PrimaLuna EVO 400 v Cary SLI-100

My Cornwall 4's are moved by an arrangement of components that have proven to be very well matched to the task.. The PL EVO 400 Pre is sandwiched between a Holo May KTE DAC and a pair of AGD Audion Mk3 monoblocs. The CD transport is a Jay's CDT3 Mk3. The Primaluna pre uses NOS Mullards in the rectifier positions and a pair of NOS Amperex "Bugle Boy" 12au7's from the late 1950's in the gain positions. This took awhile to become a stellar setup as most of these components needed a lot of break-in. The PL was already broken in.

It did finally take some extensive fiddling with power cables and IC's to get everything just right, but that is par for the course.

+1 for Line Magnetic. I have the 501 IA running KT120s class AB, very nice sounding integrated with excellent build quality.

I believe that Prima Luna is a Dutch company that farms out manufacturing to China, and I m pretty sure that the Cary would still be built in North Carolina. If everything else was equal, that would be a factor that I would consider to be in favor of the Cary.

Shawnmr2

That’s a nice amp.

To @mattsca one question I forgot to ask. What SS integrated/amplification do you have now, and do plan to keep it to rotate back to once in a while if you buy a tube amp?

The reason for asking is many of us own and use more than one amp, and if we go to low-power tube amps (for example) we can also go back to our other higher power SS or tube amps if we crave additional power drive once in a while.

If you are thinking of completely replacing your SS amp, reselling that, then maybe a higher power vs. lower power integrated tube amplifier might be a consideration, [if that makes sense], and if that’s what you are more use to with your Klipsch today.

Low power tube amps, say under 8 watts, is its own game, tubes, speciality amps, and some end up chasing that for years, trying many different amps, expensive WE300B tubes and more. Then hoarding spare tubes, more expenses. IF you share a little more about what your wants/needs/plans are, more here can assist after going down many of these different rabbit holes many of us never pop out of for decades. Next thing ya know, there are 3-5 more tube amps lying around, relatively quickly, its a disease, LOL :)