Which tubes? My amp can except El34, 6L6, KT88, an


As stated my amp can except El34, 6L6, KT88, and 6550's. I would like to know which would give me the best sound for my system? I am running quiksilver 135 monoblocks(which require 6 of any of the previous mentioned output tubes in each amp) into Vandersteen 5's which have a built in sub and 400 watt amp for low end connected with audioquest Kilimanjaro type speaker cable. I am not familiar with the diffrent type of tubes and sonic characteristics so all help is appreciated.

ras10
Maxgain, I have the Vandys low end set a 1 with the V12i. This maybe more of a room issue than an amplifier issue. I also used a Rives setup cd and a Radio Shack sound pressure meter to adjust the multiple subs settings. I like the EL34 tubes and retubed with NOS with excellent results. Good luck
I'd also love to hear Rec's Vandys.

Didn't know about V5's crossover pulling it's signal off the output of the main amp, I thought it was line level from the preamp.

I'm running KT-90 type 3 in my SF Power One SE, and they're just starting to settle down and sound as Creeper describes above.

Question for the Vandy guys: I saw a picture from a recent
audio show with a speaker Vandersteen was calling the Signature One, which was the top section of the V5s, but
there's no mention of it on their website. Is it a real
product?
Creeper, if you wan't to do some reading about the way the powered woofer on the 5 is set up, the review in "The Absolute Sound" explains it quite well. It can be found at the Vandersteen web site. I realize after some reading myself that the Vandersteen 5 comes with the model 5, high pass filter, that goes between your amp and pre-amp.I understand that these are very transparent unlike the crappy little WX-2 supplied as a temporary filter for the 2Wq.
It is my understanding that Vandersteen is offering a upgrade to the Model Fives, there is a change in the subwoofer amplifier, crossover and the midrange driver. The upgrade is around 3800.00 depending on how recent your Fives are. This came from my local dealer after he talked to Richard Vandersteen. There may be other changes as well, I only had the chance to talk with him briefly and probably didn't get all the information.
I can say that the Electro-Harmonix 6550 outperform both the Svetlana 6550 and Svet KT-88 in both my Rogue Tempest, and in the Cary SLI-80 Signature. They sounded cleaner top to bottom. The Svet KT88 had a bit more warmfuzzy in the mids, but you definately heard the fuzzy.
Based on the Super sound of the Electro Harmonix 6550, and the stellar review of their EL-34 in Vacuum Tube Valley, I picked up a matched quad from the the tube store for less than $50...
EL 34 tubes are supposed to have less bass than their big-bottle counterparts, but I gotta say, these things sound GREAT. Note, that my Rogue is auto bias, and is made for the 6550/kt88, so the EL-34 tubes are being run much hotter than is ideal for tube life, which certainly affects sound, but if they sound this good run hard, I can only imagine what they might sound like properly biased.

If you're going to try 6550s, the Svetlanas are super cheap, sound most neutral. I prefer the ElectroHarmonix, and hadn't heard of the aforementioned compatability issues, but I digress. Svetlana KT88s are pretty good, too.
Come to think of it, Svet El34s are cheap and good, too. As I said, I prefer the EH tubes...

HOWEVER
I can't believe, even though you didn't ask for it, that I'm the first one to suggest that the smaller tubes in your amps are much more likely to affect sound quality than the output tubes.

THis thread has pretty much covered the bases, regarding power tubes... what kind of "little tubes" does your amp use???