Chryo vs non chryo kt 120 shootout

[rlw3]

Bought my premier 12 used which came with NOS 5751's and 6fq7's and sovtek 6550's. Typical CJ Sound was slow, round, with long decays and a sweetness that many find appealing especially with music that has non electrical instruments. This sound has always bored me so I was looking forward to what Kt 120's would do. So I bought some chryo and non chryo 120's and proceeded to break them in.
The non chryo tubes were evaluated slowly over several weekends after spending time with the chryoes. There is a huge difference in the type of sound between a non chryo 6550 and chryoed 120's. I would guess the distance between these 2 sounds is such that a non chryo 120 goes about a third of the way from the 6550 to the chryo 120 with more dynamics a little less richness and decay but basically a lot of the same signature as a 6550.
The chryo 120's are a different animal. In my system the surplus decay seems absent which makes the attack and speed of the presentation seem faster. I also sense more soundstage quality. For the first time ever on R Cash's ten song demo cd the wall of my listening room seemed to disappear which is very enjoyable. As noted elsewhere by Puma Cat there is a hardness in comparison to non chryo tubes. Is this because in comparison to very lush; less lush will sound hard?
Nothing is perfect. For me given I play a lot of music with electrified music I want/need some slam,grawl, and hardness when called for.
In the near future I plan to use 50/50 chryo and non chroed 120's in the amps and report back.
Sidenotes- chryo small tubes and chryo power tubes was way to hard in my system. I hope to compare chro vs non 6h30p's in my act 2.2-then do the same with my art audio 6n1p's.
Bottom line-changing tubes may give a difference I think you would find from changing power cords,ic's or speaker cables.
Given different equipment synergies, room frequency and speed, hearing, and brain decoding I understand that your methods might be different.
PS- surprisingly audience applause seems most realistic with the chryo 120's

[Masterlu]

Interesting to hear your impressions of Chyro vs Non-Chyro.

[rlw3]

Went back and substituted 2 out of four of the chryo 120's, then 1 out of four with non chryo 120's in each premier 12 mono block. Had hoped for some excellent new synergy. Did not work in either case. It just muddied the sound and caused any improvement brought by the chryoes to be greatly diminished. I plan to get my non chryoed 120's sent back for the chryo treatment. Might do that with 6550's also

[sashafan]

i m using convergent amps and need some recommendation of 6550 tubes.

thanks for help

[rlw3]

Happy new year Sashafan,
If you havent gotten a good answer to your 6550 question may i suggest you start your own thread? i think you will get better replies that way
Input and driver tubes are considered more important to sonics than power tubes by many on this site.
best of luck, ray

[rlw3]

Having set up my rig with chryo power tubes in the amp recently with non chryo input and driver tubes and my long term reference of chryo 6h30s in my cj preamp i did some comparisons of chryo and non chryo 6n1p's in my art audio phono. i have been more happy with my cd performance for a long time. i believe i do not have optimal synergy between my koetsu and my graham arm. Never the less i found the chryo to improve dynamics a lot.
When i changed back and forth between chryo's and non chryos in my preamp i found that when the chryos were put in i had to turn down all the bias pots on my mono blocks. Seems the chryos pass a higher signal level.
In summary the chryos add a lot of speed,make the speakers and walls disappear better which i like a lot. Downside is less warmth which is also desired.Seems you can once again choose between speed and warmth-a typical trade off.
I hope to get some old 6550s chryoed to see what that will do vs chryoed kt120s
happy new year

[jostber]

Would like to get some chryoed tubes myself. Where did you buy yours and how was they chryoed?

[rlw3]

Bought my chryo tubes from Ken Chait "the tubeman" in florida. chryo questions best directed to Ken who has been a pleasure to deal with.

[jostber]

More on chryo treated tubes:

https://www.tubeworld.com/kuhltube.htm#

[rlw3]

great (very cool) article. biggest standout for me in faster transients and better treble resulting in much better drums and ability for speakers and wall to disapper a bit for the first time. like running a car with aviation fuel.