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Primaluna & Klipsch Cornwall frustration HELP

Well this is a little frustrating. I have a Primaluna preamp and Primaluna Dialogue 5 power amp. Found a great deal on some Klipsch Cornwalls. Heard Klipsch and tubes were made for each other. Hooked them up and it had very little bass. I was expecting a BIG sound. Sounded almost anemic. Hooked them up to a class D audio amp through the Primaluna preamp and it was fantastic. Lots of slam. A great rock and roll sound. These are very efficient speakers so I don't get why they don't sound good through the tubes. 42 watts per channel at 8 ohms. Happened to talk to a Primaluna guy and he told me I needed a more powerful Primaluna amp. That has got to be BS. Do I have bad or weak tubes?? These are KT88's! Maybe they are going out. Who knows. Tried to call Kevin Deal at Upscale but he is out of town. I am not buying a bigger Primaluna amp. Kind of offended that I was even told that. Would the KT120's make a difference? Could it be something else wrong with the amp. Thanks for any help. By the way the amp sounds sweet with small monitors where I don't expect much bass. Thanks for any direction.
128x128dylanfan
zd542
5,339 posts
 
You need more power. Just because the speakers are efficient doesn't mean that you can under power them. Your amp is having a difficult time controlling the large woofers used for bass.
dylanfan's avatar
dylanfan OP
139 posts
 
Would changing tubes help? Moving from the KT88's to KT120's or should I just write this amp off and move on?
zd542
5,339 posts
 
If you can borrow some tubes, try them. I doubt they will make a big enough difference to fix the problem.
oros's avatar
oros
43 posts
 
Cornwall's with no bass slam with a valve amp that is a no no.

In the corner against the wall they must go.
Running KG 4's 94db with a Line Magnetic 211IA in 12w triode in the corners close to the walls and they shake my privates, more slam more dynamics I do not need.
And Cornwall's @98.5db stomp KG 4's in both regards.
Bigger amp no don't think so, play with it.

See the Stereophile review of this power amp some interesting observations. Bias settings etc.
Try the different output taps, play around.
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
I use a Primaluna Dialogue 2 with my Cornwalls, and it is a fantastic combo. You definitely do not need more power - I often use the 21watt per channel setting on my amp, and there is absolutely no lack of bass - that amount is more than enough power for those speakers. By the way, the Cornwalls do not have to be against both the wall and the corners, it can be one or the other and sound great. Mine are against the wall, near the corners.

Unless you just got a lemon for the amp, perhaps there is something wrong with the tubes. I use EL-34s in mine, but the KT88s should provide plenty of bass. There are many different tube options that will work with those amps, you should be able to find a combo that works well.
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