The Primaluna Prologue One Review
Apr 22, 2016 13:14:56 GMT -5
cheapthryl, Boomzilla, and 1 more like this
Post by kauai82 on Apr 22, 2016 13:14:56 GMT -5
Finally, I have listened and listened and I am ready for the review of my new (at least to me) Primaluna Prologue One. I have been going after the so called "tube sound" for about the last six months. I had tried many inexpensive Chinese preamps with varying amounts of successful results. There is a thread on my experiences with four different tube preamps on the forum. My last incarnation of the office system before the Primaluna was a Nobsound Chinese tube preamp with all brand new tubes (Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 matched ) and a UPA-200 amp with a Rega upgraded P1 (new 24v motor and acrylic platter, premium belt ) and EMO XPS-1 phono preamp and cm6631 DAC with a Denon DVD-2900 SACD player and DIY Core 2 speakers I built from a kit. I am using a HP laptop with JRiver version 19 with FLAC and ALAC ripped music files.
A word about the Core 2 DIY speakers. They are 34 inches high small tower with a silk 1 inch tweeter and an aluminum mid woofer that is 7 inches in diameter. The cabinets and the cross over parts plus the drivers run around $600 total for the pair. You have to put the cabinets and crossover together from schematics supplied. They look like and are modeled after Totum , Forest speakers. I have never had the pleasure of listening to the Forest speakers, but the Core 2's are no slouch in their capabilities. The only draw back with them is that they are very inefficient speakers with a rating of 83db at one watt at one meter. It takes some power to get them going. They weight 37 pounds a piece are rated from about 35-20000 hz. I have been very happy with them and they are very dynamic and have a great soundstage. I had tried to stay away from all tube system because they are so inefficient I was afraid that tubes could not drive them as well as my UPA-200 amp.
I had been pretty happy with the sound quality of my previous system --it had the nice mid range bloom --that took some of the sharpness off the aluminum 7 inch driver on some songs and the highs were still clear with out being too bright. But, I have the upgrade sickness bad and when I saw the Audiogon ad for the Primaluna I had to have it. I had heard of Primaluna from this forum and also heard it at an audio presentation at Upscale Audio in So. Cal. and was very impressed with the build quality and SQ. I had been thinking of buying one of the Primaluna tube preamps either new or used. New the one I could afford was $2199 and used they were going for about $1600. I had toyed with the idea of buying the Prologue Classic Integrated Amp which ran $1800 new and about $1200 used but was worried about it only having 36 watts per channel.
Then I saw this eight year (approx.) old Primaluna Prologue One on Audiogon for $850 with only 250 hours on it I jumped at the chance to get it. I had to pay $60 in shipping but it was packed very well and it arrived safe and sound from Maryland. Primaluna is a Dutch based company that makes their product in China. The Primaluna has in the preamp section of it two 12AU7 and two 12AX7 tubes. The amplifier section is driven by four EL34 tubes. The unit I bought had all the Primaluna original tubes which are very high quality. With the El34 tubes the Primaluna puts out 36 watts per channel.
I hooked it up in my system and was immediately disappointed in the bass quality of the Primaluna with my HP laptop. It was very tubby and flabby. My go to critical listening tracks sounded just awful in the mid bass and I was wondering what the hell was going on. I then decided to put the speaker wire on the eight ohm taps on the amp and things got a little better but still I was disappointed. Then I found a test CD disc with the same songs as on the HP that I use to listen to systems when I go out shopping for audio gear and want to hear my own music for demonstration. Man what a difference. My Denon DVD-2900 is a top of the line DVD player from 2004. It ran a $1000 new and weights 14 pounds and is also a SACD player. It has up graded Sabre Chip DAC chips in it from the stock ones that came with it. I got it for $100 on eBay and have owned it for about two years. Now the sound was the what I had hoped for --silky highs and solid tight bass. Man was I relieved. For some reason my Breeze Audio CM6631 DAC which had worked so well with my previous systems and was better sounding that my Schiit Magni DAC was not sounding good at all in the bass reproduction out of the HP Notebook. I had sold the Magni DAC and did not want to tear apart my music room system to hook up my XDA-2 generation one DAC (see signature) to see if that was the problem as I expected.
I now had to search for a DAC. I was going to buy the Big Ego, but decided that I wanted multiple inputs for greater expandability in the future. I did not have much money (I lie, I was in the hole after the Primaluna buy) so I found a Peachtree DAC IT -X that was a demo and I got it for $250. It took a couple of days to get it and then I hooked it up was very happy with the sound. Now the sound out of the HP Laptop sounded as good as the Denon.
It is hard to describe how good the Primaluna sounds. Everything has a touch of warmth to it, without being muddled in any way. The bass is solid but not overbearing. The midrange bloom is there but it is in balance with the overall sound spectrum that the speaker is putting out. Phono section with the XPS-1 phono preamp is very good. I have a Ortofon Red 2M cartridge on the Rega and with the XPS-1 it sometimes sounded a little bright on some recordings on the old system. Now it sounds very clear and not a touch of brightness. The highs are still there, but they are not bright.
I need not worry about the Primaluna being able to drive my Core 2's. I do not have to turn the volume control past ten o'clock to be almost blown out of the office. The Primaluna is built like a tank and the tubes will last about another 750 to 1000 hours and they are not that expensive to replace. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into the tube sound for a reasonable amount of money. My quest is finished on the office system. Now I am looking at the Family room system for paths to upgrade. Maybe that new EMO integrated BasX ?
4
A word about the Core 2 DIY speakers. They are 34 inches high small tower with a silk 1 inch tweeter and an aluminum mid woofer that is 7 inches in diameter. The cabinets and the cross over parts plus the drivers run around $600 total for the pair. You have to put the cabinets and crossover together from schematics supplied. They look like and are modeled after Totum , Forest speakers. I have never had the pleasure of listening to the Forest speakers, but the Core 2's are no slouch in their capabilities. The only draw back with them is that they are very inefficient speakers with a rating of 83db at one watt at one meter. It takes some power to get them going. They weight 37 pounds a piece are rated from about 35-20000 hz. I have been very happy with them and they are very dynamic and have a great soundstage. I had tried to stay away from all tube system because they are so inefficient I was afraid that tubes could not drive them as well as my UPA-200 amp.
I had been pretty happy with the sound quality of my previous system --it had the nice mid range bloom --that took some of the sharpness off the aluminum 7 inch driver on some songs and the highs were still clear with out being too bright. But, I have the upgrade sickness bad and when I saw the Audiogon ad for the Primaluna I had to have it. I had heard of Primaluna from this forum and also heard it at an audio presentation at Upscale Audio in So. Cal. and was very impressed with the build quality and SQ. I had been thinking of buying one of the Primaluna tube preamps either new or used. New the one I could afford was $2199 and used they were going for about $1600. I had toyed with the idea of buying the Prologue Classic Integrated Amp which ran $1800 new and about $1200 used but was worried about it only having 36 watts per channel.
Then I saw this eight year (approx.) old Primaluna Prologue One on Audiogon for $850 with only 250 hours on it I jumped at the chance to get it. I had to pay $60 in shipping but it was packed very well and it arrived safe and sound from Maryland. Primaluna is a Dutch based company that makes their product in China. The Primaluna has in the preamp section of it two 12AU7 and two 12AX7 tubes. The amplifier section is driven by four EL34 tubes. The unit I bought had all the Primaluna original tubes which are very high quality. With the El34 tubes the Primaluna puts out 36 watts per channel.
I hooked it up in my system and was immediately disappointed in the bass quality of the Primaluna with my HP laptop. It was very tubby and flabby. My go to critical listening tracks sounded just awful in the mid bass and I was wondering what the hell was going on. I then decided to put the speaker wire on the eight ohm taps on the amp and things got a little better but still I was disappointed. Then I found a test CD disc with the same songs as on the HP that I use to listen to systems when I go out shopping for audio gear and want to hear my own music for demonstration. Man what a difference. My Denon DVD-2900 is a top of the line DVD player from 2004. It ran a $1000 new and weights 14 pounds and is also a SACD player. It has up graded Sabre Chip DAC chips in it from the stock ones that came with it. I got it for $100 on eBay and have owned it for about two years. Now the sound was the what I had hoped for --silky highs and solid tight bass. Man was I relieved. For some reason my Breeze Audio CM6631 DAC which had worked so well with my previous systems and was better sounding that my Schiit Magni DAC was not sounding good at all in the bass reproduction out of the HP Notebook. I had sold the Magni DAC and did not want to tear apart my music room system to hook up my XDA-2 generation one DAC (see signature) to see if that was the problem as I expected.
I now had to search for a DAC. I was going to buy the Big Ego, but decided that I wanted multiple inputs for greater expandability in the future. I did not have much money (I lie, I was in the hole after the Primaluna buy) so I found a Peachtree DAC IT -X that was a demo and I got it for $250. It took a couple of days to get it and then I hooked it up was very happy with the sound. Now the sound out of the HP Laptop sounded as good as the Denon.
It is hard to describe how good the Primaluna sounds. Everything has a touch of warmth to it, without being muddled in any way. The bass is solid but not overbearing. The midrange bloom is there but it is in balance with the overall sound spectrum that the speaker is putting out. Phono section with the XPS-1 phono preamp is very good. I have a Ortofon Red 2M cartridge on the Rega and with the XPS-1 it sometimes sounded a little bright on some recordings on the old system. Now it sounds very clear and not a touch of brightness. The highs are still there, but they are not bright.
I need not worry about the Primaluna being able to drive my Core 2's. I do not have to turn the volume control past ten o'clock to be almost blown out of the office. The Primaluna is built like a tank and the tubes will last about another 750 to 1000 hours and they are not that expensive to replace. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into the tube sound for a reasonable amount of money. My quest is finished on the office system. Now I am looking at the Family room system for paths to upgrade. Maybe that new EMO integrated BasX ?
4
