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Primaluna evo 400 Integrated Amp?


Fido

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45 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

$marta$$es of the world unite! You forgot to mention the recording Microphones and Pre Amps are Analog.

 

Yes, I have to admit, I own about 1,000 LP's about 1/2 of them Classical and Orchestrated Pop (inherited), with the other half are the ones I never sold after I switched to CD's in 1983, when all you could buy was a Sony CD player that cost a fortune back then (relatively speaking). 

 

I just got a Blue Sound Vault 2i I have yet to plug in. I'm too busy finishing my Edgar Horns with more coats of Spar Urethane over the Baltic Birch and recovering from injury moving them, so I'm working on the passive Networks (analog), since they are phase aligned within an Inch or so between Mid and Woofer horns.

 

The trump card on all this..........regardless of the storage/delivery/conversion medium is the MASTERING, which is truly the Difference we all hear. I got a few dozen SA CD's from the pop/rock/jazz world and I'm most impressed with the Japanese MASTERING on them. My gold standard is "Kind of Blue" recorded in 1959 on noisier Analog TAPE of the day. So no one can use the age as an excuse for bad sound. I have 3 versions of it and the last one is 5.1 SA CD. Let me tell you, that played back in Pure Mode on my Yamaha CX-A5200 Pre Pro,  it blows away the other two in overall quality (one too little bass, one too much bass) and has more detail and ambience to go with the wider sound stage the goes wider than the L and R spacing, AMAZING. Since it's THE best selling Jazz recording of all time, recorded 62 years ago, I can see where they would bother with it, using Digital Noise Reduction and Re-Mastering Technology to do it from the Original Tapes (even compensating for the wow and flutter of a faulty capstan on the tape recorder).

 

Besides, the average Jazz recording is so much better than the over compressed Pop stuff that fully participated in the Loudness Wars, where storing them as MP3/320 CBR in the Vault is still too good for them.

 

So YES, analog in, analog out, but the MIDDLE stages of MASTERING is where the magic happens, aside from the Musicians' Performance!!

 

Regardless, I'm sure that your Prima Luna sounds very sweet and is worth the trouble on your Forte IV's!!

 

PS: I'm using Forte 1's on my L and R side channels in 5.1 until I build taller speakers I designed with Double 12's and a very modern Horn driver as a 2-way, which takes way more time than doing a Super Heresy, which are in the Rear at the moment, so I'm not exactly Slummin'.

 

 

 

 

I want to be the president of that Smartazz club. Sounds like fun to me and I know you are not slumming it with those Danley subs and all that high end camera gear and i still enjoy my Forte 1s with Dave As lmahl tweeters.

 

so far in first two years no problems with the PL except one tube that blew. Upscale had a replacement the next day and now I have extras just in case.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Guys,

 

Finally, after a year and a bit of researching and saving, I have the PL EVO 400 Integrated as part of my "family".

 

It is my first tube amp and I learned a lot from you guys here on this forum and in this thread and I am very appreciative of that and also Fido and Taylor have just really, really helped me out with all of this stuff....thanks so much.

 

Now, from the minute I played a song, I was deeply immersed in the sound that was hitting me.

 

I heard sounds I never ever did before with my old amp. (This is my first ever tube amplifier)

 

Every instrument was just right there in front of me and literally, the soundstage produced a live experience.

 

One night, I wanted to just play two songs and go to bed at a good time and not 1am in the morning as per usual these days...anyways, it was after 3 when I packed it in as I just couldn't stop listening.

 

Now, as a tube noob...if someone could post an instructional video on how you change out the tubes and/or straighten them in their sockets when new...that would be great. 😉

 

And, a question about stuff I have read here. I know people have said they might have had "noise" coming from the tubes...some say their tubes are "dead quiet"....what does that mean? I have always wondered if it means that when the volume is at zero are you hearing "noise"? Or does it mean when you turn up the volume and play a song it sounds noisy?

 

When my new amp is on but the volume is at zero, there is no sound....but if I turn on my phonostage and turn up the volume with no record playing, I hear a snowy sound around 11:00 on the volume dial. Is that normal then?

 

I know, I know...I don't usually obsess about stuff like this but I love this amp and want it to be perfect....

Cheers and Take Care

 

 

 

 

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Congratulations on your new PL! I have the Dialogue Premium HP and I love it. Enjoy the tubes that came with the unit, they’re really good. That minor noise at 11:00 on the dial is normal. Don’t worry about that. Enjoy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, JeffLebowski said:

 

if I turn on my phonostage and turn up the volume with no record playing, I hear a snowy sound around 11:00 on the volume dial. Is that normal then ?

 

your tube amp is not broken in yet  ,   so give it a bit of time , if the snowy sound gets worse , call your dealer 

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Thanks guys!!

 

BTW, should have mentioned that I am using two aux channels. One for my Pro-Ject Tube Box-S phonostage and the other for my BlueSound Node 2i. The Node is totally silent but the Tube-Box has a snowy static sound at the 11:00 and upward volume level.

 

Take Care

Edited by JeffLebowski
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2 hours ago, JeffLebowski said:

Thanks guys!!

 

BTW, should have mentioned that I am using two aux channels. One for my Pro-Ject Tube Box-S phonostage and the other for my BlueSound Node 2i. The Node is totally silent but the Tube-Box has a snowy static sound at the 11:00 and upward volume level.

 

Take Care

I use a puffin phono stage and before that I used a musical fidelity phono stage plugged into aux 1 and I never had any snowy static sound or anything but silence. Have you tried plugging your phono stage into another aux input?

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Hi, I did try two other AUX channels and they are the same.

The fact that it is only the phonostage and not my Bluesound I am wondering if the Pro-Ject Tube Box S is causing the grief. I did remove the tubes and cleaned them and tried again and to be honest, I think the static sound has reduced at the 1100 to 1300 volume setting. But, when I turn the volume all the way up, there is an obvious snow/static sound and this doesn't happen with the streamer.

 

 

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14 hours ago, JeffLebowski said:

Hi, I did try two other AUX channels and they are the same.

The fact that it is only the phonostage and not my Bluesound I am wondering if the Pro-Ject Tube Box S is causing the grief. I did remove the tubes and cleaned them and tried again and to be honest, I think the static sound has reduced at the 1100 to 1300 volume setting. But, when I turn the volume all the way up, there is an obvious snow/static sound and this doesn't happen with the streamer.

 

 

Wow that has to be really loud. If I go past 12 o clock with my Forte IVs with the EVO 400 I’d be risking serious hearing loss. I think that your phone stage is causing the noise you are hearing thru your PL. I only use my Node 2i, turntable and ht bypass with my system but have had a Yamaha CD player in another aux input none of the inputs add snowy noise at any volume I have listened to. 
 

I rolled in a full set of Brimar preamp tubes and after about a year I heard a snow like noice at any volume. When I put the original PL tubes back in the noise completely disappeared. I am planning on putting the Brimar tubes back in the two center positions when I get around to it because I love the way the amp sounded with them installed in that position.  If the snowy noise returns I will just stick with the PL stock tubes.

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On 10/16/2021 at 8:53 AM, JeffLebowski said:

Hey 

Let us know how the Brimar tubes sound there.


Just to clarify, I am not playing music and hearing the snowy sound. I don't hear anything when music is on...just if I turn the volume dial up with nothing playing.

 

 

 

I rinstalled two of the Brimar tubes in ih just the center positions and it sounds great. No noise whatsoever . No snowy background noise. Do you have no noise when turning up the volume with your phono preamp not plugged into your EVO 400?

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Hi Fido,

Sorry, I couldn't get onto the site for a few days.

I have pretty much switched out everything possible to determine the fault and it is the pre-amp.

I don't hear the noise when I am playing music so I am ok with it.

I just was testing the EVO to make sure it was not faulty in any way.

Brimar is now on my list for tube swapping.

🙂

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I did buy and received and tested the evo400 ia, and compared to my PL HP dialogue, no sound difference was noticeable to my ears, with my KH 70th ann., and my la Scala's 7-th ann. and my forte iii's and h4.

I TRIED IT AS U CAN TELL WITH EVERY HERITAGE SPEAKERS I HAVE AND NO DIFFERENCE ION SOUND compared to the hp dialogue. 

 

I returned it to Kevin dale, and kept my hp dialogue, and saved myself  some money.  

FWIW, Newer is not always better. more of the same in this case. 

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9 hours ago, pallpoul said:

I did buy and received and tested the evo400 ia, and compared to my PL HP dialogue, no sound difference was noticeable to my ears, with my KH 70th ann., and my la Scala's 7-th ann. and my forte iii's and h4.

I TRIED IT AS U CAN TELL WITH EVERY HERITAGE SPEAKERS I HAVE AND NO DIFFERENCE ION SOUND compared to the hp dialogue. 

 

I returned it to Kevin dale, and kept my hp dialogue, and saved myself  some money.  

FWIW, Newer is not always better. more of the same in this case. 

so did the EVO 400 sound worse than the HP Dialogue? I bought the EVO 400 after auditioning both amps but not because I thought the EVO 400 sounded better - but I was searching for the latest and greatest and I thought maybe the 400 would be a slight upgrade/update? I love my 400 but I will be bummed if the HP Dialogue sounds much better than the EVO.

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10 hours ago, JeffLebowski said:

Hi Fido,

Sorry, I couldn't get onto the site for a few days.

I have pretty much switched out everything possible to determine the fault and it is the pre-amp.

I don't hear the noise when I am playing music so I am ok with it.

I just was testing the EVO to make sure it was not faulty in any way.

Brimar is now on my list for tube swapping.

🙂

glad your EVO 400 wasn't the noise problem.

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2 hours ago, Fido said:

so did the EVO 400 sound worse than the HP Dialogue? I bought the EVO 400 after auditioning both amps but not because I thought the EVO 400 sounded better - but I was searching for the latest and greatest and I thought maybe the 400 would be a slight upgrade/update? I love my 400 but I will be bummed if the HP Dialogue sounds much better than the EVO.

they sounded the same to my ears, honestly. so i save myself 5k and returned it. 

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6 minutes ago, pallpoul said:

they sounded the same to my ears, honestly. so i save myself 5k and returned it. 

Good to know. Since I didn’t have a Primaluna integrated tube amp already I traded my hybrid ma252 for the evo 400. I don’t know how much less the hp dialogue would have been then the evo 400 but if I could save $5000 I would have just bought the dialogue

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Guys,

So, I was documenting that I had a phono-stage issue with a "snowy" sound when I turned the volume up to noon on the dial and nothing playing. (this was a very minute sound but audible)

So, I imagine it is the phono-stage causing it or the cable etc.

 

But, now, after a month of having the EVO 400i, the channel that was clean and free of "noise" had tube noise with the volume knob not even turned up. 

 

It seems to have subsided today but it is not entirely clear. 

Does this happen the odd time because of our electrical connections?

Have you had this just arise like me ....  no noise on my channel for my streamer and now it is there?

 

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got to the end of this thread. Thanks to everyone who posted... I found it very informative. Thinking about getting my first integrated tube amp and the PL 400 may just be the ticket.

 

Would love to combine the 400's with the Cornwall IV's. 😀

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