2. amps-preamps
  3. 195565-200780

Can I get my Prima Luna to sound more like a SET/300B?

 

Dear Audiogon community, 

 

I am ruminating on my current state of mind with this alchemy… 

 

I have spent the past year upgrading my main system to a relatively glorious state… details below and in my profile. 

 

I am at times in the sublime musical hallucination I seek. However I admittedly may be coming to the realization that the sound I yearn for in my heart may be ultimately obtained through a SET or 300B type of solution. And to get there I may need a 5-9K indulgence, in order to match the Nagra Streamer, Holo Audio DAC, and Pure Audio Project Duet Horn’s. 

 

This is something that may take a while for me to enact… 

 

SOOOO…. In the meantime…. What if anything can I do with the amp that I currently have, a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP, to obtain a completely enveloping, immediate, effortless, sublime, vivid, and delicious delivery of acoustic, jazz, classical, vocals, horns, strings, cymbals…. Sublime enveloping sensual euphoria…?? 

 

Can I get my Prima Luna to sound like a proper SET or 300B amp? Even close? 

 

Some thoughts: 

-Cap upgrade… Jupiter or Jensen or Duelund or…. 

 

-Main tubes to…. Ray? Mullard E34’s? Psvane PH or UK? Sophia Electric? 

 

(Currently I run Gold Lion KT77’s, which are very nice when they work, but their unreliability is frustrating… in 9 months two go out and one has a high frequency distortion)

 

Or should I bite the bullet and jump in to a serious amp upgrade? 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your brilliant insight… 

 

Cheers to musical alchemy. 

R. 

 

 

 

 

 

Details of my system: (brief)

    • SPEAKERS: Pure Audio Project Duet 15 Horn (Mundorf Silver Gold Oil Cap upgrade and high pass filter, Anticable 4.2 Flex Internal wire)
    • STREAMER: Nagra Streamer (Cardas Clear Coaxial)
    • DAC: HoloAudio Spring 2 Level 3 Kitsune edition (Silversmith Fidelium RCA Interconnects)
    • AMP: PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP Integrated (Gold Lion KT77 power tubes, Mullard NOS gain tubes)
    • PHONO: Music Hall MMF-9 and McIntosh MP 100 Preamp (Goldring Eroica lx cartridge)
whyrichard

Showing 1 response by whyrichard

whyrichard OP
44 posts
 

Hello all,

 

I will be spending some time combing over all the information on 300B, SET amps, and the like, and this will take some time! I am looking forward to the potential here… 

 

But yes I read through that thread and I do not disregard the Prima Luna’s potential. 

 

So, considering that my Gold Lion KT77’s are biting the dust, I would like to consider the options you all mentioned as well as ask you all if you have a sense of a few more I have come across as contemporary options:

 

-Psvane EL34PH: These seem possible as an option, though perhaps I seek something with a bit more flair…

 

-NOS RCA 6L6 Black Plates: These seem very pricey and difficult to source in quantities of 8, as my Prima Luna require…

 

-TAD Red Base EL34’s: How are these? I have heard they may surpass a mythical NOS tube… (forget which, from a Satori review of the Psvane)

 

-Ray Tubes: These seem to get written up well, though pricey…. Any personal experience with Ray tubes? 

 

-Sophia Electric: Anyone have experience with these? Supposedly great with acoustic…. 

 

THANK YOU much for your impressions… 

 

r.

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