PrimaLuna Evolution Series

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Jeremy B., Mar 26, 2019.

  1. Mike _O

    Mike _O Active Member

    Location:
    london ontario
    Well just wanated to jump back in for an update to my situation.... in speaking with my local dealer ( for me that would be Vinyl Sound in Toronto) we discussed all the options, Daniel ( the owner) was very informative, great to deal with as well offered me a deal I could not pass up... long story short I have a brand new EVO 400 Integrated coming next week! I could not be any more excited!!! Just a note for any of you Canadian audiophiles that may be interested in a new PL I would definately reccommend getting in touch with Daniel at Vinyl Sound....
     
  2. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Congrats on your new evo 400. Please let us know after you test driven your new machine.
     
  3. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Hi there,
    got the primaluna today and still assembling it. for some reason the speaker output is rejecting my banana plug. is this a different output plug or is there a way how to connect this? As soon as I connect it together Ill test it and give you guys a heads up between the yaqin and this.
    Thanks,
    Joe
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Hi just curious how did you connect your primaluna speaker wires. its rejecting my banana plug.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2020
  5. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Finally connected. Surprisingly this little monster sounds like it has some muscle too. Far too early to tell yet comparing to my old yaqin but so far its pumping. I haven't installed my favorite tube yet the kt88. Ill let it sit for a few days then take it from there. Ill keep you posted and thanks, Joe

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. HiFi Guy

    HiFi Guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lakeland, FL
    Joe,

    Give it some time. My experience was that it sounded noticeably better at 10 hours, then 100.

    The real surprise was at 8 months of very heavy use- another very noticeable jump in performance. This was totally unexpected. My guess is break in of the output transformers.
     
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  7. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Hi and thank you for the response. Yes I would just let it run the entire time and see before I make any changes or adjustment. So far its running nice. I wanna ask you something. Do you install a fan in your setup? like a computer suction cooling fan? I had it on my other amp and I was wondering if I need to do that in the primaluna.
    One thing I notice it doesn't get hot that much not like my other amp. I even biased my other amp to run slightly cooler than the norm...
    Thank you again for the input.
    I am so happy that I'm hearing a tube amp again that I can push everyday. :bdance:
     
    DryWhiteToast likes this.
  8. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA
    My Evo 400 power amp has just passed 200 hours and it’s sounding pretty nice. There’s amazing bass coming out of these EL34’s. I have Shuguang black treasure 12AU7s in the center positions...all other tubes are unchanged. I use a Don Sachs preamp with the full wave rectifier.

    The Evo series has upgraded transformers and few small circuit upgrades (a few more Takman resistors). It is designed to sound a little bit better than the Dialogue series.

    I have tried the dialogue premium power amp (100 hours) with Shuguang WEKT88 Plus and the original EL34’s sounded better to me. I auditioned the EVO 300 and 400 at Upscale Audio. They sounded very much alike.
    That said, I did not like their listening room...not bragging but my living room set up kills that room. I probably would not have bought PL if I had listened to them only in that room.

    One note on the triode mode. I have 88db Salk Songtowers. They are 4 ohm, 6 ohm nominal...not very efficient but are relatively easy to drive. The dialogue premium had no problem driving these in UL but in triode the output caved dramatically. The Evo 400 does not notice the change to triode at all...just a nice softening of the sound. I imagine YMMV if using less than 88db speakers.
     
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  9. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA
    I also heard that the Evo series has upgraded feet.
    One thing I will do is build some footers to lift the amp up a bit. It does get hot and the shelf it sits on gets pretty warm.
     
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  10. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Interesting... On you tower speakers, what size are the woofers and how many watts is total per cabinet?
    What feet? the foot or rubber foot of the amp. I haven't seen it yet.
    Thanks,
    Joe
     
  11. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA
    My Songtowers have dual 5” woofers in a transmission line cabinet. I like big woofers but took a chance on these and they have been great...they deliver great, realistic bass. They handle 100 watts per speaker.

    I have tried the 4 0hm and 8 ohm taps and I prefer the 4 ohm taps.

    I was told at Upscale that the feet on the new amps were upgraded to better handle vibration...but I haven’t read this anywhere.
     
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  12. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    I was gonna ask you if you tower speaker is ported?
    Okay that make sense on the feet for vibration. Long term.. Nice. Congratulations to your setup it sounds really promising. Send us some pics sometimes
     
  13. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA

    Speakers have rear ports.
    My setup has a large Persian rug in front of it but it’s just missing in the photo

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    the photo is not showing..
     
  15. OC Zed

    OC Zed Bludgeon Riffola

    Location:
    Costa Mesa, CA
    What didn't you like about Upscale Audio's listening room? I haven't been there yet, but was hoping to make it up there to test out DACs once the quarantine is lifted.
     
  16. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    This is where I'm missing out being in the "boonies". I use to live in Torrance and basically grew up there going to the old roger sound lab days.
    Laverne is not that much to drive where I use to be and that would be a great drive.
    That place like upland, la Puente were always been an audio place since the 80's. When stereo one warehouse first opened in there October 1986. were just just driving back and forth in there like there's no tomorrow. I kinda miss that place... Speaking of. moment of truth.. I'm gonna drop that kt88 in this little amp and see.
    :bdance:
     
  17. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA
    Classic Car Guy likes this.
  18. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA


    The listening room looks impressive. But it sounded a little dull. It could have been the speakers, which were chosen to simulate the type and load my system had, were a mismatch. There was a lot of equipment in that room and lots of framed (glazed surfaces) artwork. There was also a glass panel on the door. So I imagine there would be some smear and too lively a sound but, oddly, it almost seemed too dead...high end and low end were seemingly absent. The music sounded one dimensional.

    I will say the staff was amazing...they had the room set up for me and waiting. Very low/no pressure attitude.
    Among the best retail experience I’ve had in a long while.

    If you make it there, maybe walk around and see if you can find a better listening position.
     
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  19. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA

    Hah...I grew up in Lawndale...a few miles from Torrance. I love Torrance...great Japanese food. Although I live near Pasadena now, I’ve commuted to Torrance from 1998-2017.
     
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  20. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    You have a very good space size that I can imagine perfect for you speakers. As I can remember being u
    on your setup... You have a very good space size that I can imagine perfect for you speaker size and amp. As I can remember being use to live in Ca. La cresenta can get hot sometimes in summer so I'm with you on doing some vents on your amp..
    Lawndale... Ill be da...n. Lol.... were neighbors the. Youre talking about "todai or bennihana" . Man I miss the food in California. When I go there to visit I'm gonna bug you.. Lol..
    :bdance:
     
  21. Sandthemall

    Sandthemall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    La Crescenta, CA
    My listening room is 22’x13.5’...a little on the small side but just big enough for these speakers to sound decent.
    Yes, I know some good places to eat....a lot better than Benihana!
     
  22. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    That's a good size. pretty much my music and office room is the same 18 x 18 but the ceiling lower than the norm.. for the call this a bonus room.
    The sound is outstanding. My setup is similar to your on 1/2 the power. No subs... When I blast the amp halfway. when I go down to the 2nd room and some parts going to the dining and patio the vibration echoes down and some windows tend to vibrate.
    On the amp, from stock tubes, I actually just changed the 2 12ax7 last night and its not murmuring anymore...
    A few minutes ago, I changed the 2-12au7 to Raytheon 50's blackplate.. all of a sudden the ribbon tweeter are singing like a greedy songbird. Lol...
    Chinese to go in Los Angeles.. Lol.. They're probably on hold for business at this moment. Cant wait to get out of this. Its a good thing we have good music and which keeps us going..
     
  23. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    I just positioned my right speaker to get a balanced bass reflex with the left side. so far its flowing evenly. I should make a like a crime scene floor mark for the monitors so if I move it by accident, I know where to put it back.
     
  24. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Still running the primaluna prologue for a smooth break in. So far I have 15 hours from new which is last Friday April 24th. I'm really anxious to know the full set potential of this little amp if its gonna fit my old speaker setup undisturbed. One thing for sure this amp is super quiet. I don't hear any hiss on idle even if my old analog EQ is on or off.
     
  25. OC Zed

    OC Zed Bludgeon Riffola

    Location:
    Costa Mesa, CA
    WildPhydeaux likes this.

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