Best intro to tube integrateds?

I will add my vote to those for the PrimaLuna - I went with the Dialouge 2 and am very happy with it. I greatly preferred it to the Rogue Cronus, by the way, which is much brighter in comparison. I have not heard the Jolida or the Cayin, though my uncle had a Cayin in his system briefly and was not particularly impressed.

I use a pair of Prima Luna mono power amps and can attest - good sound, versatile (tube-rolling), easy to use (auto-bias), nice build quality. Another option at similar $ is a used Pathos Classic One hybrid. This unit has a ss ouput stage which might be either a + or a - depending on your preference. A great looking and sounding piece, though.

Good Luck,

Marty

Rogue Audio Cronus.....A beautiful sounding amp, and its phono stage mates particularly well with the Rega P3-24/Exact combination (see my system.) Happy Listening !!

To these ears, the best sounding entry level tube integrated is hands down, the Vista Audio i34. There isn't much that affordable thing doesn't do well, and best of all, the tubes are cheap and the unit is self-biasing. It's probably the only sub 2k piece that I've ran that wasn't quickly put in its place by my 6k+ integrated amps.

That said, the Prima Luna suggestion is also very solid. Though I feel their sound quality falls well below the aforementioned Vista Audio piece, they nonetheless offer solid and reliable performance. The tubes are easy to replace and that self biasing circuit makes for very worry-free ownership. The best thing Prima Luna has going for it is a wide distribution network, which makes it easy to audition one before forking over the green.

Between these two options, I think you'll be happy. Both will match your EPOS monitors just fine.