Wow , thanks for the responses guys.
TO: Boisty
Even though I've been in this hobby awhile and worked and sold audio in my younger days i wasn't the guy that used all the audiophile "words" and terminology. I mostly set things and put stuff together and wallah! most everyone pretty much enjoyed it. So if i come across dead in the headspace excuse me. I was just into the music it made. So when it comes to numbers and stuff i really hardly know anything. Not a techie. I just believe that music is my art and i enjoy it.
So here goes my little take on the Prima Luna setup.
Mostly i believe that audio stores and the salespeople they employ are music junkies with their own preconception of what sounds best to them at a given dollar value. i.e. ranges of dollars spent. 5-10,10-15. and they all advise you on what they perceive as best bang for the buck. Even though many buyers out there look at salesmen as distracting, audio people love sound and if they wanted to make it rich they wouldn't be in this trade. The Prima luna setup came from the advise of Kevin Deal from upscale audio. I try to look at the sound from a whole and from what i read try to mix and match its best properties for the signature sound i like. SO with all this in mind i luv the warmth or some say coloration of tubes , to me nothing is perfect and solid state tends not to have the "soul" that tubes offer. The Prima Lunas have that. it conveys the human voice very well, it makes u a believer that the person singing her song truly lived and loved in that moment. When it comes to the Piano she sounds like a good baby grand not a steinway as she does not have the intricacies of a real thoroughbred but instead like a Kawai or Yamaha. i use Pianos as a basis as my wife plays this often and i compare it regularly . Also its the prologue and not the Dialogue which I'm sure still won't match the steinway but more in the league of a Baldwin. The PL highs are good and airy but sometimes it tends not to have the upper hand on more delicate pieces. I am not sure whether its the amp or the speakers, but overall it takes me to that space where you listen and not judge and there lies the defining factor for me, i really enjoy its portrayal of music. Could it be better I'm sure it could, but for the money it makes me like music a lot. And it has POWER lots of it. But AB is still not class A. The Spirit is a taste of the ubber high end in honesty i have never spent so much on a single piece of equipment ever , but i wanted a taste of pure class A. So far its still in its burning stage, but i can tell its going to take me places. Im using it for the next 100 hrs or so on the ML source electrostatics on penthode as i was advised to. And within its second day i knew that the oppo 95 was not going to be its partner for life. It doesn't breathe the quality that this amp wants, so that goes to the PL setup where i think its panache for sonic detail will be more appreciated as the PL lacks that. I am receiving another base model CD player from ayon , CD 07 on monday, it will be a better companion. I'm sure of it, more tubey. ALso PAul from AYON swears by this.--ha ha don't they all. Out of the box the spirit has given new life to the logans, being more forward sounding the logans actually have a little depth too her now , transparency for sure the logans disappeared. i would like to throw the word imaging here but I'm not sure what that really means , but if it means that music is localized like pinpoint accuracy of instruments, maybe? i can't really tell yet i think its good. soundstage is limited to the width of the logans the PL throws a larger one on the Liuto beyond the speakers width . I'm thinking speaker limitations for the logans as 1500 vs 5000 isn't fair. voicing is superb and background noise is ZERO the PL likes to hiss albeit slightly. Piano - hmmm so far ill give it to the PL, the spirit is not ready yet. When I'm playing Yundi Li - Lidzt , at the volume i like the PL is only at 25% whereas the Ayon is near 75%. So for sure 8 kt 88 beat 4. So even with all that new transformer, the ayon doesn't come close in raw power. Logan has 90db sensitivity and Liuto 89. The specs on logan say 5ohms so i put the ayon speaker cables on 4 ohm ? hopefully that is correct where the Liuto is a very stable 8. In my humble opinion and i wish i was wrong, the Source does not synergise well with the ayon. Even though it sounds good it lacks cohesiveness. Again my personal taste. THe Golden Ear however seems to cherish the amp more due to its self powered bass , but that speaker seems to be lacking that ninth degree of refinement. which the logans have in the upper octaves. quagmire. THe only worry i have now is that the new speaker i choose has to be in the 6-10k range. that would not be good. thats why I'm looking in the 4k range. I'm hoping for a high 95db and refined one at that price range. sigh..not ZU too bright "thiel 3.7" 10k argh.
So thats my personal take on the PL. Sorry for the rambling but that is the best i can explain the music it makes for me. Also the glowing lights make the living room that much more romantic, And aren't all tube lovers romantics by nature?
ha ha - sorry but i really can't explain audio in technical terms not my forte. and if you don't listen or know pianos then this is must be the worst explanation ever.
Me - Bought my first quasi hi end gear at 20, bugged a salesman RAYMOND to let me test out all his audio equipment since i was 16, saved every penny like a true audio nutcase at 2.55 an hr. Never forgot how the first audio setup moved me-life changer an audio geek for life-Thiel speakers 1.2, krell KSL and KSA 50 and a meridian CD player. What i miraculously bought - apogee centaurs, michaelson audio tube amp and a Pioneer PD-91CDP and a gift from the nicest salesman ever, a used mitchell gyro deck TT.
thank you Mr Jim Thiel-u made great speakers.
