Power Amp To Go With Cary SLP98P Preamp

Heard lots of good things about this Preamp. Should I trade it in or look for a different power amp. Any suggestions?

I have no experience with Cary or PrimaLuna products, but if I were to hazard a guess as to which of the two components is the weaker link **in your particular application** I would think the amp is the likeliest candidate. The reason I say that is that a number of PrimaLuna amps have unusually high output impedances, and if (as I suspect) your Dialogue Five is one of them that would make it a less than optimal match for the low (4 ohm nominal) impedance of your Ryan speakers (and perhaps for the Triangle speakers as well, although I couldn’t find much information about them).

For example, in JA’s measurements of the Dialogue Premium amplifier the following statement appears:

The output impedance varied widely, from an extraordinarily high 15 ohms with EL34s and 14 ohms with KT120s from the 16 ohm tap, both tubes in Ultralinear mode, to 2.4 ohms with EL34s and 2.15 ohms with KT120s, both tubes in Triode mode, from the 4 ohm tap. The output impedance from the 8 ohm tap was lowest with both tubes in Triode mode, at 4.6 ohms (EL34s) and 3.9 ohms (KT120s). Changing to Ultralinear mode raised these impedances to 7.9 and 7.4 ohms, respectively.

With these high output impedances, the DiaLogue Premium’s frequency response will be altered to a significant extent by the Ohm’s law interaction between these impedances and the manner in which the loudspeaker’s impedance changes with frequency. The gray trace in fig.1, for example, shows the amplifier’s response with Ultralinear KT120s driving our standard simulated loudspeaker. The variations are a very audible +4.5/–4dB. Even with the lowest output impedance, with KT120s in Triode mode driving the load from the 4 ohm tap, the variations are still ±1.2dB (fig.2), which will be audible.

Also, if you do choose to replace the amp I believe you would be very happy with the XA30.8 that was recommended by Three_Easy_Payments. I say that as a very happy owner of the somewhat less powerful and less expensive Pass XA25. Both amps, btw, are **far** more powerful than their published power ratings suggest. (Avoid the XA30.5, btw, as its input impedance is too low to be a good match for your preamp).

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

P.S: I’ll add to what I said in my previous post that an amp having particularly high output impedance also, by definition, has a particularly low damping factor. That may also result in your amp being a less than optimal match for one or more of your speakers.

Regards,
-- Al

dylanfan,
I paired my Cary SLP-98 tube preamplifier with the following amplifiers, successfully:

Quicksilver Mono 120 (my current monoblock tube amps)
Cary V12R (stereo tube amp)
Cary SA-200.2 (stereo solid state amp)
Inspire Hot Rod (stereo tube amp)

All combinations sounded nice for their perspective power ranges and related speakers used. My feedback is not from specs, from real use.

re: Pass Labs. Nelson indicated to me a year ago he has several customers running the SLP-98 tube preamps with his .5 and .8 version PASS amps. He indicated this is a popular combo as well, fwiw.

The SLP-98 preamp combo with the Cary SA-200.2 was very nice, smooth, dynamic, nice sound stage, plenty of power. With the right Interconnects, it was a nice combination for solid state in my setup.

With your Ryan 630 speakers and Nomex drivers (I’ve built something similar), you could pair them up with a nice Rel subwoofer for added bottom end and spend your money on a "musical" amplifier, tube or solid state. I’d guess you are searching for something more, what?

A few come to mind:
Tube: Quicksilver Mono 60s (tube), Quicksilver Mono 120s (tube)
SS: Cary SA-200.2, Pass X30.8, PASS X60.8, Van Alstine FET 400, Parasound JC5, PS Audio BHK 250.

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Your preamp is sensitive to tube, cap, and interconnect changes.

Two questions:
-What brand (new or NOS) tubes are installed in your SLP98 now?
-What do you not like about the Primaluna Dialogue 5 pairing now?

I thanks for all the info guys! I like my Dialog 5 Power amp with the Cary Preamp. To me it sounds great. I have just heard the synergy of a Cary Preamp with a Cary amplifier would be a logical move. Cary has a 30% off 30th anniversary sale so I thought it would be a good time to give it a try. I had the moving coil phono option added along with every upgrade and better tubes. Trying to simplify and getting ready to retire in a year or so so I thought I would put together a good system before I have to cut back. I really like the tube sound. Heard nothing but great things about Pass Labs and even though not tubes it might be a great option. I can live with any of the equipment I have but always looking for a little better.

A further thought regarding the XA30.8: Given the small size of your present room, depending on how well it is air-conditioned the heat that would be introduced by the 400 watt AC power consumption of the XA30.8 may be an issue. The XA25 I use may be preferable in that regard, as its specified power consumption is only 240 watts, while according to Stereophile’s measurements it can nevertheless supply 80 and 130 watts into 8 and 4 ohms respectively.

Your PrimaLuna amp has a specified power consumption of 232 watts, but I believe it is biased to operate in class AB, while the two Pass amps operate in class A aside from occasional instances when high volume dynamic peaks in the music may cause them to transition to AB. Consequently your PrimaLuna amp is probably consuming significantly less than 232 watts most of the time, depending on the dynamics of the music, while the two Pass amps consume essentially the same amount of power (400 watts and 240 watts, respectively) most of the time.  And the amount of heat introduced into the room will be proportional to those power consumption numbers.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al