timjthomas -
Anyone using PrimaLuna amps with Salk speakers? Thoughts?
Since no one has chimed in yet, I thought I'd take a stab at this one.
I don't have any first-hand experience with PrimaLuna amps and don't know if any of our customers do. I did build a pair of speakers for someone considering these amps, but I don't know if he ever actually bought one.
I do have some experience with tube amps however (happen to like them), and I assume PrimaLuna builds some very good ones. The question is whether or not they are the right amp for a given speaker.
A speaker like the SongTowers would work quite well with just about any PrimaLuna model. The design is higher sensitivity and PrimaLuna amps feature 4 and 8-ohm taps. The the lower Sensitivity HT3's would probably only work with their highest wattage models.
I have driven the HT3's with a Jolida 202A in the past and loved the results. The soft clipping nature of tubes allows you to utilize a lower wattage amp than you could with solid state. At moderate volumes, the 202A (40 watts per channel) performed quite well. But if I were purchasing an amp to use elusively with the HT3's, I would choose the highest wattage PrimaLuna amp (which I think is 70 watts).
I have also used the Jolida 1000A (100 watts per channel) with the HT3's with great results. This amp uses my favorite EL34's.
If you want a lower power amp and want the kind of sound only a true 3-way can offer, you will need a more sensitive speaker such as our Pharos design (our impending open baffle design may also be a candidate).
I hope this helps.
- Jim