Build Quality, Reliability, Value, Upscale Audio's Audio Knowledge, and commitment to excellent customer service, Reproduction of music with the added attributes of Warmth, Body, and Fullness associated with vacuum tube based amplifiers, Ease of set up.

None

I have only had the Prima Luna ProLogue One for a few days but in my opinion, the build quality, reliability, ease of set up, ease of use, and sound reproduction is excellent regardless of price point. My Yamaha/Axiom system while exhibiting excellent detail, and accuracy, seemed to be missing the warmth, body, and fullness that the ProLogue One contributes to the system. My wife could not listen to the system before at high volume levels because it hurt her ears. Now she can sit with me and listen to the same passages at high speaker volumes because the "edge" has been softened (the detail and forward sound is still there just presented differently). In my opinion, if you want to add a tube based component to you exisiting system or if you want to build a high quality audiophile system, the Prima Luna ProLogue One Integrated Amplifier would be an excellent choice.

Built, Soundstage, Details, Imaging, Warmth, Depth.

None

My quest in acquiring this Tube Amp is a long story. Started from browsing the Net to emailing distributors as well as the contacting Herman van Dungen and Kevin Deal. These guys are very accommodating that leads me to Italy to finally meet this beauty and of course I am now a proud owner of a Primaluna prologue One. This amp is really heavy and it also shows with the way it performs. It has a sports car like finish that is why it has a pair of cotton gloves supplied in the package. It is complemented with 2 pairs of EL34’s on a push-pull setup, a pair of 12AX7 and a pair of 12AU7. If you turn your attention to the back panel, you can see that they did not let out on anything small, from the binding post to the input jacks (all gold plated). By just looking at it, I got excited to test it out with a friend who is also curious, so we hooked it up to his B&W 602’s, and played Regine Velasquez’ acoustic version of “Dadalhin”. We were astonished with the result. Straight from the box at 9 o’clock level this Amp gave us a show and left us quiet and magnified within the soundstage it produced. The vocals was crystal as if the performer was right in the middle of the soundstage and that is a real good image. The highs and mids gave the acoustic guitar realism and with respect to bass you definitely hear the punch. I tried various types of music that I am very familiar with, and I was surprised how they sounded, like I never herd that ding before or I never heard that note that way before. So Basically I am now in the middle of rediscovering all of my tracks it was like a second honeymoon for me, I never heard them sound like how they sounded with my Primaluna, All the details are there even the lows. I would definitely recommend this Tube Amplifier. Even my friend, whose expertise dates a long time back, is going to get one as well. He’d probably get the prologue two. I recently got my NHT SB2 and with the piano black gloss finish, aesthetically they are a perfect match, and if you hear them perform they are like made for each other. I hooked everything up with all DIY cables. So this will probably be my latest setup that would definitely last me a long time until the next upgrade ;)

* Great Finish * Equals tube amps I've listened to at 3 times the price * Does a good job driving the finicky ESL 57's * High quality Volume and Input Selector Controls * Less than 5 minute warm up time * Impresses the hell out of your friends !

* I wish Upscale Audio had a Canadian distributor. I was totally hosed by the Customs Broker - who charged me $200 in Brokerage Fees ! * Could use a Phono Input Stage (although I think that this is optionally available now).

I am a Quad ESL 57 enthusiast. I have cycled through a number of Amplifiers, old and new trying to find a sound that I really liked. For a while - I was using the massive Marantz 4400 in Quadraphonic mode. Sounded crisp - however - with no clamp boards in the 57's, even in the quadraphonic mode, it laid waste to one of my treble panels, when my 18 Month old got hold of the Volume control. Another option was a re-tubed and slightly re-built Dynaco ST-70. Despite the good reviews for this Amp - I found the sound muddy along with no small amount of distorion with the ESL 57's. So - given the good reviews on the PrimaLuna Prologue One - I decided to take a bet and ordered one from Upscale Audio. I received shipment of the amp in Canada three days after my order. The amp is simply awesome in build quality and I think looks pretty good to boot. The sound - well - the main concern is that the Prologue One is not adequate for the ESL 57's. My experience, despite the fact that notionally the output power from the ST-70 and the Prologue One is the same (they both use EL 34's in the output stage), there really is no comparison between the two amplifiers. The Prolgoue One has a much cleaner sound, whether at low or loud levels. Despite concerns that it could not adequately drive the ESL 57's, the Bass comes out warm and even, and there is plenty of power to *properly* drive the speakers. Unlike with the solid state amps, I am not constantly paranoid that a loud passage in the music will "take out" one of my Treble panels. In noticed that with the Prologue One, THD is cited in the reviews as a concern since it measures higher than most modern amps. I have not noticed this in practice though. I will notice the poor recording quality of a CD before I notice any inherent distortion coming from the Amplifier. Right now, the ESL 57's are in my 12'x25' open concept living room with 9 foot ceilings. At moderate levels, the music nicely fills the living room. I generally enjoy listening with the Volume at about 11 O'clock - about 10 feet in front of the speakers. I have never driven the speakers beyond 1 O'clock on the volume control. I rate this a solid buy. One day I would like to pick up the Prologue Two, and stack my two Pair of ESL 57s' and really light up the house. :-)

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Dynaco ST-70

My living space unfortunately went from really big to really small almost overnight. This forced me to downsize everything, including a big, beloved sound system (monoblocks, electrostats, big rack, etc). I thought this would mean downsizing sound quality too but NOT! I bought the Prima Luna P1 and WOW. This little integrated amp is absolutely wonderful. Clean, clear, smoothe, great imaging and extension at both ends plus terrific dynamics. And it is built to the highest standards I've ever seen (and I've owned alot of fancy stuff in my time). If you seek great performance give this unit a try...and not because it's small or "practical", but because it's truly great.

beautiful music lush mid-range extended highs natural sound build quality looks no maintenance

none

I've been using this amp in my system for about 2 weeks. I've had the same setup for 5 yrs. Krell 300i/Dunlavy SCIII/Arcam Alpha 9/MIT cabling. I have always like tubes but never jumped in for fear of maintenance and fussing with the tubes. The PrimaLuna seemed to have addressed both these issues, the price was right, so I finally took the plunge and got a tube amp. I will start by saying that I always liked the Krell. It wasn't perfect but overall I enjoyed it and at the time of purchase it beat out any SS separates I tried at the same price. I like the simplicity of integrateds. I am absolutely floored by the PrimaLuna. With the exception of deep base punch it is so far superior to the Krell that I am amazed. I expected a different sound not a new system. What little difference there is in the deep base punch is more than made up in incredible mid-range, natural highs, huge soundstage and staggering dynamics. I have spent many late night sessions listening and am just in awe of the music my system is producing. The next night I'm back at it because I felt I must be imagining what I heard the previous night. But I'm not. I'm hearing things I have never heard before on pieces I've played a thousand times. There is a lush naturalness to this amp. Strings are incredible, female vocals amazing. I am hearing all the subtle nuances of the music. I have found myself drawn to classical pieces like never before. With the Krell I'd have to turn the volume up to hear a soft passage. Not this amp. The soft parts are soft and easily heard and the dynamic parts are dynamic. There is more range with this amp. I don't know how else to describe it. I have played all sorts of music from solo acoustic guitar, orchestra, to heavy metal. Everything sounds so natural(as natural as heavy metal can I guess), I feel like I am hearing the recording as it was meant to sound. Like I said to a friend; 'this amp makes my beloved Krell sound broken." I was a bit concerned about the 35 watts compared to the Krells 150 but this amp has no trouble driving the Dunlavys to as loud a level as I listen to. I have rarely had the volume knob past 9 oclock and never past 10. There is so much more music to hear, it's more dynamic, that I actually find myself listening at lower volumes than with the Krell. This amp is such an incredible value both in dollars and sound I would easily recommend it to anyone who like myself always wanted a tube amp without the hassle.

Similar Products Used:

Krell 300i

midrange, strings, looks, overall performance

light in the bass (if you are a bass freak)

I have entered the realm of tube audio. And what an entry point. This amp sounds and looks great. As with any hi fi system, the source material dictates the quality of the music that flows from the speakers. I have paired this amp with meadowlark swift speakers (not the most sensitive, but they seem to do well) and a rega planet 2000 cd player. Finely recorded material sounds fantastic. Second rate material sounds second rate. However, I am extremely pleased and I fully intend to upgrade to more sensitive speakers, a rega jupiter??? and add analogue. I highly recommend this amp. Sweet midrange, awesome strings, but the bass is a tad light. Awesome system for a smaller room or as a second. I am listening to Fleetwood Mac Rumors as we speak and it is awesome with this combo.

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nad integrated nad seperates mondial integrated

musicality, build quality

moderate bass control

When I saw the PrimaLuna Prologue One for the first time in the shop a pair of Sonus Faber Cremonas was hooked up to the amplifier. What became apparent immediately was that this wasn’t just another nice but inconspicuous tube design. This amp drove the not so very small Cremonas with real authority. The sound was well behaved, detailed and with a proper soundstage. Obviously this was an amplifier with high end aspirations. Probably no one would consider this amp for his Cremonas because of the low price, but it was a perfect match. I was very curious how this amplifier would perform in my set at home and how the sound would differ from what I currently get from my current set: a Krell KRC-3 / KSA300S combination. I arranged to audition the amplifier at home over the weekend. Don’t let the small size of the amplifier fool you. It’s surprisingly heavy as I found out when I was unpacking it. Sixteen kilograms according to the specs. Nice detail: a pair of cotton gloves is packed with the amplifier for handling. The first thing I noticed when I started listening is that the amplifier sounded very musical and three-dimensional from the moment I turned it on. The sound changed only slightly over a 20 minute warm-up period. I started listening to some progressive rock by Marillion from their album “Radiation”. This album probably contains some of their loudest songs. Like many rock recordings this isn’t what I would call an audiophile recording. On a lot of equipment the shortcomings of such recordings stand out and spoil the listening fun but the Prologue One was very forgiving in this respect. I then turned to a more audiophile recording: “Verse” by Patricia Barber. This is a good CD for auditioning purposes: All acoustic instruments, very dynamic and detailed recording and of course Patricia Barber. I thought the dynamic content of this album, especially in the lower frequencies, would strain the Prologue One but it played the album with verve. The strong bass and drums on track 7 sounded dynamic and convincing. In the meantime the brass instruments sounded full bodied and lifelike without any graininess. Still with the Prologue One the emphasis is more on the musical whole rather than the individual instruments. To figure out how the Prologue One would handle an entire orchestra I turned to some film music: The OST of the film “Willow” (Music by James Horner, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and The King’s College Choir) It’s a somewhat older recording that can sound bright and artificial on some equipment. On the Prologue One it sounded very lifelike and three dimensional with a deep soundstage that provided a good picture of the concert hall. The qualities of the recording were clearly more prominent then it’s limitations. As with most soundtracks the orchestra is augmented with the heaviest of percussion as is clearly audible on track 2 of the disk. This produces the earth shaking drum blows that are actually best appreciated through a decent subwoofer. Even these heavy low frequency assaults are handled decently by the Prologue One but up to a modest volume, not “symphony orchestra level” volume. For a pair of Guarneris on a tube amplifier this material proved to be somewhat on the heavy side. Actually the Guarneri isn’t designed to handle these amounts of low frequencies. Of course I wouldn’t have the Guarneri if didn’t prefer musical quality over quantity. This also applies very well to the Prologue One which provides a presentation with an emphasis on musical coherence and detail rather than sheer impact. The nominal impedance of the Sonus Faber Guarneri is 8 ohm. Both the 8 ohm and the 4 ohm outputs of the Prologue One can be used with satisfying results. When using the 4 ohm output the sound is a little more analytical and forward and there is more control in the bass range. The 8 ohm output provides a slightly more three dimensional sound with a deeper soundstage. Conclusion The PrimaLuna Prologue One is a superb integrated tube amplifier, puristic in design and use, solidly built and beautifully finished. The Guarneris proved to be an easy load for the Prologue One, providing a detailed and very three dimensional sound with excellent timing. The tonal accuracy of the Guarneri revealed the clean and transparent mids and highs that are characteristic for tube amplifiers in general and very prominent in the Prologue One. The sound is very detailed though not overly analytical. It sounds very three dimensional without being holographically precise. In fact, the sonic characteristics of this amplifier are very well balanced. It is this well balanced-ness that makes listening to it such an enjoyable experience. The performance of the Prologue One is way out of it’s price range and this makes it extreme value for money. It’s High End for a HiFi price.

Similar Products Used:

PrimaLuna Prologue Two

open sound, airiness, warmth without fuzziness, soundstage, vocals, strings

At this price point negligible, but if you insist, bass control (bass can be slightly boomy).

Moonstruck The past two weeks have been difficult ones: I can’t seem to get around to writing this review for the Primaluna Prologue One amplifier. Not because I am a particularly lousy writer, nor because I dislike writing. Not even because there is nothing nice to say about this amp. No, simply because my computer is in a different room, and whenever I finally get behind my computer screen, I can’t seem to do anything else than look for tubes on the Internet. I’m afraid this thing is turning into an addiction. Before I start the actual review part, let me stress that this is a consumer review, and, as such, a biased opinion, simply because I’ve already bought the darned device that keeps me awake at night and overly busy during daytime. Nevertheless, having owned a more than decent high-end solid state amplifier by Audiolabor for several years, and a Duson amp for several weeks, I think I can make a decent comparison (although I’m still a relative newbie to high-end). Since I had doubts about the Duson amp almost from the start, I will only refer to my experiences with the Audiolabor in this review. About a month ago, I went to De Hifistudio in Weerdinge for the first time, to audition the much-acclaimed Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD-player. Since my Audiolabor Kristall integrated amp had broken down, I had just bought a second-hand PA 50 Duson amp, which, thankfully, was still on trial. I had asked store manager Ferry to create a setup closest to my then home setup: the Duson PA-50 and Chario Hiper 2000 floorstanders. When I arrived at De Hifistudio, to my surprise, Ferry had hooked up the Njoe Tjoeb to a nice little tube amplifier. Not exactly close to my solid state home system, it struck me, but, hey, since I’m here, let’s have a listen. The price tag of € 950 seemed particularly appealing for a tube amp. After an hour or two of listening in utter wonder and astonishment, I walked out of the store with the Njoe Tjoeb CD-player, hoping that it would work the same miracles with my Duson amp as it had done with that little tube baby in the store. It didn’t of course, though it did improve the sound considerably. So out went the Duson, and, one fine day, about two weeks ago, I took my speakers and my Njoe Tjoeb to Weerdinge for another audition. I went home with the speakers, the Njoe Tjoeb, the AH! LS speaker cable, and the Primaluna Prologue One tube amp. A new setup was born! The things that convinced me about the Primaluna at the shop in Weerdinge, were confirmed back home, in my small living room with its far from ideal listening circumstances. What struck me most, was its excellent soundstage, where the speakers seem to disappear and a virtual stage appears before you. On this stage you can tell exactly where the musicians are, and you can even track them as they move forward, backward, left, or right. Though my Audiolabor used to have something of a soundstage, it certainly didn’t come close to the Primaluna’s. I remember picking the Audiolabor because of its excellent analytical qualities. I was pleasantly surprised that the Primaluna was (almost) as analytical as the Audiolabor, yet without the Audiolabor’s tendency towards harshness (especially with strings). The Primaluna combines an analytical sound with a warmth I did not know was possible in non-live listening. Both of the above qualities (soundstage and warmth) I think have to do with a third distinctive feature I noticed right away, both in the shop and at home. I now know that it is referred to as ‘air’ around the instruments. Probably this ‘airiness’ helps create the heightened sense of (sound)stage and warmth in the instruments and voices. Frankly, I don’t care much for the causalities, but I wouldn’t want to miss it anymore. Everything just sounds a lot better with it, from intimate string quartets and steaming night-club jazz to full-bodied rock and symphony orchestras. Though I can’t stop this from turning into a rave review, there is one thing about the Primaluna with which I was less impressed, initially: its slightly booming bass. Since my Chario speakers seem a bit bass-prone themselves and were selected specifically for the bright-sounding Audiolabor, it can’t all be blamed on the new amplifier. And every new combination needs some fine-tuning. In my case, different tubes in different places, along with a new AH! interlink to replace my dark-sounding Monster cable have done the trick. This brings me to another good thing about the Primaluna (and tube amps in general): high tweakability. Change tubes and you will get a difference, from clearly audible to day and night. After extensive and addictive listening, I am forced to conclude that the Primaluna is a bit of an artist; it doesn’t just play or amplify, it paints music. Whether it be the clarinet in the Mozart quintet, Sade’s sexy voice, the prologue to Monteverdi’s Orfeo, or the exciting finale of Beethoven’s fifth symphony, the Primaluna paints the whole specter, from gentle, precarious almost, to full-bodied and self-assured. For me, the Primaluna seems to do everything the Audiolabor ever did, and more. I am definitely moonstruck, and will remain so for quite a while. System setup: AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 (Super version) Primaluna Prologue One (by Durob Audio) Chario Hiper 2000 Towers AH! LS-Direkt speaker cable AH! Interlink

Similar Products Used:

Audiolabor Kristall (solid state) Duson PA 50 (solid state)

musical, built like a tank, low price

no phono (no problem for me asI use external phono), no tape out (no problem for me as I never record anything)

I don't know how you feel about it, but one of the things in life that I hate, is visiting the doctor. First of all I hate to be sick or to feel sick and next to that I am afraid of what the doctor is going to propose as a solution. I can start sweating at the idea of having to go to the hospital or -even worse- to be operated. What does this have to do with my Primluna Prologue One amplifier? All and nothing. I am enjoying this instrument, yes there is a reason why I use this word, for 6 months now and it's the most enjoyable hifi-decision I ever made. First of all, it is almost free. Euro 950,- overhere. It looks and is built like a tank and it sounds as sweet as ... music. And than, while visiting DÉ Hifiwinkel in Eindhoven, Michiel, one of the guys, tells me that "next time you have to bring your Primaluna as we have an excellent upgrade for your amplifier". NO, is my immediate thought and my first answer. "Sit down and compare without and with the adaptive autobiasboard" I was told. It didn't take long for me to admit that the unit WITH the autobiasboard was sounding better. Tighter and deeper bass, more control, still wonderfull rich mid and sweet highs. And amazingly pure voice reproduction. Male and female. No distortions and very easy to follow what these voices were actually saying and singing. The ultimate prove of quality for me. So? My Primaluna baby went to the hospital, doctor Michiel operated her within the hour and now she is home again, she is much healthier than before, and singing all day when I am home. Thank you doctor Michiel. Also for that hard to understand low price of Euro 100,- for that board, including the one hour surgery.

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there is no similar kind of thing for this price.

Dynamic, transparent, detailed, open, airy, drives difficult speakers despite small size and brings music to life. A complete steal at this price and a major threat to equipment costing at least twice as much. A showcase for affordable tube amplification.

At this price, even with a bass that is mildly weak compared to the overwhelming strengths in the other areas, nothing.

I am one of those music-loving audio-enthusiasts who always looked with longing eyes at the Jadisses, Cary’s, Conrad Johnsons and the Unison Researches of this world (just to mention a few) without having the guts to go all the way. Often I listened with yearning ears to good tube amplifiers at my dealer’s but I always ended up investing my audio buck instead in safe solid-state bets. After years of upgrading, trading in and tweaking I am now the very happy owner of some pretty good stuff from Theta, Krell, Transparent and Sonus Faber (needless to say where all of this was bought). In my rather lively mid-size listening room my carefully assembled system sounds really great and, before going all the way with a dedicated 5.1 surround SACD/DVD-A set-up, I enjoy high-quality stereo music. When I recently was about to get a visit from Rob Wilms of Dé HifiWinkel in Beek for the delivery of my new turntable, Herman from Durob Audio made me a proposition I could certainly not refuse. Herman is not only the "co-architect" of my current system (the other one is of course Ken Kessler….), but he also knows my taste for good high-end, especially of the kind that scores high marks for the price-quality ratio. He sent Rob to my place with the turntable and, as a bonus, he added a special and, as it turned out, excessively charming and highly enjoyable temporary guest with a request to listen to it and write down my impressions. The guest was none other than the spectacular newcomer in the growing range of affordable products developed and marketed by Durob under their various house brands: the PrimaLuna ProLogue One. What a sexy name! Those who have seen and heard this machine will agree with me that the name is not the only sexy part of this very appealing, slick and shiny integrated tube amplifier. Apart from name and looks, built quality, user-friendliness and reliability, the real critical elements of any amplifier in my view are sound quality (within the relevant context) and price. I can tell you that, as far as the PrimaLuna ProLogue One is concerned, the two latter are at least as sexy as the name. Durob boasts this amplifier offers sensational sound for a sensationally low price. In hifi land such claims are quite common. Every now and again I visit one of my dealers and ask them about the latest "flavour of the month" and all too often one bumps into what will be presented as a "super bargain". Unfortunately, the tough truth is that in virtually all cases you get what you pay for, nothing more and often even less. Pleasant surprises are indeed very rare. However, let me tell you straight away: the ProLogue One is a great exception to that rule. It plays the stars from heaven for what I would humbly describe as a floorboard-breaking price in the utterly positive sense of the term. Intrigued? Read on! MonoLogue I have now spent about two delightful weeks with this integrated tube baby in my otherwise quite demanding system. For some pictures and a brief description of its main features I kindly refer you to the www.hifi-notes.com web site, where you will read the following: "This 15kg heavy integrated line-amplifier (29cm wide x 38cm deep x 20cm high) with 2 x 35W power (8 Ohms) uses high quality parts and is fully hard-wired (no pc-board). Following tubes are used: 2 x 12AU7, 2 x AX7 for the pre-amplification and 4 x EL34 in push-pull for the power-stage. The amplifier has 4 line-inputs and multi-tap outputs." I did not open the machine, but I fully trust those who did, and they all confirmed the claim made on the website about excellent quality hard-wiring. The amplifier comes well protected in a solid carton box and is accompanied by – a very nice detail – a pair of white cotton gloves and a mains cable. The front plate is made of heavy, 1 cm thick brushed black aluminium and includes the source selection button on the right, the volume button on the left (no remote control) and the blue power led in the middle. A cage of bluish-black metal protects the tubes and the transformers are also covered with a metal protective housing. Installing and start-up are easy. Unscrew the four screws of the tube cage (use a magnetic screwdriver, because the screws are small and two of them are not easy to attend), take off the protective plastic cover that lies over the tubes, connect sources and speakers (Note 1: there are two alternative positive speaker terminals: 8 Ohm or 4 Ohm, so check the impedance of your speakers first. Note 2: the binding posts are great for bare wire, banana plugs and big spades, but my standard Transparent spades did not fit, so I used screwed-on gold-plated banana plugs from Monster) and switch on the machine. The power-switch is on the left side of the amp, out of sight, but very easy to reach. The PrimaLuna ProLogue One invited me to provide the full luxury treatment. So, I sat ‘her’ on a dedicated SolidSteel amp stand, I gave her three Nordost Pulsar points for further decoupling and I connected her to my mains via the Tice Infinite Speed power cable (the standard cable happened to be slightly too short in my specific set-up – PrimaLuna has a place of honour in the middle of the listening room). Despite the official output power of 35 watts into 8Ohm (only 14% of my reference Theta Dreadnaught) and the traditional assumption that Sonus Faber Guarneris with their sensitivity of 86-87dB are quite power-hungry, I hooked the PrimaLuna up to these wonderful loudspeakers for my review. For this connection I used the excellent Transparent Music Wave Super Bicables. The Theta DS ProBasic D/A converter and the freshly installed Michell TecnoDec + AH! phonostage were connected to the ProLogue One with 8Ft of Transparent Ultra single ended cables. Serious listening began after about 100-120 hours of burn-in. What struck me first with this integrated was the loudness in combination with a clean, very clear but not clinical or thin sound. Granted, my Theta converter delivers about 3.5-4 Volt RMS via its single-ended output (in balanced mode it is more like 8 Volts!), but I did have the same impression with the turntable/phonostage. Driving the not-so-sensitive Guarneris, the ProLogue One with its volume set at 9 o’ clock or even less (!) played more than loud enough for my (12x18 Ft) listening room. It delivered any kind of music in a non-distorted and transparent manner. From the Linkin Park Meteora on vinyl (sounds better than the CD), which is as far away you can get from sweet bed-time lullabies, to the highly dynamic Reference recordings HDCD Sampler 2, the well-known Jazz at the Pawnshop with all its little ambient jazz club noises and potentially very deep image, and the versatile voice of Patricia Barber, all of this was delivered with verve and talent by this great little integrated. The tubes seemed to add the necessary human warmth to this (just enough, not too much) and must have played a key role in creating its great sound stage. The musical reproduction went beyond and behind the speakers. Sonus Faber speakers are usually good at the famous ‘disappearing act’, but it is my experience that this works only after a careful set up process and with the right ancillaries. This time, I did not move the speakers an inch from their initial set-up. I just connected the new amplifier and played and, still, it worked. The Guarneris disappeared. The sound stage is wide, quite deep and tends to be relatively towards the back (as opposed to being up-front). What also struck me were the ‘air’ around instruments and voices, as well as the presentation of details. Some equipment lets you hear every single tiny detail, but it is presented in such a manner that you almost only hear the details and the overall presentation loses its coherence or does not come through as is should. With the PrimaLuna I really heard all the detail I could wish for (sometimes it seemed I heard even more than through my reference system, which costs about 12 times as much as the ProLogue One. Or was it just presented differently?). However, unlike with the bulk of MidFi systems, the detail was there in a transparent and natural way and was not thrown in my face. Does the ProLogue One favour any musical genre? I don’t think so and that is what makes this, in my view, a real, solid, above entry-level high-end product. I am fully aware that there are tube products out there that will beat the ProLogue One in certain areas. But these will cost substantially more and, as I found to be very often the case, these high-end elite products excel with certain well-recorded musical genres (usually closely-miked female voices, small jazz ensembles, chamber music, etc.), but dramatically fall through when it comes down to catering for a much wider choice of software, both in terms of genre and in terms of recording quality. Working with this amplifier was always great fun and really never left me frustrated in any way. I think fun and being able to play all different kinds of music are two of the most important elements of the high-end hobby. As far as the ProLogue One is concerned, the only small criticism I would have is the not completely stellar performance in the lower and lowest registers. This could of course be partly due to the Guarneris, which do need some firm control in the bass. Nevertheless, the mild woolliness in the lows (a) did not veil the excellent mid and high performance, so details, as I said, came more than perfectly through and (b) did not undermine or jeopardise the rhythm and speed of the music I played through this amplifier. I might not recommend, as one so often reads/hears, this amplifier to someone who owns difficult speakers and who strongly favours massive organ concertos and/or house-type head-banging walls of heavy metal. This being said, the Linkin Park boys I had perform via the ProLogue One sang loud enough to make my neighbours very nervous and never sounded as if someone had stolen their base guitar and drum before the recording was made. The bottom line is that this is one integrated amplifier I would (and in fact already did) without any hesitation recommend to any friend, colleague or relative, be it a would-be audiophile or not, looking for a new amplifier or an upgrade from whatever they currently play with. Anyone who invests the perfectly acceptable €950 in the ProLogue One will, in my opinion, be able to get the same kind of satisfaction from playing the latest Chesky SACD album of Sara K. as from playing an old vinyl copy of Deep Purple’s Made in Japan (well, at least I did) as it will always sound better, more involving and more musically satisfying than when played on a mass-market set-up. The mere fact that the ProLogue One was perfectly capable of making the relatively difficult and demanding Guarneris sing and show off their best is enough proof for me that this modestly priced wonder will quickly find a large fan-base. Because of its democratic retail price, it will most probably represent the decisive argument for the large group of undecided audiophile would-be’s, who would love to take that step and move to the next quality level, but who are put off by the often excessive prices. Durob Audio, with its decades of experience in this field and its great team of technicians, not to mention the exemplary after-sales service, seem to have found a niche in the market. I congratulate them for taking pro-active steps to fill this void and to bring a great-sounding and very affordable product to the market. EpiLogue The buyer of a ProLogue One today is, because of the great qualities of this product, in my view, very likely to develop a taste for the high-end hobby. Ten years ago I started the hobby buying a simple Marantz CD player with a digital output. At that time, a company called Audio Alchemy put very affordable D/A converters on the market. I bought the famous DDE V1.0, which clearly improved the sound of my player and, thus, my musical enjoyment. In the meantime, encouraged by that small but very satisfactory investment, I have given a lot of money to producers and retailers of high-end equipment, always investing with a sharp eye on the price-performance ratio and always further improving the performance of my system. I am confident that, if Durob and its retailers keep their current long-term view on the development and marketing of high-end products, many audiophiles with mega-buck set-ups in 2013 will look back and say, with a vain of nostalgia: "It all started ten years ago, when I bought this great affordable piece of sexy tube kit called PrimaLuna ProLogue One………….".

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Jadis D-30 and Orchestra. Unison Research Simply 845.