Primaluna & Klipsch Cornwall frustration HELP


Well this is a little frustrating. I have a Primaluna preamp and Primaluna Dialogue 5 power amp. Found a great deal on some Klipsch Cornwalls. Heard Klipsch and tubes were made for each other. Hooked them up and it had very little bass. I was expecting a BIG sound. Sounded almost anemic. Hooked them up to a class D audio amp through the Primaluna preamp and it was fantastic. Lots of slam. A great rock and roll sound. These are very efficient speakers so I don't get why they don't sound good through the tubes. 42 watts per channel at 8 ohms. Happened to talk to a Primaluna guy and he told me I needed a more powerful Primaluna amp. That has got to be BS. Do I have bad or weak tubes?? These are KT88's! Maybe they are going out. Who knows. Tried to call Kevin Deal at Upscale but he is out of town. I am not buying a bigger Primaluna amp. Kind of offended that I was even told that. Would the KT120's make a difference? Could it be something else wrong with the amp. Thanks for any help. By the way the amp sounds sweet with small monitors where I don't expect much bass. Thanks for any direction.
128x128dylanfan

Showing 12 responses by dylanfan

Would changing tubes help? Moving from the KT88's to KT120's or should I just write this amp off and move on?
In the corners. Through other power amps with the same preamp they sound great. It has got to be the Primsluna power amp.
KT88's came in it. It was an open box. In perfect shape. I am thinking I have bad tubes. Should I try the Kt120's or stick with different Kt88's or some other tube.
I use the power amp with some KEF ls50's and Dynaudio X12's. They sound great for their size. I picked the Klipsch up so I could have a rock and roll set of speakers when I wanted to play Stones etc. I am used to the monitor sound through the Primakuna but I gotta say all the speakers sound much better through my Luxman 505U or through the Class D Audio power amp playing through the Primaluna preamp. Thinking about trading in or selling the Primaluna power amp and going with a really good solid state amp. Thought I might check the forum for other ideas before I do anything rash. I have 2 good solid state Amps now snd I like the tube sound so wanted to try to figure this thing out.
I agree. This should be a great combo. Has me racking my brain. No tube people in my area. I will have to order other tubes if I want to switch.
I am getting tired of trying to get this amp to work in my system. My weak link. Not because it's a bad piece just hard to work with.
Over my head Al but thanks for the response. So what kind of speaker sounds best with this kind of amplifier?? Or should I ditch the thing. Not enough adequate power for my Dynaudio X12's or my KEF LS50's . That's why I got the Cornwall's. Now this tube amp will not work with Klipsch speakers. What the heck works with the amp?
It sounds good just missing the low end. Not as clean as my LS50's or Dynaudio speakers but will probably be a great rock and roll speaker when I get the bass added in.
I have not changed taps yet. I am out of town and won't be back until Labor Day. I will try that when I get back. I have it set at 8 ohms. Thanks for the advice.
I am using it with a Primaluna Premium preamplifier. Thanks for the advice stmadphere. I will reverse the phase of one speaker when I get home over Labor Day. This amp hardly gets played because I travel so much. I would like to just go home, turn it on for the little bit of time me I am home and enjoy it instead of trying to figure out why it doesn't sound right.
Talked to Kevin Deal at Upscale. Really nice guy. We talked for quite some time. He is sending me some new tubes to try first and see if that makes a difference. He knows his stuff. Give him a try. Great customer service.