Upgrading from Primaluna
Recently went down the front end upgrade path and am running a nice table and phono now. I'm curious as to what the weaker link in my system is between my Primaluna Dialogue Premium Preamp and my Dialogue Premium Hp Power Amp. I'm considering swapping out the amp to a Ps Audio BHK250 for the summer to avoid heat, but am curious if I would be better off dealing with the heat and moving up to say an Allnic L-7000/Arc Ref 3 for the Pre. I'm happy with tubes on the front end, but curious if I'm running out of gas with 88DB efficient speakers and a single chassis tube amp. Which amp would you upgrade first and what benefits would you expect?
My first Allnic pre was a used L3000 MKII and I thought it was great, it cost about the same as your Dialogue new. When I sold it for a used L7000SE I was very happy I did. It was night and day improvement. I recently sold it for a new L8000. The L8000 is better but the L7000SE was excellent at half the cost. I would never go back to the L3000MKII but could easily live with the L7000SE. I think you will be very pleased with the improvement with the L7000. |
@newbee @audphile1 @coppy777 you all were right. Speakers were moved to 16" from the side walls and sound so much better. Still 48" from front Wall. Panels pulled and more able to capture highs instead of bouncing around the room before coming back to the speakers to be trapped. An awesome and definitely free upgrade. ASC Tube Traps and preamp still in consideration as most think the PL Dialogue Premium HP is fine for now (possibly moving up later). Still eyeing the Allnic L7000 @anzaanimalclinic |
Honestly I would keep your front end and go with some more efficient speakers. For years I dealt with power hungry speakers, Infinity IRS Betas, Gammas. Now I have 2 pairs of speakers I rotate into my system. Tekton Moab’s and Jbl 4435’s and couldn’t be happier. The Primaluna gear is great. I had the same setup and regretfully sold it. One huge improvement when I had mine was to use Brimar tubes for the gain tubes and I had Kt-150’s. |
@j-wall Awesome!!! Glad to hear it helped. Thanks for circling back to us to let us know! Now you can better assess the needs in your amp chain. |
Stick with tubes. It’s always a challenge in a small room because you’re forced to put your gear exactly where it shouldn’t be placed. I agree with the consensus suggestions that you should address your room and maximize its possibilities. Is it possible to set up your room to where your gear is on the long wall, and not the short wall? I have a similar room, and that’s what I did. I’ve 9 feet between the edge of speakers, and have 4’ on the right wall, and 7’ on the left wall. My sound stage is much better and wider. Anyway, explore different options for your room. |
