KR KT150RK (Riccardo Kron)

Finally in the zenith of cold winter months in Europe, time has come to warm up the living room with some new toys and this time, no more and no less, in the form of the limited edition of KT150 tube, which was so far only available from TungSol.
Tubes are specially made by KR for LampizatOr and are within the physical limits of regular KT150 and of course within the tech spec of the TungSol ones which makes the rolling possible. Tube proudly cares the name of Riccardo Kron (RK) and it comes with all the perks from the rest of the RK series (300b, 242, PX4, 5u4g) meaning Zirconium coating, triple thickness glass, 9th degree of vacuum, etc.
I just received the quad so in the upcoming days/weeks I pronounce the winter tube rolling olympic games open...
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Very interesting tube. What surprises me is the shape! The Tungsol is shaped like an egg for a very good reason, that is apparently to increase the surface area and to aid in cooling...along with a more robust glass. I wonder why Kron would not replicate that shape?? This also brings up a possible additional issue, the shape of the Tungsol's is anticipated in designs that can use that tube, the new shape may be too fat around the middle ( ok, no jokes here) to allow this tube to work within the allotted space.
Do report back if you can on any differences that you hear between these and the Tungsol KT150's. Are you planning on rolling those into your ARC Ref 75?
 
Very interesting tube. What surprises me is the shape! The Tungsol is shaped like an egg for a very good reason, that is apparently to increase the surface area and to aid in cooling...along with a more robust glass. I wonder why Kron would not replicate that shape?? This also brings up a possible additional issue, the shape of the Tungsol's is anticipated in designs that can use that tube, the new shape may be too fat around the middle ( ok, no jokes here) to allow this tube to work within the allotted space.
Do report back if you can on any differences that you hear between these and the Tungsol KT150's. Are you planning on rolling those into your ARC Ref 75?
Yes the idea is to use them in Ref75. With what you've mentioned regarding the "width" of the tube this one is of the exactly the same "size" as TungSol in the part where it is widest so it should be no issue from that standpoint.
Will get back with results as soon as I manage to plug them in due to family reasons and vacation time.
 
They will need to be much cheaper than your regular RK KR triodes. Some amps around with 20 KT150s in.

How much are they?
 
They will need to be much cheaper than your regular RK KR triodes. Some amps around with 20 KT150s in.

How much are they?
Unfortunately they are not - just a bit cheaper, at least RK version. Regular KR is cheaper...
 
Wow.

I believe the KR KT88 is reasonable. Is that what you are referring to? Or do they do a regular KT150 now (not RK).
I'm referring to regular KR KT150. They are making them but from my side the issue was as they are size wise bigger than TungSol - while RK version is within the size limits of TungSol (height and width).
 
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Yes the idea is to use them in Ref75. With what you've mentioned regarding the "width" of the tube this one is of the exactly the same "size" as TungSol in the part where it is widest so it should be no issue from that standpoint.
Will get back with results as soon as I manage to plug them in due to family reasons and vacation time.


Thanks. Any idea as to the cost of the new KR's ( RK version)? I may be interested, as my amp only uses four.
 
Thanks. Any idea as to the cost of the new KR's ( RK version)? I may be interested, as my amp only uses four.
Honestly no idea. But you can contact directly KR Audio for those and I assume Eunice will answer (she is quite responsive on the emails actually).
 
Are you a Beta tester?
Huh - noooooo….I'm just kind of heavy Lampi fan and as road/business takes me to or via Warsaw relatively often I can get their stuff maybe a bit before others (if) - no more no less...
 
Heavy Lampi fan = tautology. All Lampi owners are heavy Lampi fans by default. It's the best hifi component I know. For everything else I have a choice or a dilemma
I was under impression it is not even among top 5 DACs under 50k :D:D:D
 
You all owe me.

I put Lampizator on the map by telling Kedar to go listen to one.

Which he did.

He then went mad on here about them and the rest is history.:)

Lukasz owes Ked a fortune. And me even more.
 
You also introduced me to apogees, recommended me to go listen to analysis, and Tom's tannoys. It is a pity you don't run your own apogee and Lampi properly though
 
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You also introduced me to apogees, recommended me to go listen to analysis, and Tom's tannoys. It is a pity you don't run your own apogee and Lampi properly though

Maybe one day I'll get a Lampi that likes 242. And a 5KW solid state amp and not some ancient Accuphase monoblocks from 1975.

Maybe.

:)
 
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You all owe me.

I put Lampizator on the map by telling Kedar to go listen to one.

Which he did.

He then went mad on here about them and the rest is history.:)

Lukasz owes Ked a fortune. And me even more.
Suffer from a little god complex? :rolleyes:
 

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