Prima Luna Dialogue Amp

[bhobba]

Hi Guys
 
I had previously heard that the new Prima Luna Dialogue Amp was pretty good:
http://www.primaluna-usa.com/product-main/dl-prem-series/dlprem-int
 
Anyway had the chance to hear it today with my new speakers.
 
It has two modes - a Triode class A mode with about 13 watts and a Ultra Linear mode at about 40 watts.
 
Heard the Ultra Linear mode first. It was OK - quite good in fact - but switched to the lower power Triode mode - clearly and obviously better - but only 13W.
 
Started playing some typical stuff like Donald Fagan - Morph The Cat.  Really good - but hey - 13w - surely that would be a problem with other stuff.  Ok - what about Rage Against The Machine - surely not.  Ok tried it - what the fook - turned it up quite loud - no problem. Now it wasn't head banging ear bleeding levels but it was as loud as I would care to take it.  Amazing.  Tried my favorites - Fever and Case Of You - very natural, relaxing, real organic sound - you simply sit there with a smile on your face and relax.  I hate to say it but I preferred it to my Arion 500's - from memory anyway.  Only one way to find out - put on the Arions.
 
Ok on they went.  Very nice smooth detailed type sound I had heard before.  But, to my ears it was outclassed by the Prima Luna - simply more natural and real sounding.  I did some very careful listening to Case Of You and a bit of distortion was noticed on the Arions that was absent on the Prima Luna.  We played it a few times - it was there.
 
There you have it - one fine amp.  Within its power rating it outclassed a state of the art digital.  And the levels you could get with that 13W was simply astonishing,
 
Next thing is to see how it goes against my Leak when it gets upgraded.
 
Thanks
Bill

[rollo]

    Pretty soon you'll have an amp museum. Just love your enthusiasm and enjoy reading your posts. So what new speakers Lenehan ??


charles

[GT Audio Works]

The prima luna stuff is great gear especially at the price
I own the Dialogue premium  pre amp and also am very pleased with its performance.

[bhobba]

So what new speakers Lenehan ??

It's his ML2 Limited.

I say they are mine but that's not quite true - they really belong to a good friend who is letting me use them while he is sorting out getting a new house.  They are sitting down at Mikes at the moment being burned in.

I was with Mike while listening to the Prima Luna.  It undoubtedly comes from his many years experience listening to speakers but he was the one that picked up on the slight bit of distortion in the Arions.  I didn't hear it, but he did. We played it back a few times and I heard it.  It was small - but it was there.

Mate this type of thing is WAY fun.

But I have to say the Prima Luna was a HUGE shock.  First that it could take on my Arions which are a REALLY tough nut to crack - as the GTG with those uber expensive Gryphons showed.  Secondly it was a standard commercial product.  In my experience the best products are made by the small guys like Mike Kalellis (sorry Mike if I spelled your surname wrong) with the Arions.

Also my Arions only have a couple of hundred hours on them - Mike K says they really need 500 hours at least so the comparison will need to be repeated.  Still that the Prima Luna stood up to it was a surprise.

I rang the guy whose upgraded Leak so impressed me and he said he may be able to bring it over for a comparison.  He is also building my long awaited Killer DAC, which has now been competed, and will be 'tuned' over the Christmas/New Year period.  He may be able to bring that on over as well.  

Watch out for some posts about the Killer - it is a very special DAC, hand built and tuned to each persons system using the legendary Phillips Double Crown chips.  I have been waiting yonks for it - over 18 months.

Of course both amps (the Arions and Prima Luna) are worthy of any audiophiles attention to seek out and audition.

Thanks
Bill

[bhobba]

For you Stereophile guys there is a review of this amp in the latest edition.

Thinks its one of the 4 or 5 best sounding amps he has ever heard - and the amps he listed eg the $32k Lamm - Oh my.

At the price of this thing - what a steal.

Almost a must audition I would say.

Thanks
Bill

[BobM]

EL34's tend to be very euphonic. 6CA7's (usually an easy substitute with some rebiasing) tend to be more extended overall, but not as palpable. Not sure how a KT88 or KT120 option would change the sound.

[Response Audio]

Its all about tubes. Im sure you had some distortion, in fact probably more but tubes are much more graceful about it. Solid state just goes to crap when it distorts to a point where you can actually hear it. Plus its a different type of distortion.
While I don't use tube output stages any longer, I will never leave tubes out of the path somewhere. I tried.......didn't do it for me. Now that we have some new tube stages coming out, I see a lot more tubes in my system very soon. Just not in a way one would expect.