My pair or V4, purchased new in 2011, are now discontinued which is too bad for tube lovers. These monos really showed me how music can sound like music, not just sterile dynamics with no soul. They also do not sound slow, thick or mushy like many tube amps can either. Few brands out there still relatively somewhat considered affordable can marry these positive differences and give you the best of both world. The addition of the kt150 with the newest transformer just elevates things to a different level. As a hint to my outcome, it went from Muhammad Ali “floating like a butterfly” that was ready to deliver a knockout blow at any moment of time…to a body puncher constantly “slamming me into my gut”, Joe Frazier. Good or bad, one must give a listen and judge for themselves and system dependent rather than an all out 100% across the board good for everyone.
So I was fortunate enough to listen to the newest version with kt150s and was initially blown away with the bass drive. But, as I listened more and more to different music tracks, I got the thought I was losing a top to bottom cohesiveness that I remember from my home system.
So, ready to purchase and trade up to a new pair, the dealer gave me ample time to go back home and while still fresh off the dealership audition, do a memory based comparison. Fair or unfair as we all kinda know dealerships do not usually have perfectly set up demo rooms but this one as pretty nice. Room deadening and quality components were used. We chose similar but not identical ancillary components that I thought would be close enough. My pieces that have the biggest impact at home are my tube Shindo preamp and my Kef Ref1 Meta on dedicated Ref 1 stands.
Results, well simply put, if I was in my middle 20’s the kt150’s would have won hands down. But in my late 50’s a more even distribution flatter response was way more enjoyable over many genre types of music. My KEFs will do 30Hz to 45KHz in room when needed. Thus my preference is the KT88’s as a dancer not a bruiser for my V4s.
*On a side note, these amps have been bulletproof. Bias setting as Mike Sanders recommends, and they will not eat tubes like others do. I’ve had my caps checked and they look just fine, likely another 5 years so says Sanders(20 yrs seems the life span). Thus for those of you that have a pair, now discontinued like I said, if you are happy don’t even think about it.