2. amps-preamps
  3. 1443312494

Primaluna Prologue 4 tube upgrades

I recently acquired this amp and at first thought it was sounded great, but was not completely happy with the LF response with my modest Dali Zensor 1 monitor speakers and nicely upgraded Dared SL2000a amp. So, I swapped some Siemens 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes into the unit for the stock Chinese tubes and holy hell, this amps is really quite fine! It has great control of the LF now and I realize that a veil of grunge I was hearing has vanished! I might swap some better power tubes in for the stock PL (Chinese) EL34's to see if that improves it even more. Or roll some Gold Lion KT88's into it. The amp has the unique feature of auto-biasing the tubes, which was always a hassle with my HK Citation I and V amps . Honestly, I have been thinking about upgrading to PL's high end integrated amp, but from what I hearing today, I might just stay with this set up. BTW, I have had a long series of far more expensive monitors in my system, yet these Dali Zensor 1's are the best I have had. They are thoroughly musical.
whitestix
mechans
3,048 posts
 
I think there is an active community of people who have rolled tubes in the Prima Luna amps, and I am surprised no one has responded to you thus far. I really like the Gold Lion (Ru.) KT-88s and think you will like them as well. It can't hurt to get the advice of Mr. Deal on the matter, but I know he has advocated for them in the past.
jond's avatar
jond
5,695 posts
 
I'm an EL-34 fan myself, and own an EL-34 only amp, and I would say check out the Gold Lion KT-77 this EL-34 variant to me was a huge upgrade in my amp over the likes of JJ, EH, etc. A very worthwhile upgrade and inexpensive as tubes go. This will likely give you a bit warmer sound than the KT-88 though I haven't heard your amp specifically.
mikirob
955 posts
 
I like these EL34s: RFT Siemens, Shuguang Black Treasure (best in my system), SED Winged C, Reflektor 6n3ce(6L6).
saki70
907 posts
 
I have tried many different tube combinations and settled on the Amperex/Holland 12AU7's and Shuguang Black Treasure 6CA7's . Good extension at both ends , warm presentation , clarity with musicality and definition .
The Primaluna El-34's are a pretty nice tube in their own right . My second best favorite small tube is the RCA Blackplate ( I think that this is the correct name) 12AU7 .
For a little less money , this combination is quite nice also .

Caveat ... I am using the Primaluna Dialogue Premium Integrated amp . I don't think that there will be much difference between these amps concerning tube choices . I have owned the Prologue integrated as a reference .

Good Luck
More to discover