VTA ST-120 POWER TUBE OPTIONS.

Dynakit and Mapleshade both sell the same dampers: dyna-pads. They're decent. I use a quad on both my TTs.

You remember Dak? Strange outfit with lots of purple prose.

I got to hear the Nordost Sort Kones at Axpona and the effect was clear to all in the room. Sadly, they are ridiculously priced. The cheap ones are $67ea and their top of the line versions are around $370ea! I was surprised by how effective the Nordost kones were. Even the cheap ones opened up the soundstage, and seemed to increase the volume a couple decibels. Still, I can't justify $200 for feet for one component. Not with my salary.

I built my own footers using inexpensive brass cones, steel ball bearings and copper pipe caps. They're meant to mimic the also ridiculously priced Stillpoints.







I haven't done much testing with my home-made feet but they look cool! Now I think I should've gone for ceramic balls.

corndog71 wrote:
I haven't done much testing with my home-made feet but they look cool!  Now I think I should've gone for ceramic balls.

Certainly a step above the old half a tennis ball trick ... and think of all the fun you can have telling everyone you have ceramic balls!

I do like the copper cap idea though. Maybe something as simple as filling one with black silicone and plop a double headed nail into that so it's suspended as the goop sets up. Wonder where I can pick up on some audiophile grade double headed nails? Hmmmmmm ...

pmarcin wrote:Dynakit and Mapleshade both sell the same dampers: dyna-pads. They're decent. I use a quad on both my TTs.

You remember Dak? Strange outfit with lots of purple prose.

Not all that similar - the PicoFeet are sorbothane, but those Dyna pads do look interesting. Saw a couple in half and glue those to the bottom of my case maybe. I am a bit gun shy on sorbothane, as it can stain wood. Found that out the hard way. Best bet is to put glass down before using it.

And ya ... I still got some of the DAK catalogs laying about here someplace or other. Like I say, a fun read. Drew Kaplan was the KING of BS when it came to making a fart smell like a rose. They DID have some nice stuff every now and then though. I still got a BSR 4000XR equalizer I got from them ... second from the bottom here ...



Quite a nice piece really. The RTA was surprisingly accurate using the supplied mike. It got shuffled to the side when it's memory went wonky. I expect I'll get around to fixing that someday, if only for the display ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NZyCt8zVGk

pmarcin wrote:Chock full of snake oil du jour: Good music + snake oil

Priceless. Gotta noisy PC? Critical PC Damping

This one: Isoblock does work, but you can buy them through HVAC suppliers in your area for a lot le$$.  HVAC contractors use them to isolate air conditioner compressors from a building's structure so the vibration is not transmitted.  Mine were 4x4 inches, which I razor-sawed to 2x2 inches.  They can help a lot with microphonic tube preamps and amps that are "playing" floor or shelf vibrations.  I also use three of them (4x4 inch sized) to isolate the clothes dryer from the hardwood floor.

Much like the proverbial broken clock, even snake-oil sellers are right once in a while.

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I own two sets. I mentioned them to sKiZo.

OK so I have a WZ-68 Copper cap on the way so whats a good place to get what brand of KT-120's? I like alot of high end with my klipsch . and I have a JBL 2145-H sub so I would like to get as much mid and high from the kt-120's and let the sub deal with the rest . also my "dreaded cube" of a room has a hump at probably 160 hertz.So any advice is very apreciated [I know my spelling is bad too!] .Thank you so much looking foreward to plugging them in and listening. thanx Scott

Just had a few suggestions on sources recently, but I'll be danged if I can find them.

Good all around tube source:

https://tubedepot.com/products/tung-sol-kt120-power-vacuum-tube

Here's where I got mine ... best deal at the time, and they've got a good exchange policy and support:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/KT88-Tube-Types/Tung-Sol-KT120

About the best price, but I've never dealt with them ...

http://tctubes.com/Tung-Sol-KT120-tubes.aspx

About that 160hz hump ... same problem here, and it was worse with a turntable. Stylus picks up the bass track from the vinyl, speakers put it out to the room, room adds the hump, that feeds back to the turntable, and on and on till either you turn it off, or either you or the system dies. I played around a lot with bass traps with no good results and ended up resorting to hardware eq using a Technics Parametric SH9010. I've since moved on to a DSP approach for my digital library, but still use the PEQ for other sources.

I wouldn't advise a standard graphics eq ... in order to kill a peak that large, you'd end up killing a LOT of surrounding frequencies. My measurements showed the hump to be a good 12db above baseline. The PEQ allows me to stack filters and tailor them exactly for frequency AND bandwidth. I've got a wide one that gets the hump, and a narrow "notch" filter to rebuild the center of that filter.

It was work, but definitely worth it.

TCTUBES.com is excellent and I have been to the home of the people who run it.  tyler is the owner with his wife and they are great.  Big time into tube audio and they put in the work.  I took a bunch of tubes over to Tyler for testing on his 2 Amplitrex testers and other test equipment.  Good people and honest business.

They are in the St. Paul area of Minnesota by me

Our fellow forum member Jim McShane sells KT-120s as well.  I'll have to consider Jim on the next batch of tubes.  These KT-120s are a bargain compared to the tweaky and expensive Shuguang types and derivatives.

While his tubes aren't the cheapest out there Roger Modjeski's RAM Labs are rigorously selected for low noise, consistent performance, and long life.  As soon as I can swing it I'll be getting a set of KT120s from him.  


So far the 6550s I got from Upscale Audio have been performing beyond my expectations so that's another avenue to consider.

yeah i am using the webber copper cap . so all i need is some kt-120's: any suggestions on what would be good with some klipsch LaScalla's.I know they lack bass .but i dont like boomy I would rather have smooth mids and highs and good tight bass

Get yourself one of these ...



So you can do yourself some of these ...



Then export the results to a convolution filter on your HTPC ... nothing to it!   

OR

Just plug in the KT120's, bias them up and enjoy. They DO improve the bass for bottom end, but keep it tight. Mid bass especially is much better defined than with the Psvane KT88's I started out with. If you DO end up muddy, you've got some EQ issues that need to be resolved.

Which brings us back to the top of the post.   

Thank you again sKiZo, I am waiting on KT-120's from Jim McShane. and am very excited.It is now so fun to play with my stereo. I also am running a pair of RCA cleartop 12au7's and a NOS Mullard 12au7 in the center. so now I believe I will go out and try as many as i can afford to try. I like it bright too so I am happy to know that I don't have to run any 12bh7's they just don't fit with my taste I guess. Thx much to all.Scott