Photos and specs Amplifier PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium

The small company, which appeared in 2005 thanks to the efforts of Herman van den Dungen (Herman van den Dungen), confidence in the market gained ground Lamp High End, producing high quality equipment at lower than competitors prices.

Dutch firm PrimaLuna, specializing in the production tube audio equipment, offers eight amp models - advanced, powerful and integrated - and CD-player in each series and ProLogue DiaLogue. Retaining all the best of the first series and adding some possibility of a second, the company produces four devices ProLogue Premium, among which represent integral stereo. Unlike similar amplifiers ProLogue One and Two, in which the output stages used EL34 or KT88 respectively Premium power available any, but of course the same, and to optimize conditions for use with a switch type. One reason for the widespread transition to the middle of the last century on the transistor amplifiers was relatively small lamp life. For used in ProLogue Premium it ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 hours for four 12AU7 working in the preliminary stages and up to 3000 hours for high power lamps.

The front panel is made of thick aluminum sheet. Switch to select the right type of lamp from the side; the same for the - other hand.

It is clear that with such a powerful lifetime replacement lamps inevitable. But the models PrimaLuna any adjustment after lamp replacement is required. Developed at the company scheme Adaptive AutoBias constantly monitors and automatically installs the required offset. Developers point to another of its advantage: it allows the most used in the power range of 12 to 30 watts actually reduce distortion by almost 40%. Care to extend lamp life (as most valuable) explains the use of soft-start circuit SoftStart, which reduces the thermal shock from a sharp turn on the power, especially chains filament lamps. Serves the same purpose and the introduction of four new protection schemes. When the parameters of a powerful lamp deteriorate so that AutoBias no longer able to perform its function, the LED next to the lamp and relay controlled the same circuit shuts down the amplifier. In previous models, in this case the fuse blows. Two schemes protect the output transformer from overheating failure lamps or user error. After cooling the transformer or a lamp power itself returns to the operating mode. It is widely believed that tube amplifiers require prolonged heating. According to experts PrimaLuna, for the release of their amplifiers to normal ample several tens of seconds after the end of warm-turn signaled by a change of the diode from red to green in the center of the front panel. And then the cause is accepted scheme Adaptive AutoBias, which holds the lamp at the optimum point of the performance (sweet spot). And there is no manual adjustments bias that must be periodically as lamp aging adjust.

In the amplifier, as always in models PrimaLuna, use the highest quality components: ceramic tube sockets, capacitors Nichicon in the food chain, Blue Velvet potentiometer ALPS firms as volume control, gold-plated input connectors, terminals WBT for acoustics, as well as new network with toroidal and a core output transformers. And now the amp has a remote control, which allows you to adjust the volume, switch inputs, and manage CD- players PrimaLuna. Rotary switch input selector allows you to select one of the four or five line inputs, labeled HT (Home Theater), in which power is transferred to the fixed gain mode. This allows the use ProLogue Premium as your stereo, and as part of a multi-channel home theater system. In this case, the input of the amplifier HT ProLogue Premium front channel signal is applied from an external AV-processor, which is also responsible for adjusting the signal level of these channels. For fans of the record company offers optional phono equalizer for MM phono cartridge, which is installed inside the unit and fluster the terminals of one of the line inputs. A good supply of power allows ProLogue Premium work with any acoustics: When listening floor system ensured a comfortable volume level when extracted only a third regulator. The inherent heat lamps soft sound good feel for live jazz and chamber music. Slightly distended velvety bass with a bit relaxed damping freely filling the allotted space, perfectly complemented by a clean middle and detailed, well drawn horseback.

Quality used PrimaLuna amplifiers output transformers has always been very high and allowed to ProLogue Premium get a very broad (especially for the tube version) bandwidth: 20 Hz decline only about 0.3 dB, and the upper operating frequency -3 dB lies beyond 100 kHz. Output power at 0.7% THD is 15 watts, but half of this distortion on the power range from 0.56 % at high frequencies up to 0.47% on low. Lack of balance control offset by the high identity volume controls: the imbalance in actual adjustment range used does not exceed 0.14 dB. Output impedance of a tall, although it is a small clean tube and was not, but the magnitude of the damping coefficient equal to 2.7 may still be insufficient to capricious acoustics.