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
tablejockey
4,095 posts
 

"You have some great gear, search for NOS EL 34’s, more warmth than any new production tube."

The OP just dropped $2K on tubes.

It's a little late now.

Since RCA 6L6 Blackplate was mentioned earlier, this is what to get instead

https://www.tubedepot.com/products/350b-we?srsltid=AfmBOorxrgtndagEtJ5kZf1uBJw_sB7yuPuQSFqwZauGkYJB8kNUx7q5

charles007100
113 posts
 

I want a well built speaker cabinet, something beautiful to look at not drivers looking back at me with no grill and hell nothing in the back at all, wires and the back of the drivers not covered..for that kind of money..no thanks..

you fell is a bottomless pit with no way out..

whyrichard OP
46 posts
 

I’ll see if the ray tubes unlock the sound i am yearning for. I got the PL amp for a song from a family member, and it triggered a bunch of upgrades throughout my system… I have never been able to listen to a proper 300 b system but the way they are described sounds perfect and may be the path forward… we will see. 

 

I was frustrated with power tubes going out frequently, and spending days diagnosing a tube with distortion… i wanted something dependable and replaceable without drama… i have a young family and want to spend my time listening rather than hunting down old tubes. Hopefully the RAY tubes fits the bill… the ray tubes are expensive, but are rated for 10k hours. The GL in comparison are rated for 2k hours… so the price difference made sense to me. 

 

Thank you all for the saucy and sage advice!

 

r.

sns
4,101 posts
 

Best advice on this thread. Get a 300B SET if you want an amp that sounds like a 300B SET. Nothing more, nothing less. Various topologies and output tubes have unique presentations, trying to homogenize this is a hopeless cause.

kennyc
2,106 posts
 

Not sure if the OP is looking for an amp or integrate, but I picked up a used Coincident Frankenstein 300b mono blocks - high-value sold direct with plenty of very positive reviews from a long established company.  

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