Received new Primaluna preamp and amp


I posted this to another website but thought this may be good to post since nobody has seen them here that I have seen.

I wanted to post my first impressions as I have not seen anything on these here yet.
I bought them sight unseen based on what I read on the integrated amps. First I opened the box to find two more boxes inside, so packing is the best I have seen. Both came with white gloves. The manuals are exceptional and well-written and are signed/serial numbered.

The color of the chassis is different from the website pictures I saw. On the website they look almost black. In reality thay are a very dark dark dark blue with a hint of grey. They look much better than the pictures so I suggest to Upscale Audio they get the pictures taken again because I think they missed the target. I was suprised how nice they look.

I looked in the amp and was impressed by the neatness of assembly and quality. For $1295 per component I feel like I got a great deal.

I have Vandersteen 2CE speakers so was concerned that 40 watts would not be enough power, or it would be too soft. The combo is very open and fast. The bass is full and really has more feel than my Aragon 28k and amp I replaced. While the Aragon I think will play louder this combo sounds more dynamic at the levels I listen at. I don't know if the word dynamic is what I mean. The voices sound like they are another layer from the music. It can really give goosepimples.

I am much more happy with this sound. But will say the Aragon did a great job for me and represented to me a great value in solid state. My intention was to keep them for rainy days. But now that I have tube sound the old faithfulls will most likely go.

The speaker will stay as always. Superb buy. I can afford more expensive gear than this. But I am impressed by value more than ritzy expensive stuff. This is impressive.
chrish6952

Showing 1 response by pscialli

I have the Prologue 1 which I wrote about in the REview Forum. It's on a secondary system and I'm incredibly happy with it. I moved it over to my main system and like it so much, I'm going to get a Primaluna power amp for that system to replace an aging Musical Fidelity amp. In fact, I wrote to Kevin at Upscale audio concerning my concern that my Nautilus 803s, while not extremely power hungry, might be happier with more power. NOt to worry, later this year, Kevin tells me, he will be retailing a new monoblock version of the KT88 amp from Primaluna. They will be 70 watts per channel and should be dynamite. Price for the pair, I think, is not completely set, but it should be under $3k. Count me in!

Peter