Genalex valves

[WOStantonCS100]

These are what we're talking about, right...

[Haselsh1]

They are indeed...! The very ones.

[Ali Tait]

What 84's are you using at the moment? The Gold Lions are good but not cheap. Have a look on eBay for EL84M, I have found them equally as good if not better, and they are far cheaper.

I'm talking about the Sovtek ones BTW.

[Haselsh1]

Well, as indicated, I bought a matched quad of Genalex 'Gold Lion' EL84's and they arrived today having been ordered yesterday. I put them in the amp and fired it up but only gave it half an hour warm up as I wanted to get stuck into listening. The CD I used was 'Guilty' by Hugh Cornwell and the most immediate thing was the smoothness of the upper mid and treble. These things are so much more natural than the original Chinese EL84's. The tambourine has lost all of its brittle metallic edge as have the vocals even after just a half hour warm up.

Stereo imaging side to side is much louder and stronger than before but the depth hasn't increased any over the Gold Lion 12AX7 and 12AU7's that I put in previously. Midrange, especially lightly overdriven guitar is stunning whilst vocals sound extremely transparent. The increase in levels of detail now remind of my Croft pre/power combo from 2009 but bass hasn't improved that I can tell at first listen.

Worth ninety quid...? Well I'm not sure. The increase gained by ninety quids worth of pre valves was astonishing but the difference gained by the power valves is much more subtle. I am pleased though that I now have a full set of such good valves.

[Haselsh1]

The treble now reminds me of Audiolab 8000M's being very smooth but very sharply etched. I need to do a lot more listening to be honest, I'll post more when I have more.

[AlexM]

I have always thought that the small signal valves tend to make a more significant contribution to the sound than the power valves. I have used the Genelex re-issue KT-88s in my Rogue Stereo 90, and found them to be a big improvement over the supposedly identical Electro-Harmonix KT-88, which aren't a bad valve at in themselves. IN my old pre-amp I found the EH 6SN7 gold pin types to perform very well and they sound very clear, but there was sometimes a slight impression of treble hardness on some recordings. I'd be interested to try some of the Genelex 6SN7s in my power amp to see if they are an improvement.

It would be interesting to know what differentiates them in detail - the internal structure of the Genelex and EH KT-88s are identical as far as I can tell, but the coatings may be different and the Genelex KT-88s have a double getter for longer life.

Recommended, but they are somewhat pricey and there are plenty of NOS alternatives to try.

Regards,
Alex

[Haselsh1]

Genalex Gold Lion EL84 quad set

Tom Jones, Praise and Blame

OK so I wasn’t too impressed with these valves on first listen so here goes again.

These valves sound bright. The treble is very sharp and finely etched as is the upper midrange but this gives a great feeling of detail and presence with a helluva lot of detail being uncovered and laid bare. The sound is not tiring or fatiguing as is often the case with an over emphasized top end it is merely a little fresh sounding.

The midrange is excellent with a fantastic amount of detail on show and a much louder and stronger sense of left/right stereo image. Do not get the impression that these valves produce a warm and cuddly valve sound, they simply do not. They produce a bright breezy sound which is quite different to anything I have ever been used to.

The bass…? Well its there and it is strong and neutral with a phenomenal sense of reality. The large scale drums on ‘What Good Am I’ from the Tom Jones album are put across with such realism I have not yet heard this from any hi-fi I have ever listened to. OK, 15 Watts is never going to do a proper job of total realism but I am not talking about just volume I am talking about the ‘sound’ of a skin on a frame.

Prior to this amplifier, the finest sound I had ever heard came from a WAD 300B PP which I owned back in the nineties. This amplifier had the most astonishing level of ‘space’ and ‘airiness’ to it’s sound which I have never heard since from any amplifier. My Icon Audio still comes nowhere near the 300B PP but where it beats that amplifier hands down is in sheer foot tapping musicality which the 300B never had. The Icon Audio now sounds a lot stronger than the WAD with a much more forceful sound. I’m really not sure which I prefer but this is largely irrelevant as I sold the 300B around Y2K and I now have the Stereo 20 PP which is a permanent fixture in my system. Back in 2009 I owned a Croft pre/power combo but this has been greatly superceded by the Icon Audio which is now better in almost every sense. The way the EL84’s now separate the layers of volume in the mix is something that the Croft could never do. The Croft merely made Tom Jones sound far too loud and raucous with everything being in front of the speakers. The Icon Audio lays everything so far back with the rightful instrument taking up its rightful position.

So, do I think these valves are worth it now…?

These valves are staggering and if you have £100 laying around I wholeheartedly recommend them. In fact they are better than this. Words fail me.