Another Hegel H390 vs H590 Thread


Hey all, I know there have been a number of h390 v h590 posts so sorry for another, but I have what I think is a unique dilemma. 

I think the general consensus  is that while the 590 is marginally better, it isn’t worth $11,000, or nearly double the price of the 390 and that the 390 is the sweet spot. 

I was just about to make the purchase of a 390 for $6K when my dealer offered me a brand new 590 for $8500. Very tempting!  What do you guys think?  Worth the extra $2500?  

(In case it helps the rest of my system is:
Speakers: Duevel Venus (omnis - very inefficient) 
TT: EAT C-sharp w/ EAT Jo. 5 cartridge and EAT E-glo petit phono pre
Music server: Innuos Zen Mk III
Int. Amp I’m moving on from: Prima Luna Dialogue HP)

mikezuk

I'm just curious and a tad off your topic but why did you decide to move away from tubes..I did a few years ago and as it's said never looked back.

Thanks Audio Troy. That’s what I thought. He’s a new Hegel dealer (actually picked them up because I asked him if he could get Hegel). I think you’re right that  he got a better price and he also dropped a bit as well because he felt that the 590 simply wasn’t worth that much of a premium over the 390. Incidentally I’ve been lurking here for a while, and I just love your posts and your information. I think it was you that caused me to buy the Innuos Zan streamer last year. Love that thing. (But I am curious how it will compare to using the Hegel streaming capability. We’ll see. 

Hi Missioncoonery, I like the primaluna a lot but there are two reasons to move on: 

1. I just replaced my Maggies (1.7i) with Duevel Venus omnis. They work ok with the prima but need more power I think. They’re fairly inefficient. 
 

2. Tube amps can’t be left on all the time. This system is in a vacation house which gets a lot of use by my adult children. More than once I’ve come back after one of them has been up here to find the amp left on for several days or even as much as a week. Ugh. It’s bad for the amp and it’s using like 500 watts continuously just sitting there doing nothing. 

I understand totally. I ran with tubes for the longest time, mainly Jadis then several other including Prima Luna for a couple years. I prefer the faster attack ,better bass control,wider sound stage I get with solid state...i was curious, thanks

The 390 is an excellent piece, but the 590 just does everything a bit better. The 390 is the sweet spot, but the 590 is worth it IMO over the 390.