Integrated Amp Reviews

It flowed for me in much the same way I think the Evo 400 did for you.

Or I assume it was more complex than that..?

Enjoyed the mentions of Mesa Baron and Jolida. A Jolida was the first tube amp I heard, back in college. And I still use Mesa, but for my flying V not for hifi.

I don't find tubes to be that tricky, but it's true that some work better for some purposes than others (echoing Kevin Deal's comment). For 12AU7s in my preamp I have NOS Telefunken and a bugle boy, and for unknown reasons, the music sounds more alive with the bugle boy in the gain stage and the tele as cathode follower. I have Psvanes in a smaller setup, but my ears prefer the NOS tubes from reputable sellers (not ebay), especially for line-stage amplification.

Thanks for the thoughtful review Rogier. I'm just getting into the HiFi universe and am, naturally, tube-curious. Question to all: Can anyone speak to the differences in sound of the 400 as compared to the other PM integrated amps down the food chain? 300, 200, etc.? I prioritize sound-stage and transparency and never play loud. Wondering if the same sound signature that Rogier described can be had by stepping down the line. Thank you in advance!

I thought that the size of the compact disc was chosen so that it was possible to fit Beethoven's 9th symphony on one disc.

He said the HOLE in the center of the disc, not the disc itself.

PS -- Love this amp. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. My balm during The Lockdown.

Got one from Upscale for the livingroom. The sound is inviting, relaxed and PRaTful. I prefer 4 ohms. Made a very friendly pairing with Spendor Classic 1/2's.

Hi

Why not? Anything made in China will cost much less than made-in-original-country. "World-class" or not is another story.

China is a popular OEM for audios nowadays. So tempting for good profit in selling more quantities for lower pricing due to low cost built offshore. Business is business, no charity !

Jack L

Did the PrimaLuna have any difficulty driving the Martin Logans to realistic volume levels? After all, they are not the most efficient speakers, especially with the cone drivers below. I am asking because I drive mine with a Krell amp, which is fine, but I am curious to try tubes.

Hi Rogier

I fully agreed to what you heard about PL in triode mode. This sorta 'smoothing' effect has been the typical sonic downside of trioding pentode/tetriode in so many brandname triode-pentode power amps since day one decades back.

This is the historic conventional simple trioding topology employed by most most, if not all, brandname tube amps manufacturers worldwide. It is done by striping the screen grid (G2) to the anode of the pentode/tetrode in the power output stage, directly or indirectly using a serie low-ohm resistor.

Such simple trioding connection puts the screen grid operating the SAME voltage of the plate. This simple & no-cost triode-pentode mode serves a good selling feature for those triode fan lovers, like your truly.

Yet, sonically it makes the orginal punchy forceful sonics of pentode power amp sounds slow, dull like a leaking tire. That's exactly what you called "it takes the edge off" smoothing effect.

That being the case, why install this trioding feature onto the PrimaLuna amp then ? As a sales feature ignoring/without knowing such bad sounding triode effect ?????

Triode power tube always sounds much better than any pentode/tetrode: fast, transparent, silky & melodic. This is due to the signal transfer curves of a triode being linear vs kinked non-linear transfer curves of a pentode/tetrode, e.g. EL-34 etc. This is physics !!!! That's why so many music lovers like true triode music, including me, needless to say.

Despite your pre-review sales pitch for the Dutch designer, it does not change the sonic pitfall the conventional historic trioding pentrode topology he employed. Either he did not do auditioning of his PrimaLuna triode mode prototype enough or he simply took it for granted.

FYI, since I love true triode sound, I spent enough time to experiment the right topology for good triode sound out of a pentode/tetrode, e,g, EL-34 etc. Mainly for economy reason, as triodes, like 300E, 2A3 are very expensive to own , not-that-durable as pentodes & require much more costly complex circuitry.

Instead of the no-cost conventional 'no-brainer' trioding the pentode, the screen grid G2 is connected to the plate of the pentode, e.g. EL-34 etc, BUT with a stabilized potential difference betwen the screen grid & the plate of certain 'optimum' value.

So the trioded pentode is working like a triode BUT with a stablized potential difference between the plate & the screen grid G2.

The sonic improvement is realy rewarding: the pentode now sound like a true triode: silky, elegant & melodic like a true triode, yet retaining the transient, punchy & forceful sonic of a pentode. A sonic combination of both a triode & pentode !!!

My vintage Dynaco ST-70 has been ungraded to switchable triode/ultra-linear mode, using such "plate-G2 split potential' topology for many years now. No sweat! Yet I always set it to triode mode as it sounds soo much better than its factory orginal UL mode.

Listening is believing

Jack L

Testify brother. But it's not for every person or every situation. That's why the Triode / Ultralinear switch is on the remote. I use triode at night because of what you said. The house becomes relaxed.

And by the way, females often prefer triode because they have more sensitive hearing than men do.