I own a PS Audio 250 amp and matching pre amp and I am very happy with the sound. My speakers are floor standing SF
Upgrading from Primaluna
Recently went down the front end upgrade path and am running a nice table and phono now. I'm curious as to what the weaker link in my system is between my Primaluna Dialogue Premium Preamp and my Dialogue Premium Hp Power Amp. I'm considering swapping out the amp to a Ps Audio BHK250 for the summer to avoid heat, but am curious if I would be better off dealing with the heat and moving up to say an Allnic L-7000/Arc Ref 3 for the Pre. I'm happy with tubes on the front end, but curious if I'm running out of gas with 88DB efficient speakers and a single chassis tube amp. Which amp would you upgrade first and what benefits would you expect?
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- 55 posts total
I had the PrimaLuna EVO400 preamp and power amp combo. I wanted SS as well and replaced the PL combo with a Luxman L-509X integrated amp. I like it better than the PL I had, although the PL was very nice. The Gryphon Diablo 120 or 300 is the only other integrated amps I would like to hear in my setup in the future. It sounds like you want to stick with separates, but the integrated amps I mentioned are well respected pieces. The new Luxman M-10X power amp will have more juice than my L-509X integrated amp since more power is your goal. |
I modded a PL Dialogue HP before. I found the two coupling caps (as shown in Margu's photo they are the black VCaps) make the most improvement and are coincidentally the easiest to swap out. These are directly in the signal path. While I ended up doing a full recap, (even more than Margus did), I found the others didn't make a significant difference. Before doing the caps on the power tubes, I'd even try the two films linked on the massive Nichicon electrolytic that smooth out the power supply. All that said, modifying the Primaluna did make it sound better but it didn't make me love it more so I sold it.
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My first Allnic pre was a used L3000 MKII and I thought it was great, it cost about the same as your Dialogue new. When I sold it for a used L7000SE I was very happy I did. It was night and day improvement. I recently sold it for a new L8000. The L8000 is better but the L7000SE was excellent at half the cost. I would never go back to the L3000MKII but could easily live with the L7000SE. I think you will be very pleased with the improvement with the L7000. |
@newbee @audphile1 @coppy777 you all were right. Speakers were moved to 16" from the side walls and sound so much better. Still 48" from front Wall. Panels pulled and more able to capture highs instead of bouncing around the room before coming back to the speakers to be trapped. An awesome and definitely free upgrade. ASC Tube Traps and preamp still in consideration as most think the PL Dialogue Premium HP is fine for now (possibly moving up later). Still eyeing the Allnic L7000 @anzaanimalclinic |
- 55 posts total