PrimaLuna Prologue 1 or 2?

Craig:

The Prologue 2 will allow you to use different tube types: KT88s (supplied), as well as 6550, EL-34, 6CA7, 6L6GC, KT66, or 7581. The Prologue 1 can only be used with EL-34.

Each tube type does sound somewhat different. You may find yourself experimenting (or wanting to experiment). You probably know yourself better in this regard and how prone you are to tweak things.

KT88's will give you more punch in the bass, EL34's highlight the midrange, the 6550's (to my ears anyway) seem to bridge both the bass and midrange spectrums the best.

I have had the Prologue 2 for about a year and a half now. I wanted the flexibility of tube swapping, am driving "old school" Acoustic Research 3 way speakers, and wanted the extra oomph in the bass that KT88's provide. I am still very happy with the purchase and have no desire to upgrade.

Regards, Rich

Craig:

Points well made, though if I follow your dates correctly I may still be older (damm).

So, I own the Prologue 2 integrated and Prologue 5 power amps. With either unit, I have never found myself obsessing about 3/4 of the stuff that I read reviewers write about. What struck me about both the 2 and the 5 is that the music had very much a 3D quality to it. The music seem suspended in the air, so to speak. I have recently shuffled all my components around and in the system I use the Prologue 5, the monitors are placed inside of a bookcase, on their sides, about 4 feet up in the air. The system sounds fantastic ... clear, clean, and musical with excellent rendering of the recording ... like what else could I want? My room size is about the same as yours, the speakers have a sensitivity of 86 db, and assuming I don't want ear bleed ... it plays plenty loud.

I use the Prima Lunas as follows:

System #1

Prologue 2 integrated amp, Rega Apollo CD player, SONY SCD 555ES SACD player, Acoustic Research 302 speakers.

System #2

Prologue 5 power amp, Musical Fidelity CD PRE 24 CD player/preamp combo, Rega Ara monitors.

For both systems, the interconnects are Signal Cable and the power cords are Naim.

Without knowing how your current equipment set-up sounds, I think that you would be happy with either the Prologue 1 or 2. I think that the 2 gives you a little more, but I don't think that it distracts from the music. Question though, if you suspect that the preamp is the problem, have you considered picking up the Prologue 3 preamp instead?

Regards, Rich

Craig:

Between the power and preamp, I would say the biggest sonic benefit is in switching out the preamp. But then you are getting into a hybrid situation (tube preamp/solid state power amp) and you may or may not want to do that. Supposedly that hybrid combination gives you the best of both worlds ... more analog sounding front end with solid state power for control and volume. I do the reverse (tube power amp/solid state preamp), because it worked out that way and I like the combination quite a bit.

At the time that I purchased my Prologue 2, I had an email exchange with Kevin Deal as to whether to go with the 1 or the 2. The price difference was about $200 or so. Kevin wrote back that the P2 would give me more "oomph in the bass" and "the parts were slightly better." That was as technical as it got, but it helped me make my decision. I was planning to run the P2 with full range speakers that went down to 35hz and figured that the P2 would support those speakers better. I did not know from tube swapping then and that a quartet of KT88's accounted for at least 40% of the price difference.

In the end, I think that you are correct in saying that a tube integrated will give you the most sonic benefit bang for the buck. I would still go with the P2 because it gives me the tube swapping options, which may become valuable to you later down the line. I would also go with Prima Luna, in general, because of the auto biasing and soft start features, which just make ownership so much simpler.

Regards, Rich

Hi Craig:

Congratulations on going with the Prima Luna product. I think that you will enjoy the Prologue 2. I have done well the SED Winged C 6550's and KT88's tubes that Upscale also sells. The stock tubes are pretty decent to get you started.

As for power cords, I have had great luck with the Naim $25 power cord that is sold by Gene Rubin Audio . I had read a few threads both here and in Audio Asylum and splurged for $150 for 6 power cords. I am using Signal Cable Classic Speaker Cables . For interconnects, I have used IXOS Silver Gamma 1001 (silver/copper hybrid) and the Signal Cable Silver Resolution also with success.

Let's us know how you make out with your new amp.

Regards, Rich