[TKonrad.NOLA]

Was looking to puy a Primaluna Prologue and this amp was suggested to me as an alternative to get my feet wet.  Anyone familiar with this amp?  The quality of Yaqin equipment? 

The Primaluna is auto/self biasing which I like as I don't see myself  being any good with biasing an amp or knowing when it needs to be biased.

Thanks in advance.

[usp1]

You may also want to check out a Rogue 88 if you can find one used. Nice tube amp and does not require biasing (has a fixed bias).

[doug s.]

see my post here (not same model, but i'd recommend this amp, as it's dual mono).
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=98358.msg989677#msg989677

also, biasing amps is easy, allows for matching of unmatched tubes, and all other things being equal, allows for better sound. (and usp1, fyi:  "fixed bias", means it must be manually biased; counter-intuitive, i know...)

doug s.

[bunnyma357]

I have had the Yaqin MC-10L ($400) for about 4 years and have been quite happy with it.  It appears to be very similar to the MS-20L  (Minus Remote and 4 x 6N1 driver tubes vs. 8 x 6J1).  I think for the price they are a great value and mine sounds really good.

Biasing is no big deal - you just put a multimeter in the test points and turn an adjustment screw/pot to get the value you want. When starting out I did it about once a month, now I do it about every 3-4 months.  One nice thing with manual biasing is that some tubes will sound better at different values, so being able to play with the actual value within the suggested range gives you some additional control.

A remote is an awesome feature for me - I listen to shuffle mode a lot, and the different mastering volume of songs drives me crazy - I actually ended up adding a pre-amp to get a remote (and also to get sub outs).

Pros -

- Very good sound.
- Lots of power for the price - (I'm driving inefficient bookshelf speakers, so it helps).
- Stock EL-34B tubes sound quite nice, but changing the driver tubes really improved the sound - for me they were very cheap Russian 6N1P's.
- Cosmetics are very nice - I love the look of mine.
- Value


Cons -

- Resale Value (Although I didn't see many used ones for sale when I bought mine, so I think most are happy with them and keep them).
- Build Quality 1 - (Some parts aren't the best, I have some noise in my volume pot when adjusting levels, input selector switch feels low quality as well.)
- Build Quality 2 - Some chassis parts are somewhat flimsy & purely cosmetic, I have to disassemble my unit to bias (they've since added easy accessible test points). And when you open it up, the metal covers are very thin & structural integrity is provided more by how the pieces fit together, rather than by having beefy parts. Wiring, Transformers and Circuit Boards looked to be well constructed though.


This is based on my MC-10L - just looking at the MS-20L it looks like the chassis may have been beefed up - and the tube cages are a nice option to have.  Also Yaqin does seem to listen to customer needs and have improved features, they added external test points to my model, other models add things like remotes, allowing some models to act as either an integrated or power amp, etc.


I also have an Onix (Melody) SP3, which was around the same price - it seems more refined and better built to me.  If you are willing to go used you can probably find other options that are of decent value.


Jim C

[Poultrygeist]

I had the Primaluna Prologue One on a trial basis for a week before returning it. It was a pleasant amp but with my full range speakers it just didn't have the detail of my Miniwatt. I once owned a Yaqin tube hybrid VK2100 which had good build quiality but it sounded too solid state for my tastes.