advertisement


Valve amp recommendations, with a couple of conditions...

Just to add to my earlier post the PrimaLuna kit is beautifully hard-wired, so swapping a stereo pot out for a dual-gang would be so easy to do as there is no PCB to contend with.
 
Hmm, if it’s guaranteed non-destructive and reversible, perhaps the TonyMod (TM) could do the trick.

And I have to agree that it seems daft for balance controls not to be standard across the board.

But would that kind of mod still work with the remote control?
 
dna audio said:
What speakers are you using in the system? What Naim components did you have?
Click to expand...

Still got the Naim stuff, the PrimaLuna is currently sat boxed up awaiting return when global insanity permits. It’s a 272/XPS2/250.2.

The speakers are Harbeth 30.1s.
 
I've been very impressed by the Dialogue Premium, which is now my spare amp, but really too good for that role. I'd love to hear the HP version as I'm sure that extra grunt really pays dividends with relatively inefficient speakers. I think you'll really struggle to get something that good which is affordable. The big VTLs will do the trick, but at a high price.
 
dna audio said:
And speaker cable?
Click to expand...

With the Naim gear, A5. With the PrimaLuna, a Chord cable the dealer deemed appropriate (not sure which - clearway maybe?).

And yes, the Naim system is on 24/7. With the PrimaLuna I turned it on for a while before using, and off afterwards.
 
Last edited:
As an aside, I'm interested to know how you set the Primaluna for your Harbeths. I always found it frustrating using valve power amps with 4/8 Ohm taps with Harbeths, and in fact I find the same with my Tannoy Eatons. I can see why people find that the UR Triode 25 is a great match with Harbeths, as it is 6 Ohm. I had a VTL 150 for while with Harbeths and that was very good - also 6 Ohm.

I'm guessing if you were using EL34 you used the 4 Ohm tap. Interested to know. Incidentally KT77s work very well as an EL34 replacement in the Primaluna.
 
Elephantears said:
As an aside, I'm interested to know how you set the Primaluna for your Harbeths. I always found it frustrating using valve power amps with 4/8 Ohm taps with Harbeths, and in fact I find the same with my Tannoy Eatons. I can see why people find that the UR Triode 25 is a great match with Harbeths, as it is 6 Ohm. I had a VTL 150 for while with Harbeths and that was very good - also 6 Ohm.

I'm guessing if you were using EL34 you used the 4 Ohm tap. Interested to know. Incidentally KT77s work very well as an EL34 replacement in the Primaluna.
Click to expand...

Yep, it was stock EL34s on the 4 Ohm outputs - I’d read a couple of reviews that said the 4 Ohm outputs worked better on a couple of different amps, so just tried that first (he said, sounding like a real expert :D). And it sounded good, so I didn’t get around to experimenting with the other outputs before boxing it back up.

Pretty sure the 30.1s don’t dip under 6 Ohms though (at least the 30.2s definitely don’t, if the Stereophile measurements are accurate), so maybe the 8 Ohm outputs would be better. Depending on the outcome of all this I’ll experiment and shout out.

How come you found it frustrating - in terms of the difference in the sound, or just a niggling feeling it didn’t match?
 
Dave***t said:
How come you found it frustrating - in terms of the difference in the sound, or just a niggling feeling it didn’t match?
Click to expand...

I loved the amp; I think it's remarkably good, especially for an integrated. I tried input and power valves and generally spent a lot of time faffing because it was possible to change the sound so much. The frustration was that I invariably faced a trade off when choosing the 4 or 8 Ohm tap. This was with my Tannoy Eatons. For example with the Gold Lion KT88s, which were possibly the best option I tried, the 4 Ohm tap gave quite a linear and well balanced sound across the spectrum. The 8 Ohm tap gave a really glorious midrange, but the lower bass was somewhat absent. With the 4 Ohm tap, I was thinking, yes, this is very good, but I miss my Unico Pre/DM (which are powerful hybrids, so full range with good mid-range fidelity). With the 8 Ohm tap I felt I was getting a mid-range beauty and clarity even my Unicos might struggle to match, but it was too big a sacrifice when the bass was uneven.

I mention this because I have had similar experiences when I had Harbeth M30.1 and SHL5 Plus (I'm not sure I had an amp with 4 and 8 Ohm taps when I had C7ES3).
 
  • has a balance control
  • has remote control
  • can work ok with Harbeth 30.1s
  • looks more interesting than a black box
  • desirable but not essential - has a phono stage, even if it's not the best (I'm mostly digital, but would like to play the odd record as a legacy kinda thing at least).
pretty hard to find a valve with balance , you could try a pre amp with balance control as mentioned
 
I would have suggested taking a look at a EAR Integrated, but they are minimalistic in terms of your requirements:
  • has a balance control - NO
  • has remote control - NO
  • can work ok with Harbeth 30.1s - YES
  • looks more interesting than a black box - YES
  • desirable but not essential - has a phono stage - NO
I have a EAR V20 and it is a brilliant piece of kit.
 
Another option is a power amp with left and right level adjustable gain pots - like my EAR 516.
 
You could very easily get an attenuation box made up. One speaker socket in, say 3 output sockets out, with say 1-2-4 ohms each, experiment to see which works. Only need one, obvs, to tame the "hot" side . Any competent repairer or even a numpty like me could build it.
 
Some more good replies, thanks folks.

@hifinutt Crikey, that’s a beast! It’d be fascinating to have one of those at home for a week or two. Hard to audition though, and I don’t know how easily they sell if it didn’t work out. Certainly seems exotic in a U.K. context though.

@Stuart Frazer Yeah the V20 (and 12) look beautiful, and I’m sure they sound amazing. If only they had balance control, it’d probably be worth putting up with the lack of remote and phono.

@Rosewind Could be an idea, yeah. Those don’t seem to come up for sale much, but will bear in mind.

@Rockmeister Neither Luxman has what looks like enough power, unfortunately. The speakers purportedly need 80W+. It seems less can work if the amp’s put together right, but they’re quite a lot lower.

@stevec67 That could be spot on. And sounds like it wouldn’t break the bank. I wonder, could it even be possible to make it dialable with a stepped attenuator like in a passive preamp volume control or something like that?
 
Dave***t said:
Some more good replies, thanks folks.

@hifinutt

@stevec67 That could be spot on. And sounds like it wouldn’t break the bank. I wonder, could it even be possible to make it dialable with a stepped attenuator like in a passive preamp volume control or something like that?
Click to expand...
Yes, if you wanted to spend the extra. It's only a low value resistor, needs to be chunky because it will get warm.
 
stevec67 said:
Yes, if you wanted to spend the extra. It's only a low value resistor, needs to be chunky because it will get warm.
Click to expand...

Nice one.

@Arkless Electronics sorry to prod you, but would something like this ‘dialable volume attenuator box on one speaker output’ be doable without harming the sound/stressing the amp out/killing half the valves? If so, please feel free to pm me a price or to discuss if you’d be up for it.

(No offence Steve, I just know this is Jez’s area so thought best to check with him, especially as I don’t know any other experts).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top