PrimaLuna ProLogue Integrated - Help Needed


Hi everyone. I recently made a big upgrade (for me); I traded in all my aging mediocre equipment and purchased a pair of GoldenEar Triton Twos and a PrimaLuna Prologue integrated amp. I'm using Nordost Purple flare speaker cables. No power conditioning at this point.

The problem is this: when I turn up the volume past a certain point (about 95 dB sustained), the amp begins to produce a low-frequency "throb". The throb is of moderate volume, very audible during quiet passages. The throb is about two beats per second, I'd say. It manifests both audibly and visually (in the form of a pulsing blue light from the left channel power tubes).

I've done a lot of work to try to diagnose the issue, but would like your opinion. Has anyone heard of a problem like this? I've had all sorts of suggestions from the dealer and PrimaLuna, from microphonic feedback to bad power. I don't think it's feedback, as I've isolated the amp in a separate room from the speakers and still experience the problem.

I'll shut up and just link a video I made. If you use headphones, you can hear the throb pretty clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juk1ILtarS8

Thanks for any help!
roblinx

Showing 1 response by dsper

Roblinx,

Sounds like a bad capacitor based on a similar sound I experienced with a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium preamp.

Talked with Kevin Deal who set me up with a local tech who diagnosed and fixed the problem.

In my case one of the French capacitors was bad, which also took out a resister.

Back in business now with no problems and no cost - just the inconvenience of not having the preamp for a couple of weeks.

My preramp had a couple of hundred hours on it and makes me wonder about PL quality?