Has Anyone Uesed A PrimaLuna Amp With Harbeth Speaker's

Be cautious on the amp selection for the M30.1. In my experience, Harbeth speakers can really sound like mud with the wrong amp. With the right amp they come to life and sound much energetic and livelier.

I believe it’s not a question of whether the M30.1 sounds better with tube or solid-state. Apart from the "flavor" of the amp, it’s the current or power that brings the speaker to life. The M30.1 is a more difficult speaker than the SHL5 Plus and requires more current to sound good. If Tswisla finds the SHL5+ to sound wrong with the Primaluna Dialogue Premium, chances are the M30.1 will sound even worse with that amp.

With the M30.1, you need an amp that is sufficiently powerful and able to provide the current to properly drive the speakers. Otherwise it will sound lacklustre.

upscaleaudio205 posts03-01-2018 4:45amRead Herb Reichert’s Stereophile review of the 86dB efficient Dynaudio Contour 20 with the SMALLEST $2199 PrimaLuna power amp. He stated "The combo of Dynaudio Contour 20s and PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium played all the mountain ennui and fierce forward momentum that make classic bluegrass unique in the American songbook". https://www.stereophile.com/content/dynaudio-contour-20-loudspeaker

Or the 87dB KEF Q350 where he preferred it over amps with many times more power, and higher cost. https://www.stereophile.com/content/kef-q350-loudspeaker

Or this review of Wilson Sabrinas where the 36wpc $3199 DiaLogue Premium bested the $10,000 ARC REF75SE . The reviewer said "In spite of the low absolute power, the sound was incredibly captivating and dynamics were now seemingly more expansive than with either of the big transistor amps as well as the Ref 75." http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/loudspeaker-reviews/wilson-sabrina/

I’ve had a lot of Harbeth owners use PrimaLuna and can’t think of any that were not happy off hand. If you like to play your music loud in a bigger room maybe an HP would be better, but for many people a 36 watt PrimaLuna will be fabulous.

I would never base any purchase decision of wattage. Wattage means nothing except volume. It has no effect on bass response or sound quality.

It may be your preference to not look at the amp wattage prior to a purchase but the spec is still an important factor. The main problem is most amp manufacturers have the tendency to make the figures look good on paper. It’s not entirely down to watts but the transient power from the power supply (transformer) where a robust power supply will be able to control voltage and amp swings more effectively than a lesser one.

Some amps which show higher watts on paper may sound significantly less powerful when compared to one that has a lower watt figure. Case in point, a 60 or 70W amp which sounds much more powerful than a 100W or 150W amp. When specifying power output, most amp manufacturers tend to "over-specify" the figures based on test resistors which do not reflect on real world performance. Apart from this factor, the power supply that can deliver the transient power (measured in VA) will also play a role.

In summary, I disagree with your last paragraph. In proper context, the power that is required to effectively drive the speakers is rather significant and will have bearing on sound quality. It’s not all about volume but other aspects of sound reproduction or amplifier design such as transient delivery which is influenced by slew rate and current rise times.