Tube with Solid State?

[JNorth1178]

I have recently purchased a Primaluna Prologue Three preamp. I have teamed it with an Anthem MCA 20 solid state amp. Am I ok pairing the tube preamp with the solid state amp? Would i do better eventually going with s tube amp as well? My speakers are B&W 805s. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. JNorth11078

[Carl Reid]

I have recently purchased a Primaluna Prologue Three preamp. I have teamed it with an Anthem MCA 20 solid state amp. Am I ok pairing the tube preamp with the solid state amp? Would i do better eventually going with s tube amp as well? My speakers are B&W 805s. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. JNorth11078

Sounds like a good pairing to me..... A lot of people use tube preamps (to give that tube sound) and combine them with Solid State amps (to provide the extra wattage and bass performance).... Enjoy!

[Mr Peabody]

As Carl stated, mixing solid state power with tubes is pretty common, so no fowl. Preamps with a low output impedance, generally 500 ohms or less, is best. Whether a different preamp would improve anything would depend more on the quality of the preamp than tube or SS. And, mostly on your taste.

How does the system sound? I'm familiar with Anthem and B&W but have not heard PrimaLuna.

[jrhymeammo]

Tube amps prefer to play speakers with predicatble impedance and other factor(might look it up later). B&W 805s have somewhat strong impedance swing. Tube amps dont care about speakers' sensitivity, just want to sail smoothly across the entire audible and non audible freuquencies. From what I understand and feel, it's about how well speakers will match tubes amps.
I used to pair Signature 805 with my current 40 watts PP A/B tube integrated, which replaced Rotel RSX-972. It sounded awesome as long as I wasnt play some Techno*. Rotel gave more steady sound and more slam, but wasnt going to be my cup of tea at that point. I'm sure greatly designed tube amps will perform flawlessly, but not quite sure if your budget will allow. If anything, I would get push-pull design instead. Hybrid Amp just might be what you are seeking.

And for your question:

"Am I ok pairing the tube preamp with the solid state amp?"

I'll say absotely not..... as long as SS is going to perform better for you than Valve amps. But again, tube amps just might not be the best for 805s. As I recall(not a reliable one), 805s have strong downward impedence swing around 70-80hz.

Good luck.

JRA

*that's right, I said Techno.

[Mr Peabody]

JRA, if I read his post correctly, he is using a tube preamp with a solid state Anthem power amp. So there shouldn't be any problems.

[jrhymeammo]

That's how I understood it too. What did I do? Did I create another JRA moment? if it's about the Rotel I mentioned, I was only referring to its amp

[Mr Peabody]

I thought you may have misunderstood the set up when you were talking about impedance swings and such. You just wanted to throw that in, in case he might think of going with a tube power amp some day?

[jrhymeammo]

Yes, since was considering to go all tubes, eventually.
805s are defintely not the hardest speakers for amps to handle, but I just thought he should know he could be getting great sound with his current setup. Isnt it true that stead 4 ohms speakers are easier for tubes to drive, instead of 8 ohms with radical swings? His speakers may fall in the 2nd category as many of us know.

I've only read great things about Prologue3. I imagine his setup sounds pretty nice.
I think Mr. P's original post is more relevant and useful. Great advice on what he should look for from the existing pre, instead of talking about capabilities of non-existing amps.

[JNorth1178]

Thanks for the input fellows. Yes, my system sounds great. I really stumbled onto the Primalunas a couple of weeks ago in Kansas City at the Primus Audio Pleasure, located in downtown KC in an old but stately office building. PAP occupies two floors. The guys there are great, eager to show you what you want to see but never pushing for a sale. Being new at all of this i had steered clear of tubes till they let me hear the Primalunas preamp. And, I knew right then -- that was the sound I had been looking for. There is more texture to the sound, It is a more mellow sound with far greater dimension to it. That must be what you mean by soundstage.. It's hard to put in words. I guess that is what makes this hobby so intrigueing. I am well pleased with what I have. Only raised the original question to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks again. JNorth1178

[spacedeckman]

Thanks for the input fellows. Yes, my system sounds great. I really stumbled onto the Primalunas a couple of weeks ago in Kansas City at the Primus Audio Pleasure, located in downtown KC in an old but stately office building. PAP occupies two floors. The guys there are great, eager to show you what you want to see but never pushing for a sale. Being new at all of this i had steered clear of tubes till they let me hear the Primalunas preamp. And, I knew right then -- that was the sound I had been looking for. There is more texture to the sound, It is a more mellow sound with far greater dimension to it. That must be what you mean by soundstage.. It's hard to put in words. I guess that is what makes this hobby so intrigueing. I am well pleased with what I have. Only raised the original question to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks again. JNorth1178

I'm doing it now (again), for about the 10th time. Done it the other way too. Prefer the tube pre with SS amp with the combos I've done.

The guys down at Primus are the best. Not only friends, but great people to deal with.

Mark

[B&W]

Hi there!

My ordered Croft Vitale Preamp arrival to my friend home just now, I plan to lend him back home to connect with Quad 909 Power Amp.

My current system is Rega Apolo CD, Pow Quad 909, Spks ATC SCM20. At this moment I connected Rega CD via Nakamichi tape Deck ZX5 to archieve Volume only. Now the sound is great.

For Quad 909, I tried with Preamp 99 already but sound not better my present, after searching some Hifi World Magazine, I found Quad has its succesfull with Mc Cintosh C2200 or Krell Pre Amp with the cost of USD 5,000.00. My friend told me should should better use Nakamichi ZX5 for connection better than spend budget for cheaper preamp. Also with other reference from other source is Budget Croft Vitale will my my sucessful if I'm not concern about the cheap Tube Preamp.

I found one Croft Vitale was sold in used Zenn Audio Shop in Singapore & plan to purchase if Croft from my friend have great connection to my Sys.

Do you have any idea about Croft? Any risk to purchased one in Singapore ( Yes, friend told me some cheated buy online in Sing)

Cheers!

[bobsticks]

... Great advice on what he should look for from the existing pre, instead of talking about capabilities of non-existing amps.

There you go again. God, I can't take you anywhere...

...J, stop confusing the issue with all this blather about nonexistent amps!!!!

Keep it up, mister, and they'll be nothing but country and western for you, for an antire month.

[jrhymeammo]

There you go again. God, I can't take you anywhere...

...J, stop confusing the issue with all this blather about nonexistent amps!!!!

Keep it up, mister, and they'll be nothing but country and western for you, for an antire month.

whatta hell? How did I miss this, and most importantly HOW DARE YOU!!

H