PrimaLuna Amplifiers(or other suggestions)

Randy

$59 is pretty much the going rate unless you catch a sale. If you buy from www.tubestore.com or the like at least you avoid the 10% Ca. sales tax.

Most of the Primaluna/Mystere gear is manufactured by Melody. In fact the Mystere line looks a lot like the Melody stuff.
 
Have you considered Cary Audio for a tube amp? They make some nice gear and its made in the USA. I have only owned a Cary DAC and its build quality was great.
 
Thank you. Not one I have considered, but when time comes I might. Definitely appreciate any and all suggestions...
 
Randy, I'll put it this way. With my very positive experience owning the PrimaLuna HP Integrated amp, I traded in my McIntosh C2300 preamp and MC601 mono amps for the PrimaLuna Dialogue Preamp and Dialogue HP mono amps. My system has never sounded better.
 
Mechnutt said:
Have you considered Cary Audio for a tube amp? They make some nice gear and its made in the USA. I have only owned a Cary DAC and its build quality was great.
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I have owned a number of Cary products. Build quality is good and sound is very nice. A little more "old fashioned" tube sound as compared to PrimaLuna. My big gripe was the maintenance. They ran thru tubes very quickly and keeping on top of the biasing was a pain in the tookus. One time a tube went out and took a driver of my Sonus Faber speakers with it. I found them to be too unreliable to own long term.

The PrimaLuna gear is EASY to own. No biasing and as they are easy on tubes, the tube life is greatly extended.
 
Thank you for the input Kevin. As someone who grew up in Binghamton I have always had McIntosh on the brain. However, with research in their current product line I tend to agree with your assessment. The PrimaLuna stuff is starting to really look like a winner...

My current thought, goal if you will, is to get one primary amplifier. The Audio Research is a fantastic amplifier, and recently refurbished with brand new tubes from ARC, will make someone an amazing amp. At this point I am thinking I am too old, too green behind the ears with tubes, which ever you want to label it, to deal with it's re-biasing if I ever want to play around rolling tubes. Granted, it is not that difficult, but at this point in time I don't feel like messing with it. Of course it is good to know that the current tubes from ARC have less than 200 hours on them, so with my limited play on it they may last for years and years :).... I would consider selling it for what I paid for it a few months ago, but I certainly would not loose money on it since there is no desperate need to get rid of it :)...

I am thinking that I may keep the First Watt for the time being since it is such a sweat sounding amplifier... but if whatever replacement I get fits the bill.... who knows...
 
I just switched the speaker cables back to the Audio Research. Dam this is a great sounding amplifier also. Not quite the definition as the FW, but it has all kinds of balls and so smooth... Maybe got to roll with the tubes a bit here.
 
I have been seriously thinking about these actually... I assume I will have to re-bias, I know not really hard, but a pain none the less.
 
Yes you will but to the same bias point and since the other tubes were pretty much new when you got it they shouldn't be far off. It is worth the effort to hear the difference and if you don't want to do the Genelax tubes there are others that are cheaper and used by many with good result. Most all of the current brands are produced in just a couple of factories in Russia or China.
 
The way I see it Jack, if you are gonna spend the money might as well get the Golden Lions :)...

Will the KT88 actual give a little more power?
 
I agree but there are other options out there that some people think are just as good. I've had good luck for example with JJ and Valve Art.
 
Randy Myers said:
I have been seriously thinking about these actually... I assume I will have to re-bias, I know not really hard, but a pain none the less.
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Randy.......Setting the bias for each pair of power tubes in the Audio Research VT50 is simple providing you have a digital multimeter capable of reading 65mVDC (0.065 volts DC), preferably one with insulated alligator clip options for the meter's test leads. Clip your meter leads on either side of the 0.5 ohm resistor at the points labeled TEST POINTS, then energize the amplifier and allow it to come up to normal operating temperature. Using a small plastic tip screwdriver make tiny adjustments to the blue potentiometer labeled BIAS ADJUST. The meter reading of 0.065 volts DC is the correct value for the 6550 power tubes. You may want to contact Audio Research to verify if that same bias voltage is used with KT88's. Repeat this procedure for the other output channel. Be sure the amplifier is turned off before clipping the meter's test leads to the resistor or removing the test leads from the resistor. There is 420 volts at the test points. That voltage can be lethal.


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I have all of the above and have successfully done biasing on the amp. It just is a process... I know it is not that difficult, but is certainly is a process.
 
Yea, this is one of the reasons I have been investigating PrimaLuna. Tubes that are not a pain and support virtual any tube out there...
 
Randy Myers said:
Yea, this is one of the reasons I have been investigating PrimaLuna. Tubes that are not a pain and support virtual any tube out there...
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Randy.......You made a comment earlier about not being too excited about gear made in China. I held that same feeling for many years. In the past ten years there has been a major shift in the quality of goods coming from China. This includes audio equipment, especially gear that is designed and engineered in the USA, Canada, the UK, and in the case of PrimaLuna, Holland, then assembled in China factories. With rigorous oversight and testing, high quality internal parts, and ingenious design PrimaLuna has brought to our shores some truly amazing audio components. When I auditioned the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amplifier and wrote a review several years ago I found my "Made in China" bias fade away. The PrimaLuna integrated amplifier was meticulously manufactured to a very high standard. The overall craftsmanship was excellent as is evident in the photos earlier in this thread. The performance was well above its price point. I was impressed. Things get even better when one moves up the product line to the PrimaLuna DiaLogue preamp and HP amplifiers. These are serious audio components worthy of considerable attention. That they also continue to deliver performance well above their price points makes them strong contenders in any sound system. Where they are actually assembled has become a non-issue in my opinion.
 
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