New cheap Tung Sol 7581A are excellent replacements for EL34s. Clear and transparent with great bass. The vintage Tannoy Mercury speakers were very warm and creamy so other speakers should brighten things up.
PrimaLuna Evo 200 underwhelming
Hi all, I wonder if someone can help or advise. I bought an ex. Display Primaluna Evo 200 a couple of weeks ago, mainly based on all the rave reviews and excellent comments on various forums. I must say, that vocals are terrific but overall, the sound seems muffled. There seems to be a hole where the mid range detail should be. I have tried the 4 and 8 ohm settings and there doesn’t seem a great deal of difference. I am using it with a Linn Genki CD player and Robson Acoustics Opulus speakers, also Vintage Tannoy Mercury speakers. I haven’t messed with the tubes because I have no idea how to do that. I so want this amplifier to sound beautiful but there is something missing. Can anyone help please?
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+noromance before I went off buying new speakers I would try some tweeks. The 3 tweeks that I saw the most significant improvement in my tube amp system was using: #1-NPS enhancer on all the connections. It makes no logical sense but this really improves sound more than any of my tweeks. Crazy… https://highfidelitycables.com/ #2- Qsa yellow fuse in the amp. Another crazy improvement defying logic. https://www.tweekgeek.com #3- Tubes. Vintage 12au7 preamp tubes make a big difference. Rca blackplates, Rca cleartops, GE blackplates from 50’s-60’s are affordable, available and good place to start before getting into more exotic rarer tubes. Switching to 6L6GC / 7581 is a good choice. It’s a very musical tube with adequate power. Talk to Brent Jesse for advice. http://www.audiotubes.com Good luck with your improvement. |
Wondering if it was ex display or a return. I can't see bad pairing being enough to cause the problem you mention in a significant way. You could also try the headphone output to see how that sounds. I wonder if the tubes are nearing end of life. If it's been on display it could have also been running day in day out every day.... |
- 84 posts total