Matthieu van Overbeek: Actually, I’ve been looking for a good amp for quite a while now. An amp that has to be perfect to my ears. In order to avoid financial and spatial problems, I had already decided it had to be an integrated amp. I wasn’t sure about the brand yet, but after a lot of listening I settled on Primare, possibly Copland. However, yet another alternative could be the amp about which my brother Marcel had already told many stories of praise, but which I hadn’t had the opportunity of hearing yet: the PrimaLuna ProLogue One.
I had been to my brother’s place before on one of those lazy Sunday afternoons and had been almost literally swept away by a sound that immediately hypnotized me: tube sound! Boy, was this great! I enjoyed this tube sound so much that it actually touched me deep down and left me with the well-known ‘tube bug’. Of course, that was the sound I wanted for my listening room, except for one problem: financial feasibility … or so I thought, not wanting to spend more than 1.000 Euro. So I immediately abandoned the idea of owning a tube amp!
Until one day, my audiophile brother called me and asked: "Say, Mathieu, are you still looking for an amp?" "Yes", I replied, "but I haven’t found anything I like within my budget yet. Your recent demo spoiled me quite a bit!"
"Good, how convenient. I’m bringing over something you are going to like! Besides, this gives me the chance to see and hear your new listening room." That same night, he was at my door, carrying a big box. It looked like he was holding a piece of concrete in his hands, so, without hesitation, we went up to the attic.
Once out of its box, I saw a dark, shining, metallic device, resembling a tube amplifier! I removed the cage quickly, and indeed, eight magnificent lamps were glowing at me … Now this was a tube amp!
After having warmed the amp (within 10 minutes it had reached its sound!) and having listened to a few records, I was in fact already sold! What a beautiful amp. And, the longer you look at it, the better it gets. The combination of the PrimaLuna ProLogue One with the Marantz CD17 and the Sonus Faber Concerti leaves a great impression … Such impressive lows are coming from this amp: deep, powerful, and fast. This is a very dynamic amp that keeps surprising me with its warm tube sound. My Duson amp is definitely being outclassed here…It is nice and clear and transparent, reproducing everything that needs to be heard. It obviously has a lot of power, with its listed 2 x 35 Watt. The music sounds broad and airy, filling my room effortlessly. My music changes from Roger Waters, to Diana Krall, to classical. And listen to the soundtrack from Lord of the Rings! The PrimaLuna ProLogue One will not budge. Bravely and firmly, it tackles all genres.
It may be obvious that I was completely wedded to this beautiful tube amp right away. Imagine how sorry I was to see Marcel take the amp away that night, because he needed it for demos the next day. I want to thank my brother and his boss Herman for a wonderful night of listening. My mind is made up, really, so you can put down my order! And picture this: the PrimaLuna hooked up to the Concertos with the AH! LS cable … long nights lie ahead once more!
My satisfaction grew complete when I heard about the price of the PrimaLuna ProLogue One, which really is almost too outrageous to be mentioned here! In my opinion, this is an amp that compares with other high-end amps far more expensive than the PrimaLuna ProLogue One. I’m expecting to be one satisfied listener for the next few years, with a tube amp under 1.000 Euro. This leaves you some money to spend on experiments with AH! power cables and interlinks. I must admit that this review is finished, even before I have actually gotten my own PrimaLuna amp at home. The demo was so convincing, though, that I feel I can’t be disappointed. Anyone game for a used Duson?
Mathieu van Overbeek (related indeed: his little brother …)