Every so often, the hifi underground surfaces and says, “You have to hear this.”
Other times, it says, “You have to hear this!”
The latter was the case with the PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Tube Integrated Amplifier from Upscale Audio Distribution and when the hifi underground talks, I listen.
Fronted by six 12AU7s (2x Input, 4x Driver), the Hybrid powered EVO 300 puts out 100Watts into 8 Ohms and 150 into 4. From Upscale Audio Distribution:
The EVO 300 Hybrid uses the same preamp gain stage as the award-winning PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamplifier, which was designed by Marcel Croese, former chief engineer, Goldmund Switzerland. That means all-tube and dual mono. The only thing we left out was tube rectification because it isn’t appropriate for this application. It took two years of research and experimentation to perfectly pair it with the output circuit designed by [Floyd Design’s] Jan de Groot who has designed all of PrimaLuna’s MOSFET circuits, and was behind all the Sphinx Audio designs from 1995 to 2000.
Inside, the EVO 300 boasts custom wound massive toroidal power transformers, cascading JFETs from Linear Systems and each channel boasts two complementary pairs of MOSFETs from Exicon, AC offset killer to lower transformer noise, Takman Resistors, point-to-point wiring, and more.
Are hybrid integrated amplifiers the best of three worlds (he wondered out loud)? Was the underground right?
Stay tuned.
PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Tube Integrated Amp
Price: $7,295 | $7544 w/optional Phono Stage
US Distributor Website: Upscale Distribution
Specifications
Power: 8 Ohms 100 watts per channel (0.2% THD)
Power: 4 Ohms 150 watts per channel (0.2% THD)
Inputs: 5x Stereo RCA, Stereo RCA HT Bypass
Outputs: 1 Pair Speaker, RCA Stereo/Mono Subwoofer, Stereo RCA Tape Out, 1/4″ Headphone
Frequency Response: 10Hz-80kHz +/- 3dB
Damping Factor: 160
S/N Ratio: -105dbA
Input Sensitivity: 415mV
Input Impedance: 34kΩ
Power Consumption: 99 watts (no signal in), 645 watts @ 4R
Standard Tube Complement: 6 – 12AU7 (2x Input, 4x Driver)
Dimensions (WxHxD): 15.9″ x 8.1″ x 15.2″
Weight: 68.3lbs