Primare

The Swedish Primare makes amplifiers, network players and CD players. The design and appearance are typically Scandinavian, or as Primare itself describes it as lagom: not too much, not too little, just right.

We saw Primare on the ISE this year and what always stands out is the clear line-up and the beautiful finish of the products. For each category the brand usually has three versions, indicated with the numbers 15, 25 or 35. The phono series is also constructed in this way. You have the choice between the R15 and the R35 phono stage.

Setup and test method

We tested the Primare R35 on two preamps: the Rupert Neve Designs Fidelice and the Burson Conductor V3. We listened to a number of headphones such as the Hifiman Sundara, the Oppo PM-3 and the vintage Sennheiser and fantastic sounding HD 410 SL. We also connected the R35 to the Alpha reference set: the Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier, Bryston 4B3 power amplifier and the Focal Sopra 2 speakers.

And then the sources, because that’s what a phono preamplifier is all about. We have had a large collection of turntables and elements linked to the R35, and different price and quality classes:

Thorens TD 170 mkII with Ortofon OM10 element
Inkel PD 607 or Luxman PX 101 linear (tangential) turntable with Audio Technica element
JVC QL-A5 turntable with Dynavector Ultimo 20A element
STD 305D turntable, SME 3009 tone arm with ADC TRXII element
Music Hall 5.1 turntable, ProJect tone arm and Iseki Milltek Green element

We ran a number of fixed test tracks: