Tube Integrated vs Tube Seperates

Aren't they on the back of the amp?

On some of the mono blocks the power is on one end and the input/outputs are on the other end.  I put the power plug in the front and loop the power cord under the amp, looks pretty clean.  

I’m leaning towards seperates right now.

I just don’t think that makes sense for hours of daily use. 

I'm going to change my mind about an integrated and suggest a tube preamp and a solid state amp. If you are burning lots of hours you'll be changing power tubes often. The tubes in a tube pre-amp last a long time. That will get you everything you want. 

If you are burning lots of hours you'll be changing power tubes often. The tubes in a tube pre-amp last a long time.

russ raises an excellent point

My Primaluna Evo 400 power amp is so reliable and well made that it is a little bit boring. I sometimes wish I had gotten something I could manually bias every now and then. I’m being totally serious. I made my decision based entirely on the first time fear of tubes and favorable user feedback.

If anything, the Primaluna’s preamp weak point is the Alps volume knob. It’s actually a good part but you want something better at that price point. A high quality stepped attenuator would have been better.

I feed my Evo 400 amp via a Don Sachs preamp. This is a good setup up for sure.

If you’re going all Primaluna then go separates.

What’s truly great about starting with this brand is that you can try just about any tube you want and that’s a huge advantage.

The Evo line is a level step higher than the Dialogue Premium line. I have demo’d both.

Knowing what I know now, I would have gotten a Line Magnetic or a Luxman class A integrated.

Primaluna is something I should have tried much earlier in my journey.

Also, I got Primaluna because I thought I would eventually trade up to a better amp as my knowledge and comfort level of tube gear grows and that the tube rolling would have helped expedite this process.

Unfortunately, in a way, the ownership experience has been so good that I’ve become torn about upgrading. The power tubes are now 7581As and this sounds great. More efficient Tannoy speakers were also a great match...so this isn’t helping either, lol. I’m staying a bit too long with the Primaluna and may paradoxically just end up not trading up. All good problems to have I suppose.