Thanks for all the great responses, if I could figure out how to answer them individually,I would. Some great suggestions and a lot to think about and work on. Just to say, the Robson Acoustics speakers are beautiful, as you can see on their website, they are just so difficult to partner and the Evo 200 just can’t do it. It is so frustrating because I think I have two excellent products but they just don’t like each other. I don’t feel that I should tweak with the Evo, since it is still in its 30 day return period and they have agreed to take it back for a full refund if I am not happy with it. Sadly, I think that is the way to go and then trade up to something else. Many thanks for all your help, you guys are awesome and I am absolutely hooked on the tube sound.
PrimaLuna Evo 200 underwhelming
Hi all, I wonder if someone can help or advise. I bought an ex. Display Primaluna Evo 200 a couple of weeks ago, mainly based on all the rave reviews and excellent comments on various forums. I must say, that vocals are terrific but overall, the sound seems muffled. There seems to be a hole where the mid range detail should be. I have tried the 4 and 8 ohm settings and there doesn’t seem a great deal of difference. I am using it with a Linn Genki CD player and Robson Acoustics Opulus speakers, also Vintage Tannoy Mercury speakers. I haven’t messed with the tubes because I have no idea how to do that. I so want this amplifier to sound beautiful but there is something missing. Can anyone help please?
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As strange as this sounds, I had a similar experience with a PL Dialogue Premium. After 150 hours it still sounded disappointing (mostly veiled). Preamp was a Don Sachs...so no problem there. My (nos) Carver TFM-35 was put it back in the chain. It was easily smoother, more detailed with upper end sparkle. Gave me a lot more respect for this amp. Decided to give PL one more chance and traded up (luckily at no cost because it's Upscale Audio) to an Evo 400. It sounded great from the first note and just got better from there. Not an ounce of hyperbole to say it was an ocean of difference from the Dialogue series. My take: There are a lot of people who swoon over their Dialogue series, so maybe some doped ones get through QC? Otherwise I can't explain it. Also, I have messed up the phases on the speaker wires on the PL. As mentioned, very easy to mess this up on PL. My Salk speakers are 88db/6 ohm and dip just below 4ohms. Sounded great using 4 ohm taps for a year. Just changed to 8ohm taps and I now get a slightly better presentation in upper midrange and highs... still have good bass slam. I use Tung Sol 7581A. A little upgrade from stock EL34. More upper end sparkle, same midrange smoothness...a shade more deep bass. Less power though. A word about Primaluna: if you're looking for ultimate in detail...look elsewhere. These are fun, smooth and romantic sounding amps with good bass slam. |
If you feel it lacks dynamics swapping to KT88's will help open things up. I much preferred KT88's over el34's and my speakers are also 86db. I'd try those before KT120's or 150's to stay within the comfort zone of the rest of the circuit. You also mentioned that it sounds muffled which can be a characteristic of the preamp tubes, in particular the gain tubes. I'd start by swapping the gain and driver tubes if you don't have any extra 12Au7's on hand, but it's worth experimenting there as well. The preamp stage has a huge impact on sound quality, particular transparency, so don't overlook the small tubes. |
I demoed the Prima Luna Evo 300 against four other tube integrated amps; see https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/integrated-tube-amp-demo-follow-up. In comparison, I found the Evo 300 to be somewhat veiled, or "muffled", in its sound just as you have. BTW, I have now moved on to a Pass Labs XA 30.8, with Conrad Johnson preamp, which is another giant step up in sound quality. |
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