Hi all, i've had some problems with my Primaluna Evo400i of late, well it actually started not long after i bought the amp, but now it's to a point where something needs to be done. Basically after about 5 minutes of play I get a bad valve light come on and I loose the left channel, it's always the same bad valve light so always the left channel, I've swapped valves around to see if it's a bad valve and even bought some new ones, but it definitely isn't down to the valves.
So a couple of days ago i sought help from the guys on the Primaluna page on Facebook, the consensus being that it's more than likely an issue with the auto bias circuit and Primaluna actually publish on the net how to adjust this on older versions of the amp but importantly not mine, anyway not wanting to stick multimeter probes into a live circuit I decided to book it in at my local PL dealer for them to have a look and at the same time I reached out to Herman at Primaluna via email.
I sent the email to Herman Saturday morning and to my surprise he responded by lunchtime, he advised me not to open it up but to take it to a dealer, and went on to request more info, serial number, versions of valves that are installed amongst other things as well as the dealers details so that PL could offer 1st line support and advice directly to the dealer.
I contacted Wilkinson's HiFi just outside Burnley on Friday afternoon to book my amp in to be looked at, the guy i spoke to was surprised to hear I was having issues, anyway I took the amp over to them on Saturday afternoon, showed them the email i had from Primaluna and copied their details into my response. While I was there I had a look around (it's a hifi shop why wouldn't you) the staff there are all a bit older and seem to give excellent advice, this isn't a modern boutique type shop with 2 or 3 over priced pieces of kit that you have to visit by appointment, this is an old school HiFi shop filled with kit new and used which caters for everyone, while looking at some Fyne Audio speakers I was approached by one of the staff who told me they have an enthusiasts meeting on every Saturday in the main demo room and I was more than welcome to attend, again why wouldn't you, there was 5 guys sat listening to records that they had brought in, I was made to feel welcome tea and decent fresh ground coffee were on tap and free to my surprise along with an assortment of biscuits, I got there at 2pm and didn't leave until 5pm.
Honestly what a great day, Primaluna on the ball and an incredible local dealer who aren't snobby or pushy and what a great idea for them to hold their own club, as Arnie says i'll be back!