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Primaluna Prologue 4 tube upgrades

I recently acquired this amp and at first thought it was sounded great, but was not completely happy with the LF response with my modest Dali Zensor 1 monitor speakers and nicely upgraded Dared SL2000a amp. So, I swapped some Siemens 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes into the unit for the stock Chinese tubes and holy hell, this amps is really quite fine! It has great control of the LF now and I realize that a veil of grunge I was hearing has vanished! I might swap some better power tubes in for the stock PL (Chinese) EL34's to see if that improves it even more. Or roll some Gold Lion KT88's into it. The amp has the unique feature of auto-biasing the tubes, which was always a hassle with my HK Citation I and V amps . Honestly, I have been thinking about upgrading to PL's high end integrated amp, but from what I hearing today, I might just stay with this set up. BTW, I have had a long series of far more expensive monitors in my system, yet these Dali Zensor 1's are the best I have had. They are thoroughly musical.
whitestix

Showing 3 responses by saki70

saki70
907 posts
 
I have tried many different tube combinations and settled on the Amperex/Holland 12AU7's and Shuguang Black Treasure 6CA7's . Good extension at both ends , warm presentation , clarity with musicality and definition .
The Primaluna El-34's are a pretty nice tube in their own right . My second best favorite small tube is the RCA Blackplate ( I think that this is the correct name) 12AU7 .
For a little less money , this combination is quite nice also .

Caveat ... I am using the Primaluna Dialogue Premium Integrated amp . I don't think that there will be much difference between these amps concerning tube choices . I have owned the Prologue integrated as a reference .

Good Luck
saki70
907 posts
 
Correction to my above post... instead of Amperex/Holland 12AU7's , I should have said 7316's . These are a direct replacement for the 12AU7's . Really a very nice tube .

Too bad we can't do corrections to already posted threads here .
saki70
907 posts
 
Djfst ;
My experience with KT 120's showed a lack of midrange .
Their strength was in the upper & lower ranges.

Keep your 34's and try RCA clear top 12AU7's . Just use 4 in the two front positions on each side and keep the Primalunas in the rear position on each side . I found the Primaluna 12AU7 to be a rather neutral sounding tube .

Good luck
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