As strange as this sounds, I had a similar experience with a PL Dialogue Premium.
After 150 hours it still sounded disappointing (mostly veiled). Preamp was a Don Sachs...so no problem there.
My (nos) Carver TFM-35 was put it back in the chain. It was easily smoother, more detailed with upper end sparkle. Gave me a lot more respect for this amp.
Decided to give PL one more chance and traded up (luckily at no cost because it's Upscale Audio) to an Evo 400. It sounded great from the first note and just got better from there. Not an ounce of hyperbole to say it was an ocean of difference from the Dialogue series.
My take: There are a lot of people who swoon over their Dialogue series, so maybe some doped ones get through QC? Otherwise I can't explain it.
Also, I have messed up the phases on the speaker wires on the PL. As mentioned, very easy to mess this up on PL.
My Salk speakers are 88db/6 ohm and dip just below 4ohms. Sounded great using 4 ohm taps for a year. Just changed to 8ohm taps and I now get a slightly better presentation in upper midrange and highs... still have good bass slam.
I use Tung Sol 7581A. A little upgrade from stock EL34. More upper end sparkle, same midrange smoothness...a shade more deep bass. Less power though.
A word about Primaluna: if you're looking for ultimate in detail...look elsewhere. These are fun, smooth and romantic sounding amps with good bass slam.
After 150 hours it still sounded disappointing (mostly veiled). Preamp was a Don Sachs...so no problem there.
My (nos) Carver TFM-35 was put it back in the chain. It was easily smoother, more detailed with upper end sparkle. Gave me a lot more respect for this amp.
Decided to give PL one more chance and traded up (luckily at no cost because it's Upscale Audio) to an Evo 400. It sounded great from the first note and just got better from there. Not an ounce of hyperbole to say it was an ocean of difference from the Dialogue series.
My take: There are a lot of people who swoon over their Dialogue series, so maybe some doped ones get through QC? Otherwise I can't explain it.
Also, I have messed up the phases on the speaker wires on the PL. As mentioned, very easy to mess this up on PL.
My Salk speakers are 88db/6 ohm and dip just below 4ohms. Sounded great using 4 ohm taps for a year. Just changed to 8ohm taps and I now get a slightly better presentation in upper midrange and highs... still have good bass slam.
I use Tung Sol 7581A. A little upgrade from stock EL34. More upper end sparkle, same midrange smoothness...a shade more deep bass. Less power though.
A word about Primaluna: if you're looking for ultimate in detail...look elsewhere. These are fun, smooth and romantic sounding amps with good bass slam.