PrimaLuna Prologue 1 or 2?

Craig, I'm not familar with your system or what in reproduced music is important to you, however I am quite familar with the Primaluna. Its simple - if your into audio because you want to hear every thing crisp and defined so you can listen to all of the nuances of audiophilia you need the 2 as it provides more resolution and detail than the 1, as well as flexibility. If you are into music more and just want to relax and listen to a tune without worrying about what your system is doing the 1 is ideal. IMHO it is the more balanced, tonally speaking, of the two units but you will find the bass a bit less resolved and the highs are a tad softer. Good luck with your choice.

I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions. If anyone wants to take this further (since Newbee raised the issue and it's a valid one), let me add that the characteristics I've always valued in my (and others') systems' performance are: a wide and deep soundstage with solid imaging, accurate instrumental timbre and a sense of air around individual instruments/voices. That's all kind of retro, I know, but I got into this hobby back in the late 70s and then sat out for a few decades just listening to the music. My system chronology includes many fewer component upgrades than most who, like me, have been at this for 30 years. My 20-year-old B&K ST-140 is only my second power amp, for example (the first was a GAS Son of Ampzilla - that *really* dates me).

When I did get active again, I suddenly found reviewers and others talking about equipment having rhythm and pacing and the kind of timing qualities that seemed to me to either be there in the recorded performance or not, not something that a component could add to or detract from. Consequently I'm not sure if I've ever even experienced those types of qualities, or how to even listen for them. I suspect on some level they're at the heart of the "musicality" issue, and whether you get lost in the music vs listening to the hifi. But I have to say I don't know that for sure. I remember when the debate was about whether everyone meant the same thing when they described a sound as "dark," or "dry," or "grainy." It seems much more difficult now. How do I know what a "sense of pace" sounds like?

Before this gets too far off the PrimaLuna topic, let me say that I guess the long and short is I want something that sounds as life-like as possible for the money, and that doesn't cause fatigue from being overly analytical and detailed beyond the detail you get in real sound in a real hall (using a symphony orchestra as a reference). I guess that's one way of saying I want to simply get involved in the music. My current system gets me almost all the way there, but I know it has some weak links, one of which is the preamp. And if I'm going to look into a replacement for it, I thought tubes might be a good approach, and a cost-effective way to do that might be through one of the PrimaLuna integrateds, i.e., maximize the tube effect by having both pre and power. And here we are.