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PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium

Hi,

First and foremost let me say I’m not trying to start any war of words, bash any manufacturers products or any HiFi dealers. I’m just stating my humble opinion. In the words of Denzel Washington in the movie Malcom X we’ve been hoodwinked and led astray when it comes to the whole audiophile phenomenom. I recently owned a ARC REF 5SE, REF 110 and ARC solid state DS450M mono-block amps. They were driving my Magnepan 20.7’s and my Meridian music streamer. I just switched all of it out for a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP amplifier with KT150 tubes and a PL Dialogue Premium preamplifier and two these ears my Maggie’s have never sounded so good. I’m going to add another PL Dialogue Premium HP next week and then I can honestly say I am done with my search for high fidelity sound. People please don’t let other dealers and manufacturers tell you, you need to spend $$$$ to achieve musical nirvana it’s all hype. I fell for that crap and I’m really embarrassed to say it. PrimaLuna is a superior musical instrument that honestly should cost 4 to 5 times more for their Dialogue Premium line. The build and features are second to none. Please please don’t let these dealers tell you other wise. It’s all about the benjamins and they want you to invest your hard earned money in there over priced crap. I invite anyone to listen to my system and tell me this isn’t as good as it gets and that this is not how music should sound. I live in Seattle and I  reached out to Upscale Audio’s Kevin Deal after 1 1/2 weeks of watching his videos and banging my head against the wall over my inferior lifeless musical experience. I took a leap of faith after reading several reviews and seriously doing some home work and made decision. Wow PL and KD thank you for not making me look like and absolute fool. I honestly feel like I stole from PL and Upscale Audio. Can’t stop tapping my feet and shaking my head. Bye for now and if one person listens to PRimaLuna after reading this thread my mission is complete. Peace,  Miles and Dizzy are on stage with Stevie Ray riding shotgun!
bluesy41
terryo
3 posts
 
Hi Bluesy41,

If I had realised how good these PL amps are before buying the Integrated then I would have definitely gone down the same path as you with a Dialogue Pre and a pair of HP mono's. I am looking forward to reading your report on how your system sounds once you have the second power amp. 

.... Cheers


1graber2's avatar
1graber2
303 posts
 
I second a few thoughts above, 

. Soundman is correct about the low cost of parts compared to retail prices, for PL or any other manufacturers. Since PL has less advertising costs, they can focus more in R and D, and sell at a lower cost, so we consumers get more bang for buck

. I have the HP Integrated, and IMO, the 6 stock PL preAmp are crap, and I did not realize this until I swapped them out.
. Also, I tried the stock PL EL34s, and it’s not that they were bad, but not my cup of tea. I replaced them with 8 mid-level KT88s (Gold Lion). And with some 12AU7 Brimars, IT IS A DIFFERENT AMP.

IMO, the true value of the PL Integrated is that it provides a quality blueprint for which to add on to and customize for your own speakers with tubes, while all the while having those fat, heavy transistors that can drive down to 2 ohms (eg, hello Maggie’s, hello Dynaudio, etc). 

So so in the end, I spent about $4k for the HP Integrated, and another $800 on KT88s and and 2 NOS 12au7s. I would bump up my game to 8 KT120s for increased dynamics, but I will be using a sub for the low end, and this allows me to retain mid range glory of the 88s.

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samzx12
1,220 posts
 
1graber save money for the KT150s. Much better than 120s. The GL 88s are a great tube so enjoy. I loved them. 
bluesy41 OP
211 posts
 
Question I was thinking about changing out the 6 12AU7 tubes in my Dialogue Premium Preamp with the Brimar tubes and replacing the rectifier tube with the Phillips. Should I also replace the set of 12AU7’s in the Dialogue HP amps? 


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samzx12
1,220 posts
 
I would start with the Preamp and proceed one step at a time.   The front 2 slots or middle are the 2 tubes to replace 1st. Don't worry with the amp right now.  
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