Same for me! He is hypnotising me) But i wish i could make my own amp with soviet components where tantalum capacitor weighed 50 gramms each, each relay had platinum 100 % contacts covered with iridium and enclosed in copper shield...

Right? This is why I am having second thoughts right now and not abusing my credit card straight ways and go for the Pre and the HP Amp.

My sentiment exactly. It's why I had to buy another brand's tube preamp - it had balanced inputs and outputs, since all of my other components are balanced.

I agree, I would require balanced. Few tubed preamps are balanced though. They may have balanced input or output connectors that are just wired to an unbalanced circuit. One way to tell is to look at the volume control: a balanced pot will have four gangs (+ left -left, + right -right), unbalanced has two (left, right).

Jerome Jax! Prima Luna has just introduced an updated series called EvoLution. They now have a balanced preamplifier, the Evo 400. I'm seriously considering this unit!

You don't need balanced unless your running over 5 meter lengths of interconnects

@@alexanderstefanov6474 The RCA connector is a bane and a sign that we are not serious about doing things right. XLR isn't perfect but it is reasonable. Ditto the IEC power connector, the old bakelite Levitons used on coffee pots and clothes irons in the fifties actually would be better, Neutrik has a very good standard that is not terribly expensive but unlike pro audio the high enders have ignored it.

@@harlembob8135 I saw this too. Currently I have the PL HP Dialogue Int. Amp, but looking at the Evo 400 preamp but if I purchase, I would have to by a power amp. Would like a SS to pair with with it. The best of both worlds.

Toroids have advantages and disadvantages. They are very economically customizable, and a one off is not any more expensive to make than one made in big numbers, it takes a few minutes to set a Gorman winder up and you can have any ratios and turns counts you want. The cores are more expensive than a EI lam but cheaper than C cores. They lock up tighter than taylor Swift's c....ontract with any appreciable DC offset currents unless you slit the core and then you need a lot bigger core.(And also you get a M field emission). Thats why PL has copied Bob Cordell's circuit which limits DC offset on the primary. it is an effective solution but ups the parts count. Remember Ed Heinemann and Bill Lear on the most reliable part, the one that is not there! Also AC inrush on power transformers can be much higher than on EI parts. R core has many advantages and some disadvantages over toroid or C-core. In general C-cores in a can potted with microcrystalline wax or tar is the optimum design, this side of oil filled of course, but build cost gets heinous and if the part gets hot the tar goes everywhere. All engineering is compromise, where do you want them? You can have cost, weight, reliability or performance, pick one it's easy, two is doable, three gets tough, four is usually contrary to the laws of physics.

VRM! Prima Luna now has the EvoLution series. The Evo 400 preamplifier has balanced in & outputs.

If the design isn't truly balanced/differential, then it's just a gimmick anyway. PrimaLuna designs single-ended stuff, so just use it that way.

Thanks Joey...I had to quit smoking dope years ago. Along with acid, quaaludes, shrooms, peyote, etc. But I have the memories!

00bikeboy ... with regards to transformers. No point if the chassis is made of 1/2” lead

That is a very complicated question without any one good answer. It's like asking, what is a good car? I mean a Toyota Camry is a better car than a Mclaren F1. Full stop. Right? may I suggest you read a book. That book would be "Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear" by Alan Douglas. It is still readily available although Mr. Douglas sadly passed late in 2019.

This is just another format to plug all your periphrials to - cd, phono stage, dac, streamer, etc. This is used in a separate component system format - i.e. seperate pre-amp box running into a separate power amp box (or boxes if doing 2 monoblock power amps). Integrated amps are both a pre and power built into one box. Either way has its pros/cons, either way is up to the end user preference on how they are setting up their system, either way your phono stage is first running into a pre-amp regardless. There's so much more in ways of combos - i.e. if your turntable has a built in phono stage and you may be using powered speakers, etc, but I hope this helps.

Hi Roma. After doing this for over 40 years as a living, I've become "grumpy" about brands according to my loving wife Laura. I don't call it grumpy but what HAS happened is I don't get impressed by name brands anymore. Go to Google and type in Audio Research LS17SE, then go to images. Do a breakdown of what you guess it cost to build that preamp by simply doing an inventory and calculating the weight. Every model change manufacturers raise the price and put in fewer parts. Audio Research LS27 was $6995 and weighs 16.3 lbs. The replacement LS28 is $7495 and weighs 15.9 lbs. They sound fine. It's easy to make a tube preamp that sounds great. There are no new designs. It's all the same stuff repackaged, regardless of brand. So you have to be a detective and an accountant to get the most for your money.

Do you guys have Mcintosh and ARC tube amps in the showroom to compare side by side with the primalunas hooked up to the same source material?

As a matter of fact we just traded in a 3 month old $8500 Audio Research VSI-75 integrated towards a $3399 PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium integrated, but first the customer wanted to do a real comparison. So we did it level-matched by measuring test tones with an SPL meter so both amps were playing within .1dB of each other. Both amps are hot, playing the same material. The difference was so striking we are leaving it up for anyone to come listen to. If you are local, come by! I have some trade in LS17SE, LS26, LS27, MC2300, all traded in but we don't have them up on display. They are for sale and we don't put the used stuff out. It's priced to sell and boxed up ready to go. But for anyone serious I can do the same A/B there too.