PrimaLuna

In issue 10, we announced our appointment as New Jersey's exclusive dealer for the PrimaLuna line of electronics. The products in this line of preamplifiers, integrated amplifiers, and power amplifiers sound terrific, are amazingly reliable, and are built to a quality standard that is rarely matched by even some of the most expensive components out there. To top all of this, the PrimaLuna products are surpassingly attractive. They have neat, clean lines, superb fit and finish, and a high gloss finish consisting of 5 coats of hand-polished lacquer. There are four integrated amplifiers (ProLogue One, ProLogue Two, DiaLogue One, DiaLogue Two), a preamplifier (ProLogue Three), two stereo power amplifiers (ProLogue Four, ProLogue Five), and two sets of mono-block power amplifiers (ProLogue Six, ProLogue Seven). In addition, any of the integrated amplifiers and the preamplifier can be fitted with a built-in phono preamplifier.

What has been missing from the line, however, is a CD player worthy of the sound and construction quality of the rest of the line. This problem has been solved with the introduction of the ProLogue Eight vacuum tube CD player at $2499. This isn't just another "me too" CD player with a couple of tubes stuck into the output stage to impress the innocent but is an innovative, remarkably-coherent design that is well thought out from start to finish. Here is a list of some of its features:

• True, Dual Mono, tube output stage
• Vacuum tube rectified power supply adapted from the award-winning ProLogue Three preamplifier that incorporates eleven separate power supply regulation circuits
• State-of-the-art Burr Brown SRC4192 24bit/192kHz upsampling circuit and Burr Brown PCM1792 DACs
• Premium parts including metal film resisters and Solen polypropylene coupling capacitors
• Custom-designed isolation transformers which separate the analog and digital circuits, resulting in decreased signal degradation and improved sonics from top to bottom
• Beautiful, heavy-gauge anodized, brushed aluminum remote control that controls all important CD operations and will even operate functions on the DiaLogue components
• The SuperTubeClock, an ultra-low jitter clocking device that replaces the solid-state oscillator of other CD players with a vacuum tube for incredible detail retrieval and dynamics throughout the entire audio spectrum.

The last item is of particular interest because it represents the world's first tube-based data clocking device, the SuperTubeClock. By incorporating a low-noise, mini-triode vacuum tube into the digital clock, one obtains vastly superior resolution and detail retrieval, and improved clarity from top to bottom.

The ProLogue Eight is a true dual-mono design, right down to the dual vacuum tube rectification, another first in a CD player. Finally, this CD player is built on the same high-quality, compact chassis and has the same extraordinary fit and finish as the other models in the ProLogue Series.

As for sound quality, it's as spacious, natural, delicate, and harmonically-natural as you'd expect from the design, clearly in its own class at this price range. It should definitely be on the short list of anyone looking for a new CD player.