PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium Preamplifier. DESTROYS SPEAKERS!!



A few months ago, bought TWO of the above mentioned preamps. ( I have 2 stereo systems)
Within 6 weeks of the purchase, the power supply of my speakers burns out!
I purchase and replace the power supply.
Three days later, the second newly replaced power supply is burnt out!
After much investigative work and heartache, I discover that the Pre amp is the problem.
It is defective and puts out DC. which burns out speakers.
After, testing the second unit, I find that it is defective as well, EXACTLY the same problem.
I return the units to my dealer, who returns them to Prima Lune.

I received a phone call from a Mr. Kevin Deal, big cheese at PrimaLuna.
Told me that the capacitors, on BOTH units had failed and the units were putting out DC.
He even THANKED me, for being a guinea pig, and discovering the flaw in his units.

He offered me a pair of tubes, as "compensation" for my troubles!! What a joker!!

WOW, a pair of tubes for blowing my $30,000. speakers!!

The height of arrogance and total disregard for the consumer of his product.
To all audiophiles, do yourself a favour, STAY AWAY for this brand, unless you want your speakers cooked.

TOTAL lack of quality control, MADE IN CHINA junk, what more needs to be said.


Mr. Deal, WAKE UP, and STOP selling defective products!!


If, you are using PrimaLuna, and your speakers fail, check the amp or pre amp.

George


Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
thorloki
If, primaLuna is not a good match for electrostatics, and problems can arise, then BUYERS SHOULD BE WARNED, prominently written, in the owners manual.
Actually, there is nothing in my post that suggests that ESLs and the preamp are incompatible. As far as that goes, I'm not really saying that the amp and preamp are incompatible either.

What I am saying is that a host of issues led to this problem, and it might not even crop up if for example, your AC line to the power amp were a larger capacity, like 20 amps rather than the 15 amps you have now. I've seen things like this before with entirely different equipment; anytime you have such a high power amplifier you have to be careful!
A audio chain down here in South Florida called Sound Advice sells and demo's Martin Logan and Primaluna together all the time. I remember seeing filters on the speaker posts on the Primaluna amp. Maybe that was for the subwoofer? I suggested to thorloki to call them to see if they ever had issues.
That’s interesting, Aniwolfe. It reminds me of this thread from a couple of years ago in which a member reported that his PL Prologue integrated amp had a "motorboating" problem when playing at high volume levels with his Golden Ear Triton Two speakers. Like many Martin Logan speakers the Triton Two incorporates a powered woofer and has an impedance that rises to high values at low frequencies. Ultimately the issue was resolved by a suggestion I made of connecting appropriately chosen resistors to the amp's output terminals, so that the amp wouldn’t see such a high impedance at low frequencies. Perhaps the "filters" you saw were actually resistors?

That problem did not involve damage to anything, though, and did not involve a PL preamp. Although during the course of the thread a different member reported that his PL Dialogue Premium preamp had experienced a capacitor failure at one point, which in turn took out a resistor in the preamp, and resulted in what was described as a similar "motorboating" sound. The member reported that Kevin arranged for the preamp to be repaired locally and at no cost.

Regards,
-- Al