Dick Olsher on Tubed Gear
Eventually I made it across the hall to the Mystère room. The star attractions here were the pa21 and ca21. The ca21 ($2195) is a full-sizechassis line preamp featuring tube rectification, DC filament supplies, zero global feedback, a high-quality 24-step volume attenuator, an SRRP gain stage, and a modified White cathode-follower output stage for low output impedance. The pa21 ($2995) is the ca21’s matching amplifier, nominally a 55Wpc KT88-based power amp, although it may be easily switched to EL34 use. The adaptive autobias board allows one to run either tube at its optimal bias level. The front end was the wellknown PrimaLuna Eight CD player and cabling was by DH Labs. What I was absolutely not ready for was the magical coupling between the Mystère gear and the MartinLogan Summit X hybrid ESLs. Every once in a while you run into a match made in heaven— and this was definitely one of them. Fantastic midrange clarity and soundstage transparency to die for. Bass quality and integration were surprisingly good even under show conditions.

Sterephile CES 2009 Show Report
Directly across the hall from PrimaLuna exhibit, I discovered its somewhat more expensive big brother line, Mystère. While PrimaLuna amps operate in triode mode, Mystère gives you the sound of tetrode. These aren't high power babies-the ia11 integrated amp puts out 40Wpc watts and the ia21 integrated amp gives you 50Wpc. The electronics are manufactured with a different partner in China, and are the dream project of their designer. On a modest demo system, I heard the Mystère pa21 power amplifier equipped with KT88, Concept ca11 preamp, PrimaLuna ProLogue Eight CD player, an ExactPower, and a Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grand produce some truly lovely sounds. If I ever end up with higher-sensitivity speakers, I'd love to give one of these babies a try. Jason Victor Serinus