System Pics 2021

Sounds like it’s a keeper? Heard a lot of good stuff about the Prima.

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After listening to good tubes, it’s difficult to come back to solid states :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Yes I have been on quite a journey over the past 2-3 years between Luxman and Naim and now on to PrimaLuna. The Nova blew me away with its simplicity and sound from the all-in-one so I had moved on from the Luxman MQ88uSE I had at the time for the one box. But curiosity got the best of me and I eventually moved onto Supernait 3 and NDX 2 thinking it would be a “bigger, better” Nova but as much as I struggled I didn’t find that to be the case. That coupled with the high cost of upgrades here in the US made it inevitable that I would be moving on to something else. I am sure the 282/250DR would have been far superior to the SN3, but here in the US that combo is nearly 3 TIMES the price of the SN3. Aside from power supplies there’s really no such thing as incremental upgrades here in the US.

I am really happy with the PrimaLuna, especially paired with the NDX 2/XPS DR which is an impeccable combination. The KT150s are a nice step up as well with more power and dynamics than the stock EL34s.

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Is the PrimaLuna the integrated model. Are the KT and EL tube types, or do you have a separate pre and power amps. What was with the SN3 that you felt was missing and had you looking elsewhere? I’ve wondered about the Heed hi-end separates as an option against the 282/250 scenario.

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Now that is truly at the extreme end of original.

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JSQ will respond but I know already that the SN3 was not a good match with his high sensitivity speakers.
It’s not that one or other is better or not.

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Nice to see another vintage Pioneer set up, Claude :+1:
I really find these silver HiFi components very attractive.

ATB,
Ivo

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Yes @frenchrooster has identified part of the issue, though I don’t understand why the same 80 watts from the Nova sounded so amazing out of the speakers but the 80 watts of the SN3 did not. I could not come to terms with how different the system sounded from day to day for many months after buying it, some days amazing and half the days like total garbage.

I had distortions and noise through the upper-mid frequency range on a lot of recordings. I got the PrimaLuna integrated on loan just to try and narrow down where the issues and problems were. At first I would think it was the HiCap DR SNAIC or the power cables, or the way the speaker cables touched the power cables or all kinds of stuff. It was totally affecting my ability to enjoy my system. I ended up liking the PL so much that it really solved all my problems.

I did not want to gamble another $15,000 USD on moving up further in the Naim line to see if it solved my issues, only to find out it did not. The SN3 was brilliant about half the time, and the other half of the time it had me pulling my hair out. After 2 weeks with this PrimaLuna Evo 300 there has not been a single time where I’ve heard noise or had to turn off my system because it sounded like crap that day.

The KT & ELs are different tubes, the KT150 are the size of small lamps and have a massive amount of body and dynamics versus the stock EL 34s which are more narrow and have less body and dynamics but a smoother midrange overall. Another cool thing about tubes is how you can adjust the character of the sound with different tubes etc.

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Another member here uses a Naim amp ( nap 200) into high sensitive speakers, more designed to be used with a tube amp. He has not encountered the problems you described, but he is aware that his pairing is not ideal. Not very keen on tubes amps, he is thinking more on Class A.

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I read an opinion online suggesting the Nova was preferable to the SN3 at low to middle volumes because they felt it was smoother and more engaging at those levels, whereas the SN3 came into its own when you tweak it up a bit. If you have sensitive speakers you may never get to those levels because it would be too loud, whereas with low sensitivity speakers the additional grunt of the SN3 would be of benefit.
Just goes to show how important system matching is.

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Very true!

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I have a theory. Most speakers impedance isn’t flat, and neither is an amplifiers output across different loads.

That 80W is at 8 Ohm, but the Volti Rival’s dip to 3.26 according to Stereophile.

But where the Nova almost doubles (theoretical ideal) to 155W into 4 Ohms, the SuperNait “only” delivers 130W. So it’s not quite the same Watts.

@n-lot good point, I always suspected my issues were due to impedance mis-matching between the amp and speakers. At the end of the day it was all I had left that made any sense. Especially since that noise always seemed to be around the same frequency range of electric guitars, reverb tails and gates, etc.

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Some more tempting to the black

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Wow… your vintage system is another league completely. Stunning.

Claude

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“Piece by Piece”

Can ya tell what it is yet?

I of 2 arrived this time.

Getting there.

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Custom design Milan hifi stand?

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Thank you, Claude!
I spent 4 years to collect it as it is now and service/repair the different components. And I have additional 8 components stored away.
My basic Naim gear is better in terms of sound quality but the vintage one is a real beauty for my eyes :blush:
But bigger or smaller the most important thing is the system to provides musical pleasure to the owner.

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Blok shelf unit?

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The remains of a Canadian Redwood tree after one of my woodwork classes?

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