@jjss49
Thank you for your input!
Thank you for your input!
Prema luna Prolog 5 replacement power tubes (KT88)
Hi folks. long time no talk.
The symptom:
My brother in law owns a Prema Luna Prolog 5 power amp. I suspect that one of his tubes has a vacuum leak. The tube will fill up with a blue flame, then burn off the escaped gas then send a loud pop through the speakers when the escaped gas is burned off.
The question:
Im looking for a replacement output tube for this piece. I doubt Prema Luna makes their own tubes eventhough the tubes are branded with their logo. I suspect that the tubes are made in China. Does anyone know who manufactures the tubes for Prema Luna, or does anyone have a recommendation on replacement KT88's that sound as good or better than the OEM tubes? Oh and of course he is not looking to go to deep into his pockets. I was considering a set of Gold Lions or Mallards which are in the $200-$250 price point for a set of 4 matched.
Thanks in advance
-Keith
The symptom:
My brother in law owns a Prema Luna Prolog 5 power amp. I suspect that one of his tubes has a vacuum leak. The tube will fill up with a blue flame, then burn off the escaped gas then send a loud pop through the speakers when the escaped gas is burned off.
The question:
Im looking for a replacement output tube for this piece. I doubt Prema Luna makes their own tubes eventhough the tubes are branded with their logo. I suspect that the tubes are made in China. Does anyone know who manufactures the tubes for Prema Luna, or does anyone have a recommendation on replacement KT88's that sound as good or better than the OEM tubes? Oh and of course he is not looking to go to deep into his pockets. I was considering a set of Gold Lions or Mallards which are in the $200-$250 price point for a set of 4 matched.
Thanks in advance
-Keith
9 responses Add your response
primaluna tubes are rebranded shuguang chinese tubes upscale kevin deal is also primaluna so he would be the logical source primaluna amps run relatively modest bias currents in power tubes so they are not super picky with tubes used... you can buy matched sets of chinese or russian tubes of various types from a variety of vendors - am sure you know that these amps have a variety of features that allow much flexibility in tube usage |
@hgeifman From what I understand the Prima Luna amps are auto biasing. This is what Upscale audio recommends when rolling the tubes in the Prima Luna: "In KT88's the most common is the Electro Harmonix which is great, the Mullard re-issue and Gold Lion re-issue which in essence are the same tube and are superb." So I was pretty much in the ball park as I was considering telling him to go with the Gold Lions. thanks again. |
FYI: “When installing fresh power tubes, you have to remember that your old tubes likely required less negative bias to maintain the same idle current as they aged. Before plugging in your fresh set of power tubes, you may want to adjust the bias the so the reading on your meter is lower before plugging in the new tubes! This is a very important step. If you have the bias setting turned up too high (technically the negative bias is too low, causing your meter to read a higher number), it may let the tubes get away from you once the amp is on. In some amps, this can result in a burnt fuse. or worse yet, a burnt resistor. If your amp uses a cathode or auto-biasing circuit, then you don't have to sweat this step, but if you adjust bias manually it is very important” The above is from Kevin’s website |
Please call Kevin at Upscale audio. He is the distributor for Prima Luna and has a great selection of tubes. Please tell him your price range so he an make a recommendation. https://upscaleaudio.com https://upscaleaudio.com/collections/vacuum-tubes https://upscaleaudio.com/pages/tube-basics-and-frequently-asked-questions |
