Quicksilver Silver 88 Mono's

Randy Myers

Randy Myers

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I just got my one amp back from Mike Sanders. It had a hum that could be heard through the speaker in between songs. Mike found a bad capacitor and replaced it. All is well now.

This set of mono amplifiers are spectacular sounding. They are definitely taking over as my main stay amps :)....

Very open and smooth sound. Incredibly detailed, and what a sound stage. They seem like an excellent match with the KEF's. All and all my new favorite amps.
 
Trying my Gold Lion KT88 tubes. They sound very good in the amps. The KT150's might have had a bit more air, but the differences are very subtle. Got to really listen between them. The bias is quite different between these tubes.
 
Awesome Randy, glad everything is working properly and sounding awesome.
 
Thanks Rob. Enjoying the amps.

Ok, doing some experimenting; the KT150's sound better then the KT88's. More open, more definition, more air around instruments... so decided to try another experiment. Bi-amping...

The Quicksilver powering the HF with the Kimber Kable wires... the ARC... 45-50 wpc versus the QS at 80-90 watts... but the ARC uses XLR inputs while the QS use SE. I have a set of Monster's top cable with gold bananas... so the ARC doing LF chores... watcha think? Seems to sound fantastic... oh, have the KEF sub assisting on the low end also... 150 watt mono amp....

Next test will be putting the Gold Lions back in the ARC...

Thoughts, suggestions....
 
You need to make sure the gain of the amps is identical. Otherwise you will have an imbalance between treble and bass of the speakers. Plus XLR will be approximately double the output of the RCA compounding volume mismatch even more.
 
Exactly... that is what I was thinking. The QS have about 40% - 50% power over the ARC, but the ARC is on XLR, making up for a majority of that difference... plus the bottom end being assisted by the sub... seems fairly balanced... and I am not a bass hound... but want openness, clarity, etc.

Think I am pushing the amps too much?
 
You need to see the gain specification, not the overall power spec. It doesn't work like that.
 
Well shoot... can't find the gain specs in the amps... probably should just go back to having the Quicksilver powering the KEF's in full range... oh well, it was just for playing around sake anyway :)...
 
Randy

The input sensitivity for the VT-50 is 1.95 volts and for the Quickie's 1 v, so nowhere close. You are going to need an electronic crossover to do what you propose correctly. The Quicksilver amps should be more than sufficient on their own.
 
Yea, it was just an experiment anyway. I went back to the QS by themselves. Thanks for the input... love to try things, but again another area learning how all this crazy stuff works :)...

Was kind of funny how much heat was coming from the rack with all those tubes amps cranking away... of course, never pushed them hard, just experimenting :D...
 
I had a pair of Quickie Silver Monos in my big setup a number of years back. I keep them more out of nostalgia than use. I have tried the Gold Lion KT88's and think they are the best tube I have used in them.
 
Yea, the Gold Lion are very good. I am thinking the KT150 may be the best tube I have heard however.... think I have to put the KT88 back in again for a couple days just to see...
 
I did a bit more comparing. The Gold Lion KT88 sound suburb in the Quicksilver amplifiers. And if I did not have a set of KT150's sitting here I am sure I would be very happy with them. I know they are an improvement in the Audio Research amplifier that I have.

But, compared to the 150's; the KT88 have a tad boomier bottom end... the KT150's are tighter and appear to extend to a slightly lower range. But the real difference is in the mid-range. Vocals are more open, airier if you will. Just more present, and I don't mean louder, just sound more natural. There are more details on individual instruments. Everything seems more present and more distinct at the same time. High frequencies are out of this world. I cannot put my finger on all of the exact difference as of yet, but one thing for sure is that the KT150's just sound more inviting to me, especially on vocals, jazz, etc.

I would imagine that if I was in the mood to rock out the KT88's might possibly be a better choice. That subtle boom, the less detail but more in your face mids. More rocky... I would venture to say more solid state sounding while the KT150's, to me, are more open and warm sounding.
 
KT 88's do everything right but don't excel at anything, vanilla. KT 150's take everything to the next level for me & would prefer them, many flavours.
 
That sounds like a good assessment. Compared to the 6550's in my ARC the KT88's were a very nice improvement... but in the Silver 88's the 150's are something else.
 
I have been running some more listening tests. In my Silver 88 amps I am starting to think the KT150 might be too aggressive... hmm, does that make sence? Almost a bit of a biting edge.

It might very well be that the Quicksilver were designed around the 88s. Both 150s and 88s are mentioned in the manual, but with a name 88 I got to think the 88s were at the heart if the design.

Anyway, the more I listen the more I appreciate the smoothness of the Gold Lion tube. I guess it is nice to have the option of being able to switch back and forth and having a different sound flavor :)....
 
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