Straight out of the box doesn't work.


Just received my new Prima Luna EVO 400. Heavy thing, looks good. Took the foam off the tubes, only on the power tubes. Nothing on the small tubes. I'm new at this, don't know what they are called. I did notice some of the tubes were a little crooked so I seated them in a little better. However ( you new that was coming) two of the small tubes on the right kind of wooble. Did I spell that right? What the hell plugged in and red light on the right side. It doesn't work right out of the box. Going back tomorrow. Just wanted to let ya know. Going to go through the recommendations again. Good night.
knighttodd
Posting something like this....well, take a step back and make a phone call.  The odds are the unit is fine and Kevin can trouble shoot this over the phone with you.  If he does, and all is good, you would do well to post that along with an apology.
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You're not a looooser "WOOOOOBLE", is fine.

It should work out of the box, and the seller owes the BUYER an apology.
Very simple. Fuse? Bad valve, more likely..
The customer is ALWAY right.

Do a little troubleshooting, don't get too jumpy OP. Things will work out just fine..

Regards
Before calling for support and sending it back, remove and reseat  power tube(s). Could be simple as that. 

PL user. I've had the errant bad tube LED go off, no big deal. 
There was a saying in the early days of high end audio, “If it works out of the box, it isn’t high end”.  Nostalgia.

PL puts on a good show but bottom line: made in China. From the way you describe it, "some of the tubes were a little crooked" sounds like they ship with tubes installed. You're new so won't know this is a bad idea. If you ever have to ship this please do the right thing and pack each tube individually in its own padded box. 

At this point I would be looking to exercise the no-questions return policy that I would have secured as a purchase prerequisite. For this very reason. If they can ship new tubes and you are willing to wait for that, fine. If the amp has to be shipped back, even better, as this is the ideal way of getting out of this deal. Then with your refund you can buy a Raven Nighthawk that is made in the USA and with better tubes and better sound and be supporting some serious audiophiles right here in America and not you know who over there instead.
Good calming advice from oldhvymec and others. Call Kevin Deal.
Best of luck, 
Charles 
Yes, I was a little PO last night. Tubes just don't fit right on the right. Red light on right front. They sent me a RA and PP sticker. I will try another one. But while it's on its way I'm going to demo an ARC 75se. 5.5k with new tubes. It came fedex, no damage on the box. 
@knighttoad,
The ARC REF 75SE  is a very nice amp. You’ll have an interesting comparison when you get your Primaluna EVO amplifier back.
Charles

My bets on the AR.

The heart of any tube push pull is it’s output transformer.
And history shows Audio Research have always had only the very best output transformers in their amps.
Some of the Prima Luna models have had sometimes ringing a little in the ultra sonic frequencies, (sharp rise in FR above 20khz) which is usually the transformer..

From Stereophile on that PL transformer ringing
But with the tap matched to the load, this peak was associated with a significant amount of overshoot on a 1kHz squarewave (fig.2), though a 10kHz squarewave revealed that the consequent ringing was critically damped (fig.3), the amplifier maintaining its stability.

Cheers George
I like the Raven NH, but I am going separates. Just bought a ARC LS28SE, Audio Mirror Dac . I like it all with my Parasound A21+, but want to see what I get with a tube amplifier. I have over 100 bottles  of wine.
For that kind of money it should be tested before it ships, also tubes never should be shipped in the amp ,all tubes should be matched pairs ,
and numbered where is there location , not very well thought out at all.
I bought Ayon Integrated amps ,as well as Jolida , as described above 
tested before shipped and tubes in a secure location not in the amp.
very unprofessional. I sold Audio for years ,common sense ,makes sense !!
@corelli   

Apology is out of place.  If the unit doesn't work, it doesn't work.  Expectations MUST be that the unit will work without extraordinary set-up assistance and debugging.  

Or maybe I'm just used to manufacturers that exercise some kind of quality control and don't release inoperative units.  
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"...and tubes in a secure location not in the amp.."

My prima Luna from Kevin Deal did not have the tubes installed, something weird there.   
As unfortunate as it may be, it is not the end of the world or you.

Similar things have been known to happen. I am not sure is it only with tube equipment.

"Well Bryant at the factory packed my Blackhawk out with defective tubes and when I fired it up well smoke came out of the thing."

REVIEW: Raven Audio Blackhawk Integrated, Soniquil Cables.... | Audiogon Discussion Forum

Call the seller and voice your concern to her/him. We cannot help you here at this point.
Like many manufactures of audio components, ARC electronics have a system synergy among themselves. Since you already have access to an ARC preamp, you should enjoy the ARC 75SE more in your system even though the PL is a fine product.
I don't know how the 400 works, but on my 100, a red light will come on when powering it and will stay on for a full minute, then will turn green, meaning it's ready to use. It is clearly described in the owner's manual. Hopefully that's all it is. 
The unit should work. Period. YOU shouldn’t be apologizing for a malfunctioning unit. Seller should be apologizing.
Is it just 1 red light next to a particular tube or are all the red lights on next to all the tubes on the right side of the unit.If it is only 1 red light next to a specific tube, turn off amp then remove that tube and also remove 1 of the other same size tubes and switch their places if the red light follows the original tube then that tube is bad.If the red light stays on in the same place after switching tubes then either the socket is damaged or there could also be a problem with a bad connection wire inside.I cannot see the amp getting damaged in transit since it is triple boxed, if the boxes were not damaged when you received the amp then it is most likely one of the above causes.
I may be mistaken, but I believe the red indicator light on the front panel on the right side means the amp is operating in ultra linear. That is the normal default when powering on the amp. Try switching the amp to triode and see what happens. I expect the right red l may go out and a green light appears on the left? That’s how my Dialogue Premium operates, lights are just in a different location on mine
...I could be diplomatic, reading this....

Oh, WTH...

"Can you say 'SS'?"  Nice try....*L* ;)

(It's OK....I understand 'tube addiction'...)
a lot has been said already that needed to be said to the op

i would just add/reiterate the following points:

- the pl amps are extremely heavy and the weight (like many powerful tube amps) is very asymmetrically distributed... so its likely the amp in box (which sounds like you bought new) was dropped on its side a few times and hammered a good bit in transit

- pl amps ship with all the tubes in place... it is their packaging design... ok but hardly ideal... new pl amps have very tight tube sockets... the tubes may have been knocked askew but they should not ’wobble’ once reseated vertically - the fact the tubes were askew tells me the trip was a very rough one

- the front panel red light is ok... it denotes ultralinear operation, not a malfunction

- op did you try to fire the amp up, once tubes were properly re-seated in their positions... did it not play music? you didn’t say... anyhow, you are getting a new one, hope that one survives the journey and it will be different when you open that box

audio research is very high quality stuff... primaluna is very good, excellent value, but you cannot compare a mazda to a mercedes - the quality is just at another level - they are both built by talented makers to particular price points but one is just much higher than the other

you will hear the ref75 against the evo 400... you can tell us what you think... if the rest of your system is good, the answer will be fairly obvious (especially with the stock pl tubes in place)

good luck


As far as it being nostalgic re: hi-fi equipment not working out of the box, it’s bad nostalgia if it’s preowned gear, and it’s inexcusable if it’s new and doesn’t work. Never had new tube or solid state gear not work out of the box in 54 yrs. 
Try the Audio Mirror mono blocks. You have Vlad’s DAC. They might surprise you!
How was it sent? UPS? Fedex? The problem may lie there...

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<,>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It is NEVER the shipper it is ALWAYS the PACKER. If it was labeled correctly and packaged correctly "THIS" would have never happened.. You NEVER send anything with tube installed UNLESS the have a bonnet (hold down) on the valves. The packing will show if it was handled improperly. The inner box will show contact with the outer box. It CANNOT move inside the boxes. Tight is right. loose is a REPACK... Peanuts are a "Return to sender" at the DOOR.. No exceptions...

IF there are any breaches either way it was tossed to hard. The inside meeting the outside, OR the outside meeting the inside, (forklift blade).

I packed VERY expensive equipment for 45 year to ship overseas.. Never lost another to improper packing (ONE TIME WAS ENOUGH).

The package should be packed as if IT were returning to YOU, not THEM... UNDERSTAND.

I had tubes and a pre sent to me from Schitt. The tube weren’t checked in the unit they sold me.. It almost caught on fire, within the first hour. Cost them a sale... Great customer service though..

Bad packing, bad deal.. BUT let patience prevail.

Regards
In my experience as a dealer, IT HAPPENS.  Period.

The manufacturer will make it right if you speak to him/her.

Sorry for the inconvenience; maybe they will give you a perk or something to make up for their error.  Never hurts to ask, and be polite.  No one WANTS to ship a DOA product...although I don't know that specific manufacturer.

If this is the biggest problem you have in life, you are pretty lucky these days.

Cheers!
If it makes the OP feel any better, I recently received two, yes two, Schiit Freya+ pre-amps that were defective right out of the box.

I had high hopes considering the accolades that have been heaped on this particular unit.

Oh, well.  Back on the hunt...


I was Going to suggest prima Luna as a possible choice for integrated amps. I’ve heard them and I really enjoyed the sound for the money. Not now. There’s nothing more aggravating and disappointing to order new equipment and have it malfunction.   Personally I’ve had no luck with Chinese products. Quite the opposite. Bad luck. I hope you get the issue resolved in a manner that is consistent with good business. 
" PL puts on a good show but bottom line: made in China. "

Is Chinese made okay if it suits your purpose - 30 Chinese Wavecor tweeters in American built Tekton Moab speakers , Chinese built Shumann Resonators, Chinese Nobsound springs?
OP, why did you even post this?

Call the dealer and see if there is a simple fix (something came loose in transit).

If not return for refund or exchange.

It is just that simple.
Is Chinese made okay if it suits your purpose - 30 Chinese Wavecor tweeters in American built Tekton Moab speakers , Chinese built Shumann Resonators, Chinese Nobsound springs?


And a Melody i880 amplifier made in China.
http://www.melodyhifi.com.au/melody_dealer

CHINA (Manufacturer)

Melody Hi Fi (Sheng Zhen) Pty Ltd (麦力迪音响(深圳)有限公司)

6th Floor, C Building, Shuang Huan New Tech Industrial Zone

Bao Long Industrial Zone, Long Gang District, ShenZhen, CHINA

Phone : +86 (755)-8952-9002
Fax : +86 (755)-8952-9005

Email: info@melodyhifi.cn

Website: www.melodyhifi.cn


@tvad

thank you for posting that, proves there are many hypocrites here. I have no problems if an American company manufactures in China as today’s world is a true global economy.
@stereo5 
@tvad 

yes yes yes

and of course the china hater is typing and reading and surfing on his iphone and ipad, both made in shenzhen and dongguan by foxxconn 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, I have no problem with imports. Chinese or otherwise. I am going to give the PL another shot. The main thing that bugged me is the two tubes that were loose and would not seat tight in the sockets. 
I can't believe people like fuzztone are allowed to participate in this group.  This was a question from someone who just asked an honest question hoping to get answers from a group of experts.
Opening a Prima Luna thread-guaranteed to go off the rails, sooner or later.

Funny, these anti MIC posters are typing away on their MIC computers via the MIC router through MIC cabling. Likely, their house has at least 50% MIC products they use every day of their lives. 

Silly.
@knighttodd, 
 Good decision! If you have the inclination to do so,  would you post your listening impressions of the ARC REF 75SE and the Primaluna.
Best wishes, 

Charles 
wobbling tubes do not sound good do the tubes have bent or damaged pins on the bottom of them check the wobbly ones first but check all of them and make sure they all go where they came out of do one at a time but tubes should not wobble at all my guess is tube damage.
@millercarbon 

The CCP makes very good stuff. Take covid for instance. Very efficient and effective.