
PrimaLuna EVO 100
Tube Power Amplifier
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Truly Unique Tube Amplifiers
Since 2003, PrimaLuna has created tube amplifiers with a unique construction found nowhere else. Their technologies bring you closer to the music at a price you won’t believe. Nothing else comes close.
Dare to Compare
Compare PrimaLuna construction to any other brand, at any price. You'll be amazed.BAD TUBE INDICATOR
PrimaLuna engineers wanted to make owning a tube amp so simple you would have no excuse not to have your tube dreams come true.
If a tube fails, Adaptive AutoBias will instantly put the amplifier into protection mode so no parts can get damaged. A red LED will light up in front of the tube that needs replacing. Simply plug in another tube, and listen. No guesswork. No smoking amp. No getting out the soldering iron or dropping your amp off at UPS.
CUSTOM TOROIDAL POWER TRANSFORMERS
Power transformers generate two types of noise, magnetic and acoustic. That’s why toroidal power transformers are used in the very best audio products. Compared to standard transformers, toroids radiate about 1/10 the magnetic field that pollutes music and obscures detail. Additionally, the absence of an air gap typically means toroids have an 8:1 reduction of acoustic noise.
As transformers are the most expensive components in any audio product, manufacturers will even house cheaper C-core and EI-core transformers in an outboard power supply box with an umbilical cable rather than upgrade to an expensive toroid. The increased cost is significant, but PrimaLuna doesn’t cut corners. All PrimaLuna products use massive, potted toroidal transformers. PrimaLuna transformers are enclosed in a metal housing and then potted in a non-microphonic resin to further reduce noise and to protect the windings from moisture and deterioration forever.
CUSTOM SUPER-WIDE-BANDWIDTH OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS
Output transformers are the most important part of any tube amp. They determine how low the bass will reach and how high the top end goes. 250 watts of power will have no top and bottom extension if the output transformers don’t have the bandwidth.
PrimaLuna uses lower power to extend tube life, and bandwidth to give you slam. Transformers are the most expensive components in an amplifier, so manufacturers save money by using ‘off the shelf’ units available on the market.
PrimaLuna output transformers are custom-designed, wound in-house, and massive. One reason why no other brand sounds like a PrimaLuna. “The flat tops and bottoms of these squarewaves correlate with the amplifier’s extended low-frequency response; PrimaLuna’s output transformers are of excellent quality.”
—John Atkinson, Stereophile

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Tube Power Amplifier—ADAPTIVE AUTOBIAS
What most companies call Auto Bias is actually “Cathode Bias”- A commonly used method that is cheap to make, and often found in guitar amps, but also $20,000 high end audio amps. It reduces the available power of the amp and runs the tubes hard, meaning shorter tube life and failures via “shorts”.
PrimaLuna’s Adaptive AutoBias is a true, smart technology employing an array of sensors to monitor tubes and make adjustments seamlessly in real time. More important, it is the ONLY circuit of its kind that is truly “adaptive” by addressing “tube pinch off” at higher volumes, therefore reducing distortion by over 50% and greatly extending tube life. Adaptive AutoBias is completely passive and NOT in the signal path. The result is low to no maintenance, long tube life, and the lowest possible distortion for amazing sound.
POINT TO POINT WIRING
You spend a lot of money on interconnects. So why have the signal go right from the RCA jacks or speaker terminals into circuit boards with copper traces so thin you can hardly see them? What’s high-end about that?
PrimaLuna employs Point to Point Wiring on all products. The entire signal path, including resistors and capacitors, is painstakingly hand wired with heavy-gauge cable by craftsman.
EVO 300 and EVO 400 models use Swiss-made, silver-plated, oxygen-free continuous crystal (OCC) copper with a Teflon dielectric in the critical signal path for superior signal speed and increased clarity.


SMARTWATTS — EXTENDED TUBE LIFE
Tube life is simply a matter of how hard you run the tubes. That’s it. The only way to extend tube life is to run them as close to zero as you possible can, making sure it is not so low you go into crossover distortion. The life of a tube will depend on two things: Plate and screen voltage.
If the plate and screen voltage is high, you are more likely to get tube shorts when you turn the amp on and you get cathode stripping which greatly effects the cathodes ability to spit out electrons. Manufacturers that run the hell out of tubes to pump up their power ratings will never tell you what voltages they use. They’ll say it’s “proprietary” as if it’s some secret sauce. There is no such thing. But if they told you that they used 575, 600, or even 625 volts you probably wouldn’t buy. We proudly tell you our tubes run at just about 417 volts for the plates and screens.
PrimaLuna runs their output tubes at a minimum dissipation without going into crossover distortion. When you look at our amps, they provide less power from each tube. With KT-120’s as an example, a PrimaLuna will give you only 21 watts per tube. So running a pair of them you get 42 watts. That’s a lot of power, but the demands per tube are a fraction of some manufacturers that give you 100 watts from a pair of KT-120’s. It’s a cheap way to get big power, and it’s cheap. In fact, free. To get more power the right way is expensive. It requires bigger transformers, sockets, wiring, resistors, capacitors, and the tubes to do it. Which is exactly what PrimaLuna did. But we didn’t stop there.
Read this carefully: Power has nothing to do with sound quality. Or bass slam. You can buy a 200 watt receiver for $299, and it will even have surround sound. Do you think for a minute it will sound better than a 50 or 100 watts high end amp costing $10,000? Of course not. Only first-time buyers think that way. Experienced audiophiles know that for the majority of listening sessions, you use maybe 10 watts of power.

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Tube Power Amplifier—Tube CHoice
Ask any seasoned tube-head what the most musical output tube is and they will most certainly declare it the EL34. Other amp manufacturers would love to use it. Only PrimaLuna, through their proprietary output transformer designs, can give you EL34 midrange beauty with top-end air that goes on forever. And, bass extension with so much slam, their amps are used to power subwoofers.
However, every system is different. What if you bought a speaker with bass that overloads the room? Or, that is too dark? Or, too bright? What if you just want to have fun trying the different colors of sound from a vast pallet of tubes? With other manufacturers’ products, you’re stuck. They’re one-trick ponies. How are you going to fine-tune your sound? Buy some different cables?!
With PrimaLuna, you get to choose: 6L6G, 6L6GC, 7581A, EL34, EL37, 6550, KT66, KT77, KT88, KT90, even the KT120 (the EVO 100 is not KT150 compatible). A future-proof design, PrimaLuna is compatible with NEW tube types not even invented yet!

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Tube Power Amplifier Features Comparison
EVO 400 | EVO 300 | EVO 200 | EVO 100 | |
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Price | $5,295 single $10,590 pair | $4,395 single $8,790 pair | $3,395 single $6,790 pair | $2,795 single $5,590 pair |
Stereo to Mono Switching | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Swiss Made Wiring | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Takman Resistors | ✔ | ✔ | ||
XLR Input | ✔ | ✔ | ||
AC Offset Killer | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Triode/Ultra-Linear Switching | Remote Controlled | Remote Controlled | ||
KT150 Compatible | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Adaptive AutoBias | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Point to Point Wiring | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Bad Tube Indicator | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Wide-Bandwidth Output Transformers | Largest | Largest | Larger | Large |
Toroidal Power Transformers | Largest | Largest | Larger | Large |

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Tube Power Amplifier Specifications
Price | $2,795 |
Power: Stereo (8Ω, 1% THD) | 40 watts x 2 (EL34) |
Power: Mono (8Ω, 1% THD) | 82 watts (EL34) |
Inputs | Stereo RCA |
Outputs | 4, 8, & 16 Ω (stereo) 2, 4, & 8 Ω (mono) |
THD | < 0.1% @ 1W < 2% @ Full Power |
Freq. Response | 12Hz-85kHz +/- 1dB 10Hz-95kHz +/- 3dB |
S/N Ratio | 92 dB (stereo) 93 dB (mono) |
Input Sensitivity | 880mV |
Input Impedance | 100kΩ |
Power Consumption | 270 watts (stereo) 280 watts (mono) |
Standard Tube Complement | 2 – 12AX7 2 – 12AU7 4 – EL34 |
Dimensions (WxHxD) | 11″ x 7.5″ x 15.9″ |
Weight | 37.4 lbs |