lion KT88s and they're sounding beautiful, and I think the gold lettering and their reputation have a large influence on my shallow and obvious "low threshold" sense of what's good. These tubes are REAL good, and my amp seems happy (!). The KT150s are still great, but it is harder now to tell how great they are since they're now in their boxes on a shelf…but hey…they're great at being in their boxes also. They're not trying to climb out, not getting dusty…friggin' great. |
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Geez,
I got a real headache reading about all you poor people sitting on pins and needles waiting for this answer or that response from ARC. I learned early on in life that people who do not answer your questions when confronted with them numerous times means they don't know, or they know and do not want to say.
Sell your overpriced ARC gear, buy from Mike Sanders at Quicksilver Audio. He answers questions within a day, was building with the KT-150 while ARC was stone-walling all of you, and his products will last longer than any of us will.
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I own a Jadis JA30 MK ll designed to use the KT150. No they are not a drop in replacement of the KT120 as they draw more current. Jadis gives the option to drop down to the family of KT120, 6550, EL34, etc. with a small DIY mod. inside the amp. Just change a strap etc.
They are redesigning all of their amps. around the KT150 tube with the same mod. for the NOS guys with smaller tubes. I have not modded my amp. to try the smaller tubes including the KT120.
This amp. sounds so good as is on my speakers I have no desire to switch at this stage. The just modded their JA 80 and 120 amps that have been in production sine the 80's. Many users of this amplifier all over the world just not as many here in the states. Pretty strong recommendation IMO of the tube.
I owned ARC once and heard it many other times and it does not compare to the musicality of Jadis or the build quality. Just IMO of course. |
