Tung-Sol KT120 No Cryo / Platinum Grade Reviews

4.7 Rating 76 Reviews
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I purchased an octet of the Tung Sol KT-120 tubes for my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP amplifier. Although I was very happy with the EL-34 tubes supplied with the amplifier, the KT-120s clearly provide significantly more bass and high frequency extension. The difference was quite dramatic right out of the gate, and they have improved with break-in. Together, the amp and KT-120 complement do an excellent job of driving my B&W 802d speakers. I'm very happy with this upgrade, and as usual, Kevin Deal and Upscale Audio are the the best source for your tube needs.
1 Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Installed 8 of these in my Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP amp. EL34's sounded great, but the KT120's were a major improvement. Tighter bass and even better pace were the major improvements along with more extended top end. Still has the natural sound of tubes but with most of the advantages of solid state.... just what I was looking for. Highly recommended
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Posted 7 years ago
If I had another house I would get another Prima Luna and run the Tung-Sol KT120's as well. The difference between these and the stock EL 34’s is a more defined sound dare i day a bit more cleaner/digital sounding but still good old/great old/ great new analog sound. (Also put in two Mullard CV4003's up front) These monster tubes also seem the run bit cooler. Uncle Kevin (he sure has a lot of relatives!) took the time to help me out. He knows his stuff and is a pleasure to deal (no pun intended) with. Before placing these tubes on the Prima Luna he asked what my speakers were and then made tube replacement recommendations. After many thousands of hours I replaced the tubes on the Prima Luna just to try out something else and I’m very glad I did. However, the stock EL34’s were still going strong. Upscale Audio knows their stuff and has great service. That’s a wonderful thing.
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Posted 8 years ago
I recently purchased four of these tubes from Uncle Kevin for my Prima Luna Prologue 5. From the moment I replaced the stock kt88s with these, the difference was not suttle. As other posts have indicated the bottom end was much more robust and tight. The sound stage opened up considerably and the system just came "alive". It has truly brought this amplifier and my system to another level of sonic bliss. My preamplifier is a PL Prologue 3 and my speakers are Sonus Faber Venere 2.5s. Thanks Upscale for great service/delivery and to Kevin for taking the time to discuss audio!
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Posted 8 years ago
I had recently purchased the KT-120 tubes as a replacement for my stock Electro Harmonix kt-88 in my Cary CAD 120s amp. And was very sceptical about it since everyone in every audio chatroom praises them. So since living in Canada I took the deep plunge into my pockets and the crumbling dollar and bought them. All I can say is wow what a huge difference. I have very inefficient speaker the totem forest 87DB and a cary slp-98p with phono, which I noticed newer vinyl recordings of newer artists and some reissue in triode mode. It was harder to drive my speakers in my 1100 square living foot room, and was always cranking the volume knob to almost max. Once I plugged in the kt-120 it boost up the dynamics big time and the bass just growls and goes lower then ever before, and I mostly only crank the volume now to 1/4 of the way up. They solved the issue of the new recordings and stop the screeching I get with some female artist's on CD's. And playing Ariana Grande's Break Your Heart Right Back at a party's people jaws drop and ask what were is the subwoofer. Which i found that the kt-88 did not much depth(clarity) and low end. But the best thing is all of this happens in triode mode and never need to switch to ultra liner mode ever again. So If you have a tube amp and need a little more dynamics from your speaker don't buy new speakers try the kt-120s there awesome for the price. Plus Upscale audio has the best service and prices anywhere. My local dealer wanted $90 each Canadian plus matching for each set of 2 tubes. Which 8 tubes adds up very quick. Which upscale dose this for free, and even burns them in for you which once you receive them there is no big change in sound once they are burned in. Thanks Kevin! I will defiantly be coming back for my second set of these from upscale!
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Posted 8 years ago
I replaced the original stock JJ KT88 in my Quicksilver V4's with 8 of these KT120's. The V4's are from 2009 and I confirmed with Mike S. that there would be no problem using the KT120 tube. I will not go into a slew of superlatives because I think differences in tubes are subtle but I do find the KT120's to be solid in the bottom octaves and clear throughout the rest of the frequency range. A very nice looking tube and robustly built. A pleasure dealing with Upscale and I will be back.
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Posted 8 years ago
Purchased four matched pair of KT120 for my Audio Research VS-115 amp. The biasing was a snap and the "matched pairs" actually match unlike others that I've bought from dealers promising matched pairs. Upscal delivers as promised. Highly recommended.
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Posted 9 years ago
With this tube I have got all what I was looking for: more dynamic, more extention in low and high frequences better spatial localization and a great musicality .Very Happy You must try it
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Posted 9 years ago