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Sophia Electric EL34 or KT88 ??

Looking to upgrade my tubes on the Primaluna Dialogue HP Integrated amp. 
Curious what people’s preference would be between the two, and why. Aside from the SE rebranding, I’ve heard some pretty decent feedback about these tubes. 
They are expensive though, and frankly I’m
not sure why the different price classifications. 
Trying to sort out the sonic characteristics of each before dropping the dime on a matched set of 8 for the PL dialogue HP. 
Generally I like the factory EL34 musicality and tone. I love a holographic, real life feel and soundstage. I once tried a full battery of KT150 but sold them. Tried as I might to get acclimated to them, they didn’t have the Stock EL 34 magic. Seemed a little more dry. More powerful but also a tad more sterile. 

So would the SE KT88 be any different? 

Anyone with personal experience with these tubes?
whacky

Showing 4 responses by whacky

whacky's avatar
whacky OP
53 posts
 
Well I think I will probably end up trying the Kt77 first before anything else. 

Yes, suddenly I'm interested in upgrading the capacitors in the PL. 
Yes, suddenly I've been considering swapping into an alternative higher priced amp after considering the cost of new tubes and new capacitors with the value of the amp.

Most likely i will go the route of the Kt77 and see how I like it.


Currently auditioning a pair of PS Audio M700 monoblocks and I have to say I am enjoying their sound, albeit not very tube like. 


whacky's avatar
whacky OP
53 posts
 
Funny you mention that. about a week ago I tried to used my older 15 dollar iron to resize a power strip for my cordless tool charging station...first time trying to solder something in the past year.

Absolute garbage piece of crap.

So I finally did what I’ve been meaning to do for awhile.

Spent some cash and got a nice Hakko FX-951 kit.

Going to practice up a little bit before attempting anything official on the PL.

whacky's avatar
whacky OP
53 posts
 
Wow

these are all awesome recommendations and definitely something I will look into. 
I was hesitant to spent the money on the SE tubes. Definitely had a few people recommend them highly after personal experience. But I love these other ideas as well. 
@johnss 
how hard is to replace the coupling caps? I’ll look into they tonight.  What’s the theory behind doing they? What do the coupling caps really do? 
Otherwise I’ll be checking out all those other tubes. The KT77. Tone plus sparkle sounds pretty nice to me. 
whacky's avatar
whacky OP
53 posts
 
The gold lion Kt77 aren't terribly expensive at around $50. Definitely sparking my interest given how they are being described. 

The SE EL34 tubes are 3x as expensive for their top offering @ $150 a piece. Yikes. $1200 to roll some tubes is more than I can swallow presently.


Now I'm curious about the capacitor swap at this point. It seems like that could also be a method to unlock potential hidden in the already solid PL amp. 
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