2. amps-preamps
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Tube rolling in Cayin A-88T

Anyone changed out the stock KT-88 tubes?What have you found that beats the stock jobs?..I understand Cayin uses the Shuguang KT-88. As good as these are, they are the 3 hole plate which is said to be inferior to the solid plate version. Can anyone comment in regards to what they are using? Thanks.
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Showing 2 responses by kag

kag
7 posts
 
I also love the Cayin A88T which I have owned for the last 7-8 months now. I am using the stock tubes and have been thinking of upgrading to the PentaLabs or the TungSol re-issues. This thread was just what I wanted.

I hope you guys are biasing the amp after tube rolling as this is not an auto biasing amp as some mistakenly believe.

I found one of my tubes having zero bias and I changed it immediately. The amp sounds much better now.
kag
7 posts
 
Have you'll tried rolling the preamp tubes? I changed the stock 6sn7s to RCA 6sn7 GTBs and the sound improved a notch. Better soundstage, mellower and richer mids, surprisingly more detail in the mids and bass.

I did find trumpets on some recordings to be bright/hard on the stock tubes... for example, the trumpet on the track 'Papa a boo boo' on the German pressed CD of Harry Belafonte live at CG Hall was quite bright and hard sounding. This reduced considerably on the RCAs but it is still there. I wonder why? Could be due to the stock output tubes. I heard the Primare drive my speakers (Dyn 82s) and there was no hardness at all. My CDP is the Rega Planet which is known to be smooth. Interconnects are Transparent which is also mellow. So I guess the amp is the culprit.
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