Chromey Takes A Trip Along The i35 With Primare.

For those of you that may already know of the Swedish Hi-Fi manufacturer Primare, you will know that they have been around for over thirty years and have produced some of the best looking Hi-Fi to come out of the Scandinavia.

So when we got introduced to the new i35 integrated streamer amplifier from Primare, it wasn't a surprise to see a stunning looking piece of Hi-Fi. The only question was, will it sound as good as it looks.

So without further ado, here it is and it doesn’t disappoint…

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Interestingly our favourite bespoke men’s clothing retailer also stock one of the best Swedish tie and shirt designers in Sweden, Eton. So, for our blog we needed some pictures and we thought why not take the photographs over at Doherty Evans & Stott and keep the Swedish theme going.

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Right then, to the sound quality, 150 watts into 8 Ohms of class D amplification, delivered through ultra-short signal paths. Primare have built their theories into metal and circuity, utilising ultra-short signal paths thus reducing the signal to noise ratio, lowering the noise floor and giving way to cleaner sounding musica. So the result is an impressive open sound that doesn’t disappoint.

To give you an example, we have the i35 running on the our ground floor at Manchester store. A gentleman popped in and asked to listen to the Naim CD5si CD player. Our demonstration room was busy upstairs, so we connected it to the Primare i35 on the shop floor, which was driving a pair of Dynaudio Contour 60’s. The results were stunning, we played Solid Air from John Martyn via the standard RCA output from the CD5si into one of the analogue inputs on the i35. All we can say is that as a regular Hi-Fi amplifier with analogue inputs the i35 is more than capable of holding its own against other £3k+ amplifiers. (and the customer purchased the CD player!).

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But that’s not all, remember the Primare i35 is also a very capable network streamer and DAC, and as good as it is with the RCA inputs it’s even better with its digital streaming duties. Using the slick looking Prisma app we directed the i35 to our ever-burgeoning collection of hi-res music files and pow!!. The i35 takes another leap forward in sound quality. With insane amounts of detail the Primare just plays music with aplomb.

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Around the back we have an array of inputs. Multiple optical and electrical co-axial inputs with USB. 2 balanced XLR analogue inputs for those high end sources. Throw in a few RCA inputs and outputs and even network LAN in and out and you have a full compliment of connections.

For those of with a keen eye you may have noticed the gold plated threads for attaching a Bluetooth and wireless aerials. (we didn’t have those connected in as we had our unit wired via an ethernet connection). So you can cast your music straight from an Apple or Android device, be it a tablet or PC or phone.

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Now, as we mentioned earlier, we took the photographs at Doherty Evans & Stott in order to snap a few shots with other products from Sweden. In this case beautifully crafted ties and shirts from Eton. And it looks like Chromey is keen on those lovely ties too, but at 43mm tall his only option is to tuck himself in…

…ah well. (bless him)

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Primare have the finest selector switches, the impeccably polished chrome selector switch offers such a satisfying clunk as you change inputs, just oozing quality. “yes my selecta”

Primare have the finest selector switches, the impeccably polished chrome selector switch offers such a satisfying clunk as you change inputs, just oozing quality. “yes my selecta”

Everything in this picture is designed in Sweden, the shirt, the ties, the Primare i35. However, Chromey was hewn out of solid steel somewhere in the Empire.

Everything in this picture is designed in Sweden, the shirt, the ties, the Primare i35. However, Chromey was hewn out of solid steel somewhere in the Empire.

The Prisma app running on our Ipad.

The Prisma app running on our Ipad.

The front display on the Primare i35.

The front display on the Primare i35.

Right then, that just about covers it. The rest is up to you, does the Primare i35 streaming amplifier tickle your fancy? If it does, why don’t you arrange for Audio T Manchester to demonstrate it to you.

Our demo model is up and running on the shop floor at the moment.

Munir, Dave, Simon, Mike and Haden are waiting on standby and ready to help!.

Primare Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Bristol, Cheltenham, Manchester