PRIMALUNA OR ROGUE AUDIO

It's an old post but I don't understand why rollintubes posted what he did. Rogue amps are not hard on tubes. In my 10 plus years with a Cronus Magnum, I've never had a tube go bad. They bias the power tubes conservatively at 35ma but still get big power. I'm biamping Legacy Calibre XD'S with my Rogue and it's outstanding!

I have no idea how this came up now.  

 3 year old thread, hopefully the guy made a decision by now.....

You can pretty much throw any tube at PL if I understand correctly. If you switch speakers, you can fine tune the sound by switching tubes. 

Having experience with both Rogue and Prima Luna gear, I would pick Rogue in a heartbeat.

Hey there!
 After owning the 4350, the Most rogue Big amps, My suggestion is buy both- and in home compare. The top end on the 4350 is powerful and efficient. What are driving the lowend section with.

Love my Rogue gear, plus they offer amazing support not just for in-warranty units, but for out of warranty and 2nd hand units. Upgrades are available for reasonable cost. And all their gear sounds awesome. I run Apollo Dark monoblocks in my system; have owned lots more of their gear in the past. I’m actually hoping to move back to a Rogue preamp to replace my current ARC Ref 6 with their new RP-9 preamp soon - we’ll see how that goes.

I know this is an old post, but I have to give my opinion here.  I currently own a Rogue Cronus Magnum II.  Recently I demoed a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium Integrated in my home.  My speakers are Harbeth C7 es3.  While the Dialogue was quieter, had better microdynamics and nuance, and a huge soundstange, and greater transparency, the Rogue beat it in all other areas: bass quality/quantity, driver control of the speakers, musicality, midrange lushness.  The Dialogue had an aggressiveness in the treble that didn't change much with tube rolling.  The Rogue I can listen to all day long, but I would easily become fatigued listening to the PL.  The Dialogue was the kind of amp that would eventually force me to stop listening to half of my music collection, since it's only good with perfectly recorded music.  If that's your thing, then the amp is for you.  But if you're like me and just want to enjoy any and all music, the Rogue is without a doubt the better choice.

Rogue..Great sound great customer support and there`s always an upgrade path AND it`s made here not China.

Sorry, I meant Dialogue Premium HP. +1 on the EL34s, they do a terrific job. Though I have yet to use my set of KT150s. And, it's so easy to switch back and forth between tubes. Change a tube and it auto biases.Triode and Ultralinear switching with the remote makes so much more enjoyable too.

Thanks for all the good suggestions, helps a lot. 

I have both in my system. If you can find a new pair of 7’s it’s most likely to be from upscale Audio. For driving the top end of your JBL’s I’d suggest the primaluna’s, great sound with EL34’s, the Rogue’s have more power, But if I could offer my opinion, I’d get the primaluna dialogue premium’s you can run kt 150’s in them, or just about any power tube you want. I like the EL34’s the most for top end

I understand Rogue's are hard on tubes. They would have to be to get the kind of power that they claim.

My personal experience is with their Stereo 100 amp. I was considering M180s as an upgrade until I was told by their customer service that it uses the same basic circuitry as the Stereo 100.

With the Stereo 100 there was so much distortion in Triode mode that I would get fatigued after one record. In Ultralinear I could not stand to listen at all, it hurt my ears. My speakers are very good ATC SCM19's, 85dB sensitivity.

I switched to a Prima Luna Dialogue Pro HP in stereo mode, the sound is smooth and I can listen in either triode or Ultralinear all day with no fatigue.

I think Rogue overrates their power, over drives their output tubes and over prices a boat anchor IMO.

I'll take any Prima Luna product before I will even consider a Rogue. The difference is like night and day and the price differential is insignificant. The build quality and component selection are head and shoulders above Rogue and they just sound better period.

+1 for Rogue gear. Couldn’t be happier with my ST-100/Metis magnum combo. It even survived my daughter’s cat vomiting a hair ball on to the vent and down into the board.
Don’t worry AGers, it won’t be for sale here (any time soon, anyway). 

Don’t be fooled by PrimaLuna output rating. I have one and it is more powerful than I expected - even though I wasn’t looking for much power. 

I am not familiar with your speakers but the Dualigue should be fine unless they are power hungry.

I just said to hell with it and trued PrimaLuna and I doubt I will ever buy another one. Unless it is PL monoblocks, but the why???

Agree with stereo 5. Primaluna dialogue premium with the new Kt 150's is mind-blowing. IMO, it sounds as good as separates costing 5 times more. I'm getting one as soon as I sell some of my stuff. Can't wait.

Having owned a Rogue Cronus Magnum Integrated  and a RP-5 tube preamp, they are good for the money.  If I was to buy my last tube amp however, it would definitely be Prima Luna.  A friend has the high power integrated with KT150 tubes.  All I can say is WOW!

Thanks everyone 

My Chronus Magnum is rock solid. But I think both amps are well built and should provide a long musical life span.

Why limit yourself to used kit?  Rogue is very reasonably priced gear.  Thier service and customer are support fantastic and worth spending some.extra $.

I have listened to several Rogue and Prima Luna products and to me the Rogue always sounds more musical. Of course all system dependent but that's my .02

putting together a another system.  

Rhodes,

I noticed from your system pictures you have Primaluna amps. Are you looking for a change of amps? 

Thanks Jerry, Ken 

I cannot address the merits of the Primaluna, but I love my M-180s.
They drove my formerly owned, difficult to drive Totem Mani-2s with ease which is no small feat for tubed amps. I am now running Harbeth 30.1s, and the combination has me right where I want to be. 
Hard to say how they will drive the top end of your JBLs, and there are so many other factors in a system which can/will alter performance. Like most of us, you'll have to pay to play to find out.
Buy them used and if they don't work out for you, sell them at close to a break even price and move on. 
Jerry

Thanks

 Cant speak to either specific piece, but as a prior owner of Rogue gear I will say their customer service is excellent.