For those interested in the PrimaLuna Prologue One

Aks434, "From Newbee's mail it sounds for serious listening Primaluna is not adequate." Whether it is adequate or not depends on your expectations, your speakers, and your wallet. FWIW, I just took a 3 week vacation, came back and turned on the One and was floored by how beautiful it sounded - sort of wondered why I even needed my other stuff. If I didn't have it I probably wouldn't really miss the more elaborate stuff that much. I have the Three and Five as well - in comparison to the One the One is warmer/fuller in the bass and lower midrange. Not a bad thing if you have neutral to cool speakers or room. Overall, especially in view of the price, this is an excellent amp. I've also made tonal changes in the One by changing out the power and small tubes, using only current production tubes. I think that the One sounds a bit more like an older type tube amp. You might consider the Two - for a few more bucks you get a faster amp with a more detailed sound and a lot more options regarding power tube choices. FWIW, I've not heard the TAD equipment, but I'm a bit put off by the way they have been marketed.

For about the same money get a modified Jolida 102b el84 push/pull integrated from Response Audio. With the mods a very good tube amp is made into a much better amplifier. Sounds great with Lowthers, too. About a grand for a new totally modded one is my recollection. I have a stock 102b with NOS Siemens el84 tubes and it sounds awful good; good enough for serious listening if used in a quality system.

Restock, Newbee
I have not read TAS reviews but am curious what you would recommend - TAD or Primaluna?
From Newbee's mail it sounds for serious listening Primaluna is not adequate.

Click Systems under my name - it is temporarily connected in place of my regular pre-amp and amp - and I've alternated my regular speakers with Tylers Linbrook Signature System that I recently acquired.

What's the rest of the system that the PrimaLuna is in, and what did it replace in that system?

Rene, The ARC/SF combo is more refined, powerful, detailed/focused, warmer in tone and IMHO musical, throughout the whole frequency range. A comparison is really unfair though. But for casual listening the PrimaLuna is a very nice integrated amp. I bought it for a 2d system and I'm not at all disappointed. Its still not fully broken in yet and I haven't started to play with the small tubes.

Did anybody else find it strange that TAS reviews both (Primaluna and TAD/Cayin) in adjacent issues and completely fails to menton that they both are based on the same design and the same factory?

It would have really been nice if they would have compared the different amps, but that's probably asking too much of a professional hifi magazine.

Also comparing different tubes (power and small signal) in tube amp should be the minimum any reviewer should try. I didn't learn anything from either review that I have not read before here on Agon and on AudioAsylum.

Newbee, btw: how does the PrimaLuna cmpare to your sonic frontier setup?

Enjoy your new tube amp...

Rene

I'm waiting for the Prologue One vs.TAD/Cayin tube integrated showdown. The reviews on both are positve.