Premier 12

[Pat Rivet]

Hi

Hope this post finds you well...
I already chatted with you regarding some amp, MV75, more recently Premier 11A... Now, and imagining that I break my money box, comes a new opportunity: Premier 12, about 3K€.. It will be a second hand if I buy them...
I'm sure that some of you have an experience with this mono-block and could give me some feedback. Just to refresh, my room is quite small, in basement, 13m2, and the speakers are a pair of Maggies MG1C, PV 12 is my pre amp...

All the best, Pat

[admin]

A set of premier 12's I think would work very well in a system as you describe. I ran a pair of magnepan 20.1's with a PV12 for a long time. Maggies like power, not necessarily because you want to run them super loud, but rather that they are simply hard to drive with massive resistance swings based on what frequencies are being played. The Premier 12's will able to hand these demands. Simply put, you can't go wrong with that setup.

Yes, maggies typically benefit from larger listening spaces but we all have innate limitations to our listening rooms. Just means you will have to be extra careful with speaker placement. I have heard maggies sound great even in very small rooms.

[Pat Rivet]

Thanks for your reply.
Before the Maggies, I owned different type of Tannoy speakers which I really appreciated... But which really didn't suit with my listening room. Luckily, the Maggies do and, as you mention, even in my small space. For the first time since a long time, I love listening my vinyles and cds...
Nice to hear that the Premier 12 could do the job... Just need now to convince myself to put such amount of money!!! the hardest...

[AnotherJohnson]

A pair of properly working Premier 12s will have no trouble with your speakers. And it will be a good match for your PV12. The Premier 12 is now approaching 30 years. Although it had the very best plastic caps of its day, if it’s not been recapped, it is approaching the “expected life” of those caps. So, listen to it before buying it if you can. And if you can’t, start setting a little aside each month so that you can deal with service when the time comes.

It should be an incredible vintage system!

[Big Dog RJ]

G'day Pat R,

Nice to hear that you're keen on the Prem12's. These were CJ's second in-line Premier series monoblocks that were ranked in thier top of the line at the time. The larger version were the Prem8A's, with nearly three times the power. The Prem12's are rated around 140w of all tube finesse, so it won't have any issues whatsoever driving Maggie's.

When I owned the full Premier line series (Prem11A, Prem12's & Prem8A's) all three of these amplifier systems were very capable of driving Maggie's, no issues. These amplifiers drove the MG3, MG3.5, MG3.6, MG3.7 and MG20.1 effortlessly! Partnered with the ART preamp, it was a legendary sound! The PV12 will be just as fine, very musical.

Yes, these are vintage units but with careful attention and maintenance on caps, resistors and power supplies upto spec, they should be good to go. As correctly advised by AJ, just keep aside some finances for any upgrades on parts, you never know when these things are required down the line...

Tube replacements shouldn't be too expensive because each monoblock only requires 4 Output tubes (still better than 8 Output tubes per side) and three small signal tubes per side. Tube prices are erratic at the moment but through the right tube suppliers you can find reasonable prices.

Once it's all up and running, do let us know how it goes. Should be enjoying some fine tunes!
Cheers, RJ

[Pat Rivet]

Thanks for all those advice and experience feedback. And it will be ice to lesson to both of them before buying. Unfortunately, the 12 is far from my home...
So, just have to decide : Premier 11A vs 12... 60 w vs 140... and most important, 2K$ vs 3$ !!!!!!
Cheers, Pat

[AnotherJohnson]

I think the bottom line is that the P12 will give you more speaker driving options down the road.

It’s not like you are compromising because the bigger one sounds less good.

But at the same time, the smaller one is not wimpy either.

If it were me, I’d try to buy the one that gave me the most bang for the buck. Service status and cosmetic status would both be weighed against price … which reminds me … the lighter one will be easier to handle and to ship.

I am in the situation right now where I am trying to decide between a 47 pound 75 Wpc stereo amp vs a pair of 90 pound each 275 W monoblocks. I have them here. It is still difficult to decide based on sound alone with my speakers.

[admin]

Agree with AJ, the Premier 12 is a hedge against future needs. If you know you will be running easy drivable high efficiency speakers, probably best to save the money and go with the 11A. But if difficult to drive speakers are possibly on the horizon, you assure that you will have an amp that can manage these demands if you go with the 12.

[Truth71]

As a value for dollar calculation ( taking out potential need of future repairs), more than twice the power for $1000 delta?
Get the Premier 12s