Some time ago I wrote concerning my purchase of prologue 7 monos, and expressing the desire to add a Prologue 3. (I notice my comments on the scrolling section of your website!).
I am really happy to say that I now have the Prologue 3 preamp, and the combination is just stunning!
I am driving Tannoy Prestige Stirling speakers and the whole synergy with the PL3 is just amazing. The sound is rich, detailed but not clinical, with a deep controlled bass and heavenly midrange. The highs are sweet, and although maybe not as high as I have heard, I think my advancing age is rolling off some high frequencies! I think also my cables, while good, may be ‘shutting in’ the highs.
Thanks for such brilliant amplifiers.
This entry was posted in PrimaLuna´s owners reviews, ProLogue Classic Series and tagged audio, electronics, hifi, music, tube amplifier. Bookmark the permalink.
Nice system! I love those Tannoys!
We don’t talk about the dual output transformers enough. I am not aware of any other brand that can boast using this design, though they may exist.
The design team at PrimaLuna faced a formidable challenge; namely, how to match (or exceed) the sonic signature of its integrated an stereo amps in a set of monoblock amplifiers with twice the power. This was no small feat because the stereo amps possessed a natural and highly engaging midrange, outstanding soundstaging, extended and articulate bass and highs, and a musicality reminiscent of a live performance. As many designers can attest, it’s quite easy to take a step backwards rather than forwards when creating a more powerful amplifier.
While many may have used larger transformers to double the output power, the PrimaLuna team ruled that approach out because big output transformers don’t behave as well or sound as good as their smaller brethren. They opted to use two discrete audio channels on one chassis, and paralleled them at the loudspeaker terminals so that the outputs would be summed, resulting in double the output power. This design added a 16-ohm tap to each transformer, which when paralleled resulted in an 8-ohm output.
However, the summing approach created other challenges, since a percentage of power from one free-running transformer was pushed into the other, due to output voltage differences caused by circuit tolerances and tube aging. To deal with this problem, the team developed a specific cross-coupled positive/negative feedback scheme to balance out both channels perfectly. It also enabled PrimaLuna mono amps to offer a 2-ohm tap to drive very low sensitivity/low impedance loudspeakers.
In addition, newly designed pre-stages improved the drive capacity to the power tubes, resulting in even lower distortion, without the need for extra negative feedback. The circuit was inherently more stable and virtually immune to drive imbalance and its accompanying distortions with tube aging.
Hé Kevin! Nice to see you showing up here. I know, I know, you “complained” already too often about us not mentioning enough that in our little cubes is more than the standard tube designs you can find at almost every corner of the street. I promise to do better. So … Yes, we have a number of circuits which are absolutely unique to PrimaLuna products. The cross-coupled positive/negative feedback scheme to balance out both channels perfectly as mentioned by you, if one of them. Of course our Adaptive (and that “adaptive” is important!!) Auto Bias design, which is known for many years and just has been updated to a newer version. The circuit is no longer “fused” anymore and it is updated with a BTI (Bad Tube Indication) circuit. If anyone is interested, I can explain more about it. We recently added PTP (Power Transformer Protection), OTP (Output Transfomer Protection), we have our -quite- unique SuperTubeClock and use since many years our PTS (Premium Tube Selection) system to give our customers selected high quality current production tubes at affordable pricing. Ask me about it and I will tell you more. We have been testing a lot of fuses. Not the crazy expensive audiophile fuses, but fuses from wellknown manufacturers and have come up with some nice results. And again … inexpensive, if not almost for free. Now we are experimenting with special kind of resistors at some critical points in our circuits. For sure more expensive than fuses, but results are still interesting enough to possibly do something with the results in future models. Keep an eye on us and you will be the first to know about it. Thanks for now.
Indeed, why not? Give us the correct information about everything special to PrimaLuna designs. It’s nice to read about, but even better, nice to KNOW about. I have heard your products at New Music and Noir & Blanc in Bruxelles and I am pretty keen to get an integrated or seperate pre + power before the end of the year. Maybe as a Christmas present for (me and) the family?
I really intended to start preparing a post, but all kind of things came in between. One of these things was the arrival of a new batch of Kiseki phono cartridges and like it already was in “the last century” when we introduced this brand for the first time, that takes time. Unpacking, checking, installing, repacking etc. But that’s done, so the plan is to find some time to write about all we do to make an investment in PrimaLuna a solid investment. Keep an eye on this BLog and watch out.
Thank you Chris! Thank you for sharing your feelings about our PrimaLuna products and for allowing us to team up with famous brands like Tannoy and Audio Research. I am really proud of that. And of course for allowing us to have a look at your system through your pictures. Very much appreciated!
So many people know those Avalon speakers are fairly power-hungry. Do you have enough power? Have you tried the different (2, 4, and 8 ohm) speaker taps? Which did you like most?
Hi Louie. Good news to hear you are not the only one in the family who likes the music system. I just placed another comment as being an answer on a question from a lady who wanted to know if a DiaLogue 3 comes with a PhonoLogue. And this DiaLogue 3 might end up as being the Christmas present for her husband. Not bad either!
I am still using the above combination and loving it still. I heard that it might be possible to use KT120’s in the 7s. Is this true? I guess it would give more power, but not willing to try something without checking it out. I am currently using some great 6550s (Svetlana winged C).
Dear Chris, You can use KT 120 tubes in your ProLogue 7 amplifiers. The KT 120 tube is at the moment a very popular tube to play with.
Great to hear you still love your PrimaLun.
Just an update to my system. Today I replaced the Prologue 3 with a Dialogue Premium Preamp. Wow! At first listen, there is so much more of what I liked about the Prologue. Detail, clarity, depth of image – I can’t wait for it to be properly ‘bedded in’.
Still using Prologue 7s and Tannoy Stirling SEs, and the Audio Research cdp. This just gets better and better! And great help and service from you gentlemen too! Thank you.