Raven vs primaluna integrated amplifiers

@arafiq, you are still planting strawmen and not addressing my argument. It is okay, I know you know not the first thing about PCB manufacturing, but here you are trying to defend something you know nothing about.  You remind me of fan boys on stock websites. So much fervor for something they know nothing about.  The best way to address this is by repeating something skypunk wrote. All that talk about your CM means little if what deliver is not high quality,

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Well James delivered it (I had to meet him at a mall but that is okay) and I brought it home to set it up in my system. Well Bryant at the factory packed my Blackhawk out with defective tubes and when I fired it up well smoke came out of the thing. I emailed Bryant and James and they said they would check it out, so I packed it up and met up with James at the same mall and he took it back. Never once did they ask what I wanted to do or tried to keep me happy.

So, the next day an Agoner asked me how the Blackhawk was working out and I posted what happened. Well over night my phone is blowing up with text messages from James and they were none too kind. Dave then proceeded to lambaste me and brought up another issue I had with my CeLest Towers. (yes, they have an issue with system controls and QC processes. As a MSME in an industry where if we send the wrong part trains derail and aircraft fall out the sky, I am critical of these short comings especially when they are so simple to fix but are repeated (at least with me). I had even written a review and it is posted on the Raven Audio website and here at Audiogon.com about my experience with the CeLest, but I digress.

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@glupson We own a vacation home is St. Anne Bay Jamaica that we rent. I also own 2 homes in Florida and one in Colorado. They are all vacation rentals as we rent them out when we are not using them.

Perhaps vacation condo, since that was not "your" front yard, or "your" house, that was the dining area of a small resort complex, and the grounds of a small resort complex.  Should I be posting the real estate I own as an investment but don't live in?  Would that make my ears magically better?  Putting somewhat expensive gear in front of a windows, with the speakers closish to the front wall, a door on one side, no acoustic treatments, and a hard floor is not going to garner you any audio cred with people who truly value good audio.  Owning property in corrupt Jamaica, whether claims of a democracy or not, really does not make your case too well. People send to be pretty selective about their outrage.


Now w.r.t. to that Raven video of build quality, did you mean this one:  https://youtu.be/6vv_3TmfZrE?t=126 ... you know the one with the okay solder fillets where the guy tries to claim equivalence in their products to Nasa products (which don't use lead-free solder, and those audio boards appear to).  You mean the video where he says laser soldering (not used on their boards), and then shows SMT machines, though his board is through-hole? That video?  The one where given the solder process could benefit from a nitrogen atmosphere but does that appear to use one? These videos are to impress people who don't know any better.

A friend has the Primaluna 200 and loves it. I do enjoy the sound when I am there, but how much that is the amp, is questionable. Tubes can be finicky, and their auto-bias is a great feature. No doubt Raven's MFG cost for the same thing is much higher, but they cut out the dealer, so it is probably a wash.  Look into their 45 day trial (and what real costs may be) for Raven, and see if you can get a Primaluna demo.  Tube amps can have quite different sound, and only you will know what is best for you. All this talk on here is just meaningless distraction. Your speakers, your room, your ears ... literally nothing written here is going to matter much w.r.t. sound.

arafiq530 posts02-28-2021 12:21pm@audio2design -- the Raven Audio guy you’re referring to is a brilliant engineer. He designs speakers, amps, works with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and other similar organizations, and is extremely knowledgeable about his craft. He lets his craft speak for itself and doesn’t need to throw his credentials around like confetti. In short, he’s neither an armchair general nor an internet warrior.

And yet, he shows SMT machines, while holding a through-hole wave solder board, talks about laser soldering, not a process used on the boards they are showing, talks about NASA, like there is any correlation to their board builds, and as noted, their soldering quality looks just okay (surface quality) and could benefit from a nitrogen environment during wave/selective soldering.  I didn't force him to put up that fluff piece, he did.  How brilliant is that?    However, you totally proved my point. This was a fluff piece, meant to impress someone like you who does not know any better, and as opposed to addressing what I wrote, you reply with an ad-hom which means you actually have no rebuttal.  Nothing in that video ensures great sound.  The soldering procedures, the inspection, the testing, etc. that is used on the "NASA" products will have little relation to their products, but it sure does sound impressive.