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Picking a Tube integrated amp

Hey all. Trying to figure out my amp situation and am looking at a few integrated to upgrade to. 

I currently have a McIntosh integrated and want to move to tubes. I have the vivid v1.5speakers and a Clearaudio Concept. Looking at the following:

—Primaluna Dialogue premium or HP.
—Audio Research VSi60
—Octave v40SE

Question...does the AR still hold up? It’s likely it will be a used model, but curious if it’s still competing with the others I listed. Any others to consider?  

Thanks!


 
128x128rubytuesday
tak1's avatar
tak1
19 posts
 
Also pure class A is the Line Magnetic 518ia Integrated Vacuum Tube Amplifier .... 845 output tubes .... 22 wpc into 8 but your Vivid speakers with an 89 dB sensitivity should be fine ... and your speakers are closer to the 4 ohm load in the lower octaves (bass). Unless you listen to very load levels, this is a wonderful integrated but @ $4,500.
crwindy
121 posts
 
There is a thread with people having trouble with Line Magnetic customer service. At their price point, I would probably be buying used. Any thoughts?
psickerson
97 posts
 
I have the PrimaLuna Dialog HP. Go for the HP.
Troublefree,  looks awesome, sounds spectacular.  If the EL34 power tubes ever die, which will be a long time,  I’ll think about maybe puttting in the KT150 Power Pickles. 

I put in 2 Millard cv4003 in the front 2 spots.



psickerson
97 posts
 
@rubytuesday I understated Turing off speakers after a short listen.  I did the same with some 7,500 B&W bookshelf’s.

i would urge you to listen to some Aerial Acoustic speakers. I have the 5t’s.   You won’t turn them off until around 2am.  
ggc
178 posts
 
Hi Rubytuesday,

Although I am a Big Rouge Audio fan, I believe that you would get more bang for the buck with the Primaluna Dialog. It has all the benefits of what I like about the Rouge products, Plus more for about the same price. 
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