Sound, built.

Noone, even remote is not necessary

After 4 years listening to the Musical fidelity A2 amp, it was logical to buy valve amp. So I decided to buy Primaluna Prologue Two. Only one word can express the sound :EXCELLENT. With Arcam CD192, VDH 102 mk3, top hi-end croatian manufactereur Audio Epilog speakers (model Peyotte) and Mogami 3103 speakers cables I finally have my dream system, which will, I hope, last a long, long time. So, anyone planning to buy valve amp, listen to the Primaluna Prologue Two, you will not regret.

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noone

Real like violins, classical music reproduction never sounded better, jazz too. Not to mention I like to rock with this amp. Voices are made in heaven. I rate it 9-10 with MF X-150 coming close to this amp with better bass control but without the magic, voice and real-like reproduction of the tubes. Primaluna Two is the best value/money amp. It plays at 1/4 LOUD with my Proacs Studio 125!!! Even headbangers will love this amp and never switch to another. Auto-bias. Drives many many speakers well.

Probably not 1 at this price point, check out Audioresearch Vsi55 but at x2 of the price.

This is the best tube amplifier at the price - also there are no many tube amps delivering the build quality (9/10) for the money like Primaluna. My system is now a Primaluna Prologue Two (replacing the MF X-150), Nordost Blue Heaven MKII speaker cables, Silver Streak by Kimber and Cardas Neutral Reference connecting the X-RAY v3 Musical Fidelity fantastic CD Player to the Musical Fidelty Tube Buffer X10 to Primaluna. My speakers are the Proac Studio 125 and this is a phenomenal system - believe it or not my 87db speakers sounds very very very dynamical and gutsy with this combo - I use the amps volume at 1/4 and Its LOUD, you will believe me if you own one.The KT88s 40W rocks but also the sound remained silky-smooth,precise and controlled. I cannot remember listening better to some close miced violins of Paganini 24 Caprices (TELARC) but with this amp I listen to the whole CD with my mouth open. Violins sound so real like the performer is in my home and thats because of Primaluna, Cardas Neutral Reference and even Silver Streak of Kimber Cables do the job very well. Going piano I found the amp doing a rather well job - this is definetly a jazz/classical lover amp. But not only... Rocking is another part of this star. Listening even to heavy stuff like guitar virtuosos (malmsteen,vai) I cannot switch to solid state despite the slightly loss of the bass quickness. The mids and highs plus the real-like voices of electric guitar and singers cannot be perfomed so good at this price range. I rate the amp with 9-10. Comparing this amplifier with the Musical Fidelity X-150 solid state - at first - you

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Musical Fidelity X-150. Very very good amp too.

Music sounds real . Great value for the money. Able to alter sound of the amp thru tube rolling Build quality. Ability to use kt-88, EL-34. 6550. KT-90 tubes

A remote control would be nice Like many amps today a little too much gain on the volume control for my taste. Can be remedied if you a have cd player with a volume ccontrol

Have owned several pre/power and integrated amps before finding the PimaLuna. I had always been intrigued by the thought of owning a tube amp, but wasn't sure I wanted to hassle with biasing the tubes. Before the PrimaLuna I was using a Pathos Logos hybrid integrated amp and really enjoyed the quality the tube front end brought to music. On a whim I purchased a small inexpensive tube integrated amp for a second system.At that point I was hooked.Knowing that Upscale Audio carried both the Pathos Logos and PrimaLuna I gave Kevin Deal a call to ask how the two integrated amps compared. He was very impressed with the sound of the PrimaLuna and said it compared favorably to the more expensive Pathos integrated. In a huge leap of faith I decided to trade the Pathos in and purchase the PrimaLuna Prologue 2. To make a long story short I don't miss the Pathos Logos at all. I am not going to tell you that the PrimaLuna Prologue 2 is a better amp than the Pathos Logos, but i certainly enjoy listening to music thru the primaLuna more. What it loses in bass control to the Pathos the Prologue 2 makes up with its realistic portayal of vocals and instrumental texture. I have a smaller listening room and the Prologue 2 sounds every bit as powerful as the 110 watt Pathos. Just a short note on build quality and customer service: Two weeks replacing the stock tubes with EL-34 tubes i noticed a bit of noise coming out of the right channel, Thinking it was a noisy tube i began systematically swapping tubes beginning with the preamp tubes in an attempt to find the noiiy tube. I was in a hurry and accidentally put one of the power tubes in wrong. When i powered up the amp grey smoke began coming up from around the power tube socket. i have owned many amps and have never seen smoke coming out of any of them before. Needless to say I was somewhat panicky. I called Upscale Audio (around 8:00am PST) and wa surprised when Kevin answered the phone. Before calling, i had removed the bottom plate of the amp and had seen that one of the resistors conneected to the tube socket had been burned and explained that to Kevin. He was able to diagnose the problem over the phone and was willing to send out a resistor which a friend installed.Five days after the incident my amp was up and sounding good as new, When the incident occured i had visons of being without the amp for a minimum of thee weeks and couldn't have been happier with the service. I am not an engineer, but I wonder what would have happened to the amp if it had been manufactured with circuit boards instead of point to point wiring. The PrimaLuna Prologue 2 is a great buy .and fun to listen to,

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McCormack DNA . 5/ TLC combo Plinius 8200 Pathos Logos

Open and Crystal Clear Sound, Very Details, Bass, Middle, high is Excellent.

None

Everythings has been said, what can I say..I am very happy customer. Only I can say, just listen, you will see. Speakers B&W 703 Amplifier PrimaLuna Prologue Two CD Marantz CD-17 MKIII Tuner Marantz ST-17 Speakers C. Kimber 8TC Interconnects Kimber KCAG Power Chord Ecosse Big Orange

Too many to mention - I can't imagine what someone who doesn't need more than 40W could want.

No line out, no headphones.

Well, what can I say... I had the same system for years - a pair of NAD 214 power amps used as monoblocks to drive ProAc Tablette 2000s. And for years, I thought I was happy. But then some vinyl buddies got me to consider tubes, and I was plunged into a new world I knew nothing about. Jolida, Antique Sound Labs, Quicksilver, KT88, EL34, 12AX7 -- I had to learn a whole new language in a couple of weeks. I shouldn't have bothered. As it turns out, when I chose the PrimaLuna Prologue 2, I chose what has to be the perfect amp for newbie tubeheads - and everybody else. It is literally like I am listening with new ears. Music leaps out of the ProAcs like never before. (I always knew the ProAcs were special speakers, but I guess I didn't just how much until now). CDs sound more like vinyl, and vinyl sounds more like live music. Cymbals hang in the air, bass notes fill the room, drums snap and crackle, alto sax notes can practically be broken down into wave patterns before your very eyes/ears. In short, music is being made in my listening room on a level I had never heard before, and I've been listening for more than 2 decades now. The Prologue 2 adds a level of warmth and presence that simply has to be heard. What surprises me the most, perhaps, is how the sound is uniform with every listen - I had heard biasing was an issue, and was a big fan of the way my SS amps had set rock-solid soundstages and image placement every time, and now I find this amp does the same or better. And, at 40W, the amp holds more than enough power to drown out my singing-along voice without ever distorting in my (small) room or fatiguing the ear. Plus, it looks cool and feels extraordinarily well built. I wish I could find some better words to communicate what it is the Prologue is doing, but I'm failing. (I'm just a guy who bought an amp, not a paid shill.) If you're thinking about it, get this amp. And get it from Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio, a good guy if I've ever met one. I'm listening to George Harrison sing "Absolutely Sweet Marie" from the 30th anniversay Bob Dylan show right now, and couldn't be happier.

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None before now.

Bargain price, bullet-proof build quality, adaptive auto-bias, soft-start, trouble free operation, great tube sound. Can tube roll to your heart's content but sounds great with the stock KT-88s. A great tube integrated amp for those who don't want the hassles of tubes but love the sound.

No line out and no remote. What do you expect at this price? You can always get the new PrimaLuna separates - the preamp has a line out.

I was going to get out of tube gear completely. For 12 years I had ARC Classic 120 monoblocs driving Martin Logan CLSs, and I loved the sound. However, the big tube amps weighed over 60 pounds each, required floor stands, were a hassle to bias, and cost the price of a new amp to retube. The speakers were similarly big, heavy and tweeky. After planning to move to Mexico, I decided that lighter-weight, more hassle-free gear would be more appropriate and more portable. So I traded in my longtime favorites for a new ARC 150.2 digital amp (30lbs) with ARC preamp and CD player (about 40 lbs for both), running Gallo Ref 3s (42 lbs each without grills). I was buying audio by the pound, but the sound was good, clean, and open, although not quite as magically transparent and palpable as the old, tubed CL120/CLS combination. The new setup weighed-in at over 150 pounds lighter than the old setup, and there were no tubes to support. But then I made a fatal mistake. I decided to put together an inexpensive little bedroom system using a small, inexpensive tube amp. A little of the old tube magic couldn't hurt, could it? That month the PrimaLuna integrated amp was the covergirl in Stereophile, so I contacted Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio and bought a PrimaLuna Prologue 2 (32 lbs), sight unheard. I then bought a diminutive Eastern Electric tube CD player (10 lbs) online from Bill O'Connel and Morningstar Audio for no better reason than I thought it was a nice match. I topped it off with a pair of Vandersteen 1Cs (40 lbs each) from my longtime ARC dealer, Randy Cooley at Optimal Enchantment. These guys are all extrememly knowledgable and their advice can be trusted. Nevertheless, the whole rig cost less than $3K and frankly, I didn't expect very much sonically. After all, I'd be comparing inexpensive made-in-China tube gear (except for the Vandies, of course) to my main system for about 6X the investment. I set up the little tube system next to my main system so that I could play both alternately during break-in. It took about a week to realize that I actually prefered the sound of the smaller, much cheaper system and was tending to play it more and more often! Sure the main system played louder, had more detail resolution, a bigger soundstage, and more frequency extension. But the little PrimaLuna based system gave a more palpable, more real-sounding presentation, and never induced listener-fatigue. It just had that human touch devoid of artificial hifi sound. A non-audiophile friend of mine offered that the main system sounded "bigger" (more detail, louder, a wider soundstage, etc.), but that the little system sounded "more real". That was it in a nutshell. Well, I still have both systems. The larger system is needed to get serious SPLs in my Mexican living room with high beam ceilings. But in my man-cave I tend to listen more to the smaller, sweeter sounding system built around the PrimaLuna Prologue 2. If it were the only system I had, I could live with it. Of course in Audioland enough is never enough. Now I am right back into tubes and am looking into everything from Welborne Labs DRD 300B amps and Yamamoto 45s, to Atma-Sphere room-heating behemoths. Maybe a nice pair of super high-efficiency Zu Druid speakers would allow me to try some of those yummy sounding flea-powered amps? I can only hope. Like all good audiophiles, I now want more of that magical tube fix. I'm doomed. How will I smuggle all this stuff down to Mexico before I go mad and declare bankruptsy? The bottom line is that the little PrimaLuna Prologue 2 reminded me of how good tubes can sound without putting a major dent in my wallet, or requiring a degree in electrical engineering to maintain. I even bought a set of NOS 6550s from Upscale's stash to get a more robust sound (the stock KT-88s sound just fine too). The 6550s were the same tubes used in my ARC Classic 120s, so the sound is familiar, and I'm a happy camper. I can testify that the PrimaLuna amps are perfect for those who are afraid of the expense and travails of owning tube gear. They are built like tanks, attractive, and sound great. Kevin at Upscale claims a zero failure rate so far and I believe him! Just flip it on and listen - no biasing, no hum and pop, no excessive heat, and, if you care, they are relatively light weight too. Unless you want to spend a fortune or buy a boom-box, this is tube gear for those of us who wanted to get out of tube gear for good. This stuff just sounds too good to ignore.

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ARC Classic 120 monoblocs ARC 150.2 ARC D240 ARC LS2B preamp ARC LS16 MkII preamp ARC CD3 Sony XA7es CDP

Built quality, Open sound with plenty of air. Imaging.

Where's the remote?

Everythings been said. This is truly a wonderful piece of gear. If your interested in trying your first tube integrated amp without refinancing your home, Look no further. You simply won't believe that your listening to 40 watts.

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Mcintosh, Bryston

Build quality belying its price level. Which to say incredible. Superb control of the bass and rich and plenty all over. Drives my MMG maggies well.

At this price there isn't any I can think of.

I grew up with the notion simpler is better and my system definately reflects that. The Primaluna Prologue 2 reflects that too though it is very sophisticated inside. No separates here. My Sony XA7es was driving me crazy with its digital hardness, so the Primaluna just helps take that bite out of the digital and keeps me engaged without a headache from long listening. The bass control is amazing and the timbral balance elsewhere is excellent. I haven't ever heard it this good before. Disc after disc I keep on wanting to prepare for the harshness, but it never comes. I listen to Jazz mostly, and Cassandra Wilson, Sarah Vaughn just really sound here. Not coming just from my Maggies. The sense of space and width and depth is very good. I have so far a very short time with this amp and anticipate even more good things to come as time goes by. My speaker cable and interconnect are the Audioquest Mont Blanc, and the Sky for the interconnects. The speaker cable and interconnects too have low time on them as well. I am glad to have these because they help with all the detail etc. I can get. Even at low volumes the amp puts out a big picture of the music. Not abbreviated or incomplete like other amps I have had. If there is a shortcoming in the sonics this amp has I can't find it. When I bought this amp, Kevin Deal showed me the insides and my gosh I was amazed at the care and craftsmanship of this amp. The wire routing,parts quality, every small detail right down to the machine screws and all. The paint finish is good enough to be on an expensive exotic car in my opinion. The dark blue finish looks expensive and says class. The binding posts are the WBT like type, and the RCA connections are robust gold types. Not the slip collar like ground affairs that come off when you remove your interconnect. Low maintenance and distortion is here too with its auto biasing. No more meters and periodic adjustments to worry about. It allows also to roll your own tube selection for that perfect sound that may be had. I regret selling my Sonic Frontiers amps a while back, and solid state was my only thing I had to play. The Primaluna makes me glad I am back to tubes, and I will never go back to solid state. If you want a terrific integrated try this one out. It maybe simply perfect for you. Special thanks to Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio for his terrific service on a terrific product. I am having great joy in my listening.

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Sonic Frontiers,Conrad Johnson.

Big soundstage and open 3D representation. Clarity of middle-high frequencies. Control and articulation of low frequencies. Tweakability. Excellent construction.

None at this price. If I really have to say something I would have liked a slightly better main cord ( I swapped it for a TNT-The Twisted Snake )

I've been listening the Prologue Two a few times at the Hi-Fi Winkel ( thanks Marcel for your patience ! ) with various high-end speakers ( i.e. Sonus Faber and Proac costing much more than the amplifier ). Eventually I bought it about three months ago and I let it drive a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor. All the details and pictures of my system at the following link : http://my.hifi.nl/index.php?user=648 I listen to (almost) all the kinds of music: jazz ( M. Davis, J. Coltrane, P. Barber, M. Petrucciani, P. Fresu, J. Pastorius, C. Haden etc. ), classical ( anything from Bach to Gershwin ) and pop/rock ( Pink Floyd, U2, REM, Springsteen,etc. ) How does it sound ? In a word: terrific ! It has the warmth of the tube amplifiers, but what I like the most is its way to reproduce the middle-high frequencies. They are open and crystalline and the reproduced soundstage is biiig. The female voices ( Ella, Patricia, Norah ) and the strings ( i.e. Vivaldi ) are simply superb. The lower frequency are very well articulated and controlled. The way it reproduces the double-bass or the lower range of the piano for instance is amazing. You can distinguish the fundamental frequence from the harmonics when they blend together. If you're used to listen live music you might understand what I'm talking about. When feeded with high-energy records (i.e. Massive attacks or Rage Against the Machine ) , you'll be amazed by the punches you'll get in the stomach. It's 40 watts/channel are more than enough for my listening room. You might feel the need for more power if your speakers have very low efficiency or your room is very big. And if you like to tweak your hi-fi gear, there is nothing more funnier than a tube amplifier :-)) Let me be clear: the original tubes sound great already. I simply have had some fun by tuning the sound of it with some tube swapping experiment (and for a couple of them I eventually went back to the original tubes ). IMHO its price is very well worth the outstanding sound it delivers and its construction quality. Give it a listen !

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Harman Kardon ( owned ). Threshold, MBL, etc.(listened by friends or at retailers )

Midrange richness, dynamics, airiness, crystal clear with excellent instrument seperation, nice full soundstage with very good imaging. Bass is excellent and very controlled. Beautiful and built like a "Tank". Auto biasing make it almost maintenenance free.

None at this time.

For all of you looking for an excellent integrated at a terrific price, you might want to try the new Prima Luna Prologue Two, $1,345. I've had mine about 20 days now and am extremely impressed. It's a tube integrated purchased through Upscale Audio, which I have no affiliation with but do think Kevin Deal is great to work with. This is my first tube integrated. In the recent past I've previously owned NAD, Creek, and Plinius integrateds. I'm no audophile but the presence, dynamics and personality in terms of tonal quality along with excellent control and extension make the Prologue Two a winner for me. I feel this amp easily betters the Creek 4340R and NAD 320BEE, as it should. The Plinius 8100 was an excellent amp but in my system not near as rich and full as the Prologue Two. The Prologue Two is also dead quiet and includes auto biasing. It is currently used in a small bedroom with Kimber 4TC speaker cables, NAD 521BEE, Sansui T719, KAB fully modified SL1210MK5SE (which I love) with AT OC9 cartridge, Project Tube Box (phono amp), Energy C-3 (which I also think are very underrated. The interconnects that I'm using are Illumes from RSCables. I actually think as word gets out about this amp it will be a favorite of many. In my environment the Prologue Two offers the "luxurious" sound of tubes without masking the details or compromising bass performance. Check it out it's a terrific amp that truly exceeds all my sonic expectations, has an extremely high build quality and is beautiful. IMHO it's performance easily exceeds that of many amps costing $2,000+. This "tube thing" is for real!!!

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Plinius 8100, Creek 4340R, NAD 320BEE, B&K 202 with NAD 1020