Preferred Series KT88 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched)
Need matched power tubes? Don't worry! Price includes matching in any quantity you need for no extra charge. Need a matched pair? Just order "2" tubes. For a matched quad order "4" tubes. Matched sextets and octets are available as well.Our Preferred Series KT88 vacuum tube is a versatile high quality tube. It is very musical and with a frequency range balanced from top to bottom. It has a strong detailed bass and smooth highs, with the mids slightly warm yet still detailed. The soundstage is wide and deep. The Preferred Series KT88 power tube construction features a solid plate design and triple getters.
We have been working at sourcing a good quality KT88 tube for the past couple years. This KT88 has excellent quality and for the price is one of the best KT88 in production today. Our years of experience in testing, rating and listening, combined with customer feedback and knowledge were used to give you the best tube value we can provide. These are tubes that consistently provide us with positive customer feedback.
This tube is also sold as or known as Penta KT88SC or KT88-SC tube.
The Preferred Series KT88 tubes carry a 6 month extended warranty.
Wholesale pricing: Is available on 25 pairs or more. Contact us for pricing.
Other Preferred Series tubes
KT88 Tube TypesAdditional Information and Downloads
Tube Matching Information:
Power Tube Matching FAQ
Perfect Pair System
Warranty Information and Return Policy
Warranty Period: 6 monthsPreferred Series tubes have a 6 month warranty from date of purchase. (Any exceptions will be noted on that tube's Warranty tab)
If you receive a tube that does not perform to the manufacturer's specifications, please do the following:
- contact us to get a return authorization
- return it via regular mail within 180 days from when we shipped it, and we will provide an exchange or refund of the full purchase price of the tube.
Returns not related to warranty or defect will be considered at our discretion, and are subject to a 15% restocking fee.
We can not accept returns that don't have an authorization, are past 6 months, or are returned improperly.
These guidelines may be updated without notice.
Ratings & Reviews
23 reviews
Preferred Series KT88 | What I'd hoped for
by Mark K -
I bought a matched set of PS KT-88s for my Lab 12 Integre4 integrated amp. It came stock with KT-150s which was fun but I found it to be a bit bright and euphonic. It felt a little like I was sitting inside the tube!
While I don't have any other experience with KT-88s in general let alone in this amp I am happy with the PS KT-88s. The sound is clear and linear with plenty of texture through the mids and lower frequencies. Overall the presentation is very smooth with great PRaT. And just on the warm side of neutral. Soundstage seems good and sometimes the speakers even disappear but my room is problematic as far as that's concerned.
I would be curious to try other brands in the future as a comparison. Yet I can't find anything about the PS KT-88s to be lacking. In fact, of my 3 integrated amps (a SS, a EL-84 and this KT-88) I find this to be by far the clearest, most balanced, textured and insightful of the bunch.
Preferred Series KT88 | Outstanding
by Terry -
I really like these Preferred Series KT88 in my AricAudio Transcend P/P amp. They are a "goldilocks" tube. A touch of warmth in the mids, good highs, powerful bass.Right in between the Genelex and TungSol KT120. Excellent value.
Preferred Series KT88 | An excellent substitute for Tung Sol KT-120s
by Rob D -
These Preferred Series KT88 tubes exceeded expectations. I use these in my Rogue ST-100 amp as replacements for the now incredibly expensive/difficult to find Tung Sol KT-120 tubes the amp was designed to use, and let me just say that I was expecting a downgrade in power output but these tubes truly deliver.
There is a great sense of soundstage precision, excellent bass and excellent midrange. The higher frequencies are there but no as extended as I remember. The higher frequencies seem more natural now.
Even if the KT-120s become available again I doubt I will be switching back. I tried a quad of Psvane KT88-T Classic MKII tubes in my Rogue St-100 and they kept burning through tube fuses and causes weird biasing issues.
I recommend these Preferred Series KT88's over the Psvanes in Rogue amps. These have been rock solid since day 1.
Preferred Series KT88 | Preferred Series vs Gold Lion KT88.
by Sam
I bought these for Primaluna Dialogue Premium Integrated amp 3 years ago. From the get go didn't care for them. Too much detail and brightness. Unlistenable almost unfortunately. Couldn't even stand to even let them break in.
Fast forward to now. Buddy of mine let me borrow his MC275 while on vacation. I've listened to this amp extensively for the past month with Gold Lion KT88. Honestly this is the smoothest most unfatiguing amp I've heard. With that I thought hey lets liven it up with the Preferred Series KT88. I do have to say they sound better in this amp however, not near as euphonic as the Gold Lions. Bass is very good but overall disappointed with the overall presentation. Hearing some sibilance not present with the GL. Maybe they need more break-in and trying to be totally fair but they aren't living up to the price. The Gold Lions are a much better value and better tube sonically. Your mileage may vary.
Note from thetubestore.com: Like most KT88 tubes, a break-in period of 50 to 100 hours of music-playing time is required for best results and recommended before critical listening is considered.
Preferred Series KT88 | Better than stock.
by Muzza
My VTL S400 auto-biasing amp was suffering from failing, VTL supplied and tested EH 6550s. In the space of 2,000 hours I had six faults with a total time on the amp of 2,300 hours, 3,000 hours being the suggested life expectancy. The local VTL distributor strongly advised against non-VTL replacements, although the VTL tubes used as replacements were the ones that were failing.
After great correspondence with Jon, who reassured me there would be no issues, I bought 16x PS KT88s, 12x for the amp and 4x spares.
They arrived via FedEx earlier this week. With some trepidation I installed all 12x, reset a few things and voila, it all burst onto life.
Music is different, and better, than the 6550s. More texture and better clarity, particularly in the bass. Depth imaging is slightly improved, and the sound seems to hang together better. More emotion is coming through. This may be a function of new tubes (less than 30x hours on them), but colour me extremely happy.
Thanks Jon!