From Jeff Rowland to Primaluna. Yes or No?


I’m currently driving my Sonus Faber Elipsa SE with a Jeff Rowland integrated Continuum S2 (class-D, 400wpc) and I’m loving it to death. Sweet warm lush with lots of layers and resolutions but I’m kinda missing my tubey sounding .

im thinking of buying a tube amp (Primaluna Evo 400) stereo and use my Jeff as a preamp…. What will I be expecting from this combo?

Am I going backward as far as sound quality?
Thank you all

 

 

nasaman

Showing 1 response by yakbob

I went from a Jeff Rowland Model 2, to a Pass Labs XA30.5, to a Primaluna Evo 300 Power amp, currently driving a pair of Tannoy Legacy Ardens (93db sensitivity vs the SF's 91db).

I could happily live with any of these amps in my system. I don't think an Evo 400 would be a step backwards provided the drop from 400w to 70w isn't a concern for you. However, it's not a great time to be a tube swapper given the current pricing of tubes. I find the Gold Liion KT-88s and Tung-Sol KT-150s provide the best (and similar) sound in my system. A set of 8 KT-150s could set you back $1500 and they're not the most reliable tube out there. KT-88s would be a good place to start if the stock EL-34s aren't doing it for you.