Tube Amp Break In

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

Is it enough to just have the tube amp on to break in and the caps to form?

 

Or does it need music?

 

Out of the box, the Primaluna Prologue 5 doesn’t sound so great. 

 

Your coupling capacitors and output transformers could use some break-in as well, which means it would help to play music through them.

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

 

Thanks, very interesting.  The only rub is that I only have a 14 day audition window and out of the box the PrimaLuna is intolerable!  The highs are not the least bit smooth.....

 

So I'm winding my way to 100 hours.  But that's interesting, 4 hours at a time.  I'm at 4 hours today so far, maybe I'll shut if off for a few hours and go again....

 

Well, at 36 wpc, you're asking a lot with those SF three-ways.  They suggest *minimum* 40 watts.

 

Honestly, if they're not at least *promising* within your demo window, send them back.  Break-in is certainly helpful but a good match should sound agreeable off the bat...

[zackthedog]

47 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

 

Upscale Audio is a Sonus Faber dealer and swear the Prologue 5 can easily drive them.  Just needs to be 87 db efficiency or higher and the SF's are 90.  They gave me a list of much harder to drive speakers that they say can easily be driven by the Prologue 5.

 

Out of the gate, the Prologue 5 is unbearably bright  and bit flat....  But its very early, only at 8 hours so far...

 

The amp looks absolutely beautiful...

 

90dB doesn't mean anything if you've got second- or third-order crossovers in there.  My ProAcs are 89dB but with a single first-order crossover they sing with 8 watts. ;-)  But if they recommend the combo, then they must know.  I'll be interested to hear whether things smooth out for you.

[zackthedog]

55 minutes ago, elcorso said:

 

36 wpc from a tube amp could mean 100 wpc from SS...

 

Roch

 

...or it could mean 20 decent watts.  It all depends on the quality of the amp.

[zackthedog]

34 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

 

Cuttently, the fully broken in PS Audio S300 sounds better than the 8 hour break in Prologue 5 across the board.  There’s nothing that sounds better with the PrimaLuna. 

 

As mentiomed, the Prologue 5 is way too bright so far.  But it’s still early. 

 

I had no complaints about the S300, just got curious about tube amps, a long held but untested fascination. 

 

Well, don't judge tube amps on this trial alone. ;-)  

[zackthedog]

6 hours ago, DancingSea said:

 

 

110 hours of PrimaLuna Prologue 5 break in complete.  Had an amp shootout last night.

 

One issue is the Prologue 5 clipped at decent volume - and soundstage was shifted decidedly left, ugh.

 

The tube amp looks fantastic, its a very high quality construction, and was a bit sweeter in the vocals, just a tad - but in every other regard, the PS Audio S300 trounced it.

 

Soundstage was properly placed and more expansive, details and imaging superior, bass was no contest - overall presentation was more smooth, lush, liquid and pleasing - sound more full and rich.  This is my first tube amp trial, but based upon the many many tube amp reviews I've read, the S300 sounds more like a tube amp than the tube amp!

 

My impression is that the Prologue 5 is a 15+ year old design who has been passed technologically by the fresh off the press S300.....

 

Perhaps one day I'll explore a tube preamp.  But for now, I'm happy to have confirmation of how good the PS Audio S300 sounds with the Stellar Gain Cell DAC.  Its a great combo.   But tubes continue to fascinate me.  Would be cool just to have something that presents lit up tubes on my rack, wouldn't have to be sound related, just for decoration!

 

I imagine the design is a lot older than that...probably a modified Williamson, similar to a late-model Heathkit, judging by the tube compliment.  Scot and Macintosh were a lot more innovative. ;-)  Not that there's anything wrong with the design per se.  I think it's working waaaaay to hard to drive those speakers.  I'm glad the s300 pleases you and I think you should stick with it.  And a tubed preamp might be the ticket for a good taste of tube sound.  But you'd need to spend a lot more on a beefy tube amp to drive those speakers.  An Acoustic Research (as Ralf11 mentions) or a Conrad-Johnson amp would probably fare much better.