Primaluna amp with Sonus Faber?

The SF’s have a bit of a nasty load around 124hz which is the bass power region, which is 4-5ohms and combined with -38 degrees of -phase shift as well. This "could" look as low as 2-3ohms to the amp.

I think to be safe and to get the very best from these speakers at that 124hz bass, this load is going to be handled better with the Mac 601’s

https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/807SFGFIG1.jpg

Cheers George

@georgehifi That is interesting. 

Can you explain in a in a little more detail. Does the primaluna amp have issues with high impendance loads?

using PL Int HP with SF Elipsa SE.   It sounds wonderful.

I would agree with George, the solid state Mac will work much better.  A tube amp delivers more power at a higher impedance.  The impedance curve of your speakers indicates your speakers will have a louder output basically from 700 to 7000 Hz.  A solid state amp delivers the power equally across the frequency spectrum.  For a linear sound with a tube amp, you need a speaker with a smooth impedance curve without any bumps or dips.

http://fritzspeakers.com/Images/speakers/Carbon7SEimpedancePhaseGraph900.jpg

 

runninkyle17 OP1 posts@georgehifi That is interesting.

Can you explain in a in a little more detail. Does the primaluna amp have issues with high impendance loads?

In a way this one does into high impedance also, as this graph shows it has a sharp rising frequency response peak from 10khz to 50khz into 8ohms, 4ohms and also the simulated speaker loads, the only time this is flattened out is into the green 2ohms load???

"Stereophile Fig.1 PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP, 4 ohm tap, triode mode, frequency response with volume control at its maximum at 2.83V into: simulated loudspeaker load (gray), 8 ohms (left channel blue, right red), 4 ohms (left cyan, right magenta), 2 ohms (green) (1dB/vertical div.)."
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/images/1214PLDPIfig01.jpg

This sharp rising peak is also shown up as a nasty overshoot on a 10khz square wave.
https://www.stereophile.com/images/1214PLDPIfig03.jpg

Cheers George

Looks like I have some more reading and thinking to do.

I know many people look at frequency response as the end all be all of audio, but in the end I will try to go with what sounds good to me.

I guess the best way for me to answer this question is to audition each piece of gear and see what I think.

Thanks everyone who chimed in. It really does help with the whole decision process. I have a feeling that I might end up with the MC601's and just get a tube pre-amp in the end :)

I know many people look at frequency response as the end all be all of audio

Tests/measurements should be looked at, as well as listened to, that's how amps are built and designed.
  
Here in Australia we had a PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP owner who was complaining about hardness in the top end.

I showed him and explained the peaking in the top end of the stereophile frequency response and square wave tests, he then put it up for sale on the same forum.
I was castigated by other PL owners for doing this, all they could say was to listen to it, graphs/tests are meaningless, and buried their head in the sand.

I then proceeded to explain how this peaking problem could be fixed, and other techs agreed that the HF peak could be eliminated, with about 1hrs work that involved the feedback network and HF filters.
  
The ones that castigated me, suddenly wanted to know what and how to do this themselves, but knowing they would be incompetent without the necessary tools, I just gave them names of very capable tube techs that were able to do it for them, because they didn't have the frequency generators and oscilloscopes needed to do the job properly and then to check what was done.

They quickly went back into castigation mode.  

Cheers George   

Will your dealer let you audition in your home? That’s how I ended up buying my PL HP integrated.

Hi George, 
just read your last post. The graphs from Stereophile are revealing. I’ll admit I’m not the best at interpreting the all data. I do know my PL HP intergrated sounds great in my system. A HUGE upgrade from my NAD m3.

As I recall didn’t the Stereophile review give the power amp a very high recommendation overall? 

I can only imagine the SFGM must very revealing speakers having never heard them, that’s why I suggest trying out components in your system at home before buying, if at all possible, in addition to diligence in research. I agree with you. look at tests and listen as well. Good advice.

I do plan on doing some sort of auditioning in the end. Not going to make a purchase like this without doing my due diligence.

As always, thanks for all the opinions and information.