Tube amps under $7500


Ready to experiment with combinations never before (or not recently) tried. Step one requires a tube amp. Now looking at Prima Luna EVO 400 which sells for 5K. Any other tube amps I should consider in this price/feature range? Must come in silver with balanced input. For pairing experimentally with various tube and SS preamps. Efficient 4 ohm Legacy speakers (and the room/setup) are the constants.

 

hickamore

From what I can tell looking at the product description Primaluna does have balanced inputs.

I wished I would had listened years ago when someone suggested to me MCintosh ,ARC or CJ as a preamp. I kiss a lot of frogs on my journey.Listen to the words of wisdom @ghdprentice ​​​​​​he is like the good cool uncle at the bbq .One of my biggest regrets is buying gear thinking that is just as good as what I really wanted . It's a reason why McIntosh,ARC and Cj gear is over 10 years old still demanding a decent price . 

Recently someone was crying about how hard it was to sell a Roque pre amp. Prima luma you see them for sale almost new all the time 

Look into Aric Audio. For $5k, the Transcend Push-Pull is a steal. It runs a variety of output tubes, all in Class A, which makes big difference to my ears, and it sounds terrific. I borrowed the top Prima Luna and found it decidedly substandard. I’ve owned a Manley Stingray II for a decade in second system and it’s a fine little integrated but the Aric is on a different level. Both PL and Manley are class AB. I also have a couple of high-end, low-watt SET amps that I use with high-eff speakers. The Aric is not far behind them in palpability and tonality, but puts out a robust 65 watts with KT-150s. I drive 91db, 4-ohm Perlistens easily. Aric specs his OPTs to handle sub-4 ohms. And it is dead quiet. Aric is a pleasure to work with.

Oh, sorry, I missed the stipulation for balanced input. The Aric is single-ended, at least mine. You could ask him about balanced.

A lot of difference in the house sound of CJ and ARC amps, so it is interesting that some have recommended both.  You need to at least sample dome of the brands recommended.  I particularly endorse the recommendation of Synthesis amps.  I cannot think of another brand that I like more for reasonably priced gear.  Most speakers can be driven by their A40 integrated (40 wpc), but, if you need more power, their A100 delivers that.