In 2003, Herman van den Dungen, who is a Dutch distributor for high end equipment, started the adventure of this brand together with the ex Goldmund Marcel Croese and the ex Jadis Dominique Chenet. The name derives from a family nickname of the founder who has curiously discovered the existence of a village close by Milan which is named with its literal translation that is PrimaLuna, and he decided to name his company after it. The company  bases its design, quality control and after sales service in Holland, while the manufacturing is in the Far East under western control.

PrimaLuna has in its catalogue two integrated tube amplifiers having both received a wide consensus by the public and by the press (the Two has been awarded as "Product of the Year 2004" by hifi+): the One, 30W EL34 push - pull costing 1.150 Euro and the Prologue Two AB, the object of this review, costing 1.490 Euro.

Furthermore, have been already announced the Prologue Three (1.150 Euro), a dual mono tube preamplifier, and the Prologue Four and Five (35 and 45 W tube final amplifiers costing respectively  1.150 and 1.490 Euro ).

The display is concluded by the optional phono board Prologue Phono (Phonologue in some of the documentation) costing 160 Euro assembling excluded, available for the One, Two and Three, and hereby reviewed for the first time.

The three PrimaLuna's working partners began  with a bold statement reported on the company's website : " We think it's time to offer  a range of reasonable priced audio products that can easily compete with today's high-end products".

Let's have a look.

The PrimaLuna is delivered in an excellent double package (two boxes, one within the other one and a soft polystyrene that does not crumble) where there is also room for the power cord, two spare fuses and a pair of gloves to handle the amplifier.

The owner's manual is excellent, lavish of suggestions and technical indications.

The importer is one of the historical and most representative names in the market, a warranty for the support and for the after sales of this amplifier. He manages a well maintained Internet site where is possible to find a lot of documentation about the distributed products. The push-pull design scheme of the Prologue Two is well known and this assures a wide base knowledge among the users.

Even thought it is a tube amplifier, its line is modern, and it resisted to the temptation of wood inserts or brass plates with inscriptions in fluttering fonts and - surprisingly -  it is more beautiful with the tube's protection grille in place rather than without it. It is extremely linear and it shows a grainless five layers lacquering striking for its uniformity, worthy of a luxury car's chassis, in a nice anthracite gray color turning into blue with a glossy polishing. In this modern interpretation of the most classic amplifier the Prologue Two AB is very stylish, one of the most beautiful  piece of equipment I've recently seen and it has obtained an high female liking .

As an option there is available a silver front panel (160 Euro) with knobs of the same color (60 Euro).

A robust grille for the tubes is supplied  ( in fact, rather than a grille it is more a box with gratings ), held by a smart joint made by bananas like the ones used for the speakers, its presence is absolutely necessary because the machine warms up a lot, though never to dangerous levels. In order to remove it, it must be resolutely pulled. We remind you that such a protection is mandatory according to CE regulations, but for several other amplifiers it is neither supplied nor made available as an option . Below the grille there are the eight tubes, all of them are already installed in their sockets, where the big ones are also protected by a foam rubber wrapper; their hosting panel has their model printed in serigraphy. On the front panel there are the volume knob, the input selector and the green indicator LED. The grip on the robust knobs is good (they are secured by an hex screw rather than simply being inserted in place), the input selector has also a soft stop system if its end is reached too violently but as it happens often the indications are not clear and the position of the two controls becomes undecipherable already from one meter away.

There is no remote control, however at the dealers ( and therefore keeping the full warranty ) it will be possible to install some radio control kits by third parties (including ALPS), with prices starting from 80 Euros assembling excluded.

There is no workaround for the absence of the headphone output.

The back panel hosts four line inputs, the output for a single pair of speakers with positive terminals for 4 and 8 Ohm impedance and the IEC socket for the power cord. The main switch is located on the left lateral panel, near the front panel. All the outstanding quality connectors  are gold plated, and the signal ones have a teflon insulation.

There is not tape out, therefore a recorder cannot be connected to the Prologue Two. For the high output level sources (tuner, CD) it is just an inconvenience since it simply imposes to unplug the source from the amplifier and plug it in the recorder when needed.

However, when the internal phono board is used it won't be possible to record from vinyl as we will find out later.

The benefit, apart from the savings invested on other parts of the unit, is to get rid of the tape loop which is one of the biggest interceptors of noise in the preamplifier stages, so that in some machines is excludable (for instance on the Accuphase E-212)

There is no subwoofer output and no "Direct" input for integrating more easily the Prologue Two in an HT system; accessories we do not miss given the kind of speakers which will be probably matched to the PrimaLuna and its vocation distinctly "two stereo channels".

It's a pity for the absence of bridges separating the pre — final sections precluding from future  developments.

To be highlighted is the automatic bias adjustment which makes the machine fully plug & play (I believe that the abbreviation "AB" in the name of this amplifier stands for "Auto Bias"). It sets free the less expert users from a delicate operation and it makes easy eventual experiments with different sets of tubes.

The workmanship of the sheet steel is outstanding showing very tight allowances without any sharp or pointed edge; the weight (17 Kg.) is considerable, obliging to be cautious when handling the unit and to protect the shelves if spikes are used.

As we were saying, the chassis is a thick steel sheet with a one centimeter thick aluminum front panel. The components are very good, the output transformers are completely enclosed and they do not produce any noise or vibration; the tube sockets are ceramic and the potentiometer is ALPS which, just like the input selector, is a good model but not the top of the range.

To be noted there are French capacitors Nichicon and Solen and the super-fast diodes which, allowing a power supply and therefore a signal less disturbed, improve the detail and the definition. The layout is very neat and smart, developed profusely, and the wiring is fully point to point made by neat and precise solderings, nothing to share with the spaghetti-like wires jammed in lots of machines coming from the ex Celestial Empire (and sometimes also from our countries). An idea of the accuracy of this production comes from the rubber feet fixed to the bottom panel by a nut blocked by a drop of red glue and the several plates signed by a production inspector.  A production of very good level, really reassuring for the reliability of our nocturn integrated.

In the central green board crossing the unit there is mounted the hearth of the proprietary Adaptive AutoBias circuit for the automatic bias adjustment. It allows to skip any initial or periodic bias adjustment for the tubes, making also easy eventual tests with different sets; the same circuit helps to decrease the tube's distortion optimizing their performance, but also it makes them warm up more. This is not the only reason but the PrimaLuna in fact a nice heater.

Far from the central board it is visible the gold color heat-sink of the resistance in the power supply for the phono board which is the small PCB close to the inputs, at the top right of the picture.

There is also a soft-start circuit bringing the tubes up slowly to prolong their lifetime and to decrease the chance of a failure.

In technical terms the Prologue Two is a KT88 push - pull.

Born at the end of the Twenties and spread at the begin of the Thirties, the push pull configuration gets its name by the way the pairs of power tubes are driven where each tube gets an half-wave out of phase by 180° (from which comes the name: while one pushes, the other one pulls) with the reconstruction of the two halves of the signal at the output transformer.

It allows electrical performance better than the other basis of the tube circuits, the single ended that nevertheless reaches higher levels of refinement (especially in monotriode configuration). Of course, this is true in general lines and with some simplification, but as always the evaluation must be done design by design.

The power tube KT88 (the big quartet in the picture) won its fame for its robustness and reliability. It is a tetrode developed for audio applications around the half to the Fifties in the Marconi Osram labs of the English company General Electric, similar (but not equal) to the GE6550A and designed to replace the KT66 of the Thirties. In order to differentiate itself from the competitor General Electric USA the English company adopted the Genalex brand, used until the production has been stopped about twenty years ago, after they won a fame for exceptional performances. All these arguments should explain why the importer proudly states that the KT88 tubes mounted on the Prologue Two are KT88 Genalex replicas.

Van den Dungen and partners, as drivers for the KT88s, use a pair of authoritative 12AU7 which you can see in the second row, quite a common choice for the line out preamplifiers stages also thanks to their low internal impedance. The display of tubes is ended by the two 12AX7 in foreground, high gain tubes and therefore at their ease in increasing the voltage of the preamplifiers stages, they used to be very common also in many applications like measurement and transmission instruments.

I must say that examining the glass, the socket and the connections of these eight tubes branded PrimaLuna, the materials and the assembling are adequate with respect to the NOS (new old stock, stocks of vintage tubes never used ).

The unit needs a few CD tracks to warm up and after that the situation is already good and we find out that ...this machine sounds impressive.

Bear in mind that what I'm going to say should be read in absolute terms and that the competitors are the equivalent designs from consolidated brands, or I would like to say the top designs from consolidated brands. If we also take the price into account the picture it is almost embarrassing.

Many of us repeated for years that the world is not divided in tubes and solid state but in good sounding and bad sounding amplifiers. Well, this machine demonstrates it clearly.

We are used to the idea of delicate and euphonic tube amplifiers, the Prologue Two AB instead  proved to be  authoritative and determined in the low range like a pure-bred solid state showing a deep and articulated bass always well rounded but animated by waves of energy.

No problems with the rock's medium bass where all the wickedness needed is present, and no problems either with the deep ones from the double bass or the powerful and bottomless ones from the organ. It's surprising how the little Dutch operates these KT88 (you can see one of them in the foreground here at the side "observed" by my tube radio, the gloves are the ones supplied with the amplifier).

The medium range is full valvular, with a richness of the musical signal lighting up the soundstage with all the colors of music, joined to an high range just slightly soft but present up to the top of the spectrum and always sparkling.

The absence of grains is perfect also compared to the high standards of the tube amplifiers, and it is surprising the quantity of the details recovered (not invented) inside the recorded signal.

Above all, it is the equilibrium of all these qualities over the entire frequency spectrum which generates an absolutely convincing global performance: no listening fatigue, without desire to X-ray this or that performer even though none of the small details are missing, in short, lots and lots of music without real preferences for one genre, a typical statement of the throuroghbred horses.

The extremely low background noise is a nice surprise: keeping the volume at the same level  I used for bringing the listening room to its limits and playing the silent track of the test CD was not possible to hear any noise at one meter and half form the tweeter, and it was possible to undoubtedly perceive the noise only at eighty centimeters. Also this distance from the noise background helps the great richness of details and the precise microdynamics expressed by the Prologue Two.

The soundstage is not blurred and it is well dimensioned, female voices are absolutely credible with an very good management of the sibilants which are not canceled (they exist in the voice) but they are reproduced in a controlled and correct way. Male voices are rounded and well centered on their tone.

Sometimes emerges a tendency to paint a fresco slightly overloaded: for example the clocks and the cash-registers in Time and Money in DSOM are very beautiful but they perhaps the sound a bit too silvery with respect to the reality (is there a reality in that record?) like also sometimes the drum's skins or some woods sound a bit too "plump".

This amplifier sounded very well with the rigorous timbre of my AR IV RedBox (85 / 87 dB) but it's with the  Klipschorn (104 dB) where its performance, I want to say that, shown a really absolute level.

It is therefore worthwhile to choose very carefully the speakers because the performances obtainable by means of a strike matching will be worth the effort.

I played a lot the Prologue Two, it made background music while I was reading or wandering at home, it kept my company during dinner, in short it's one of those machines which make you feel to switch them on when you get up in the morning

Set up

The unit needs a break in period of a couple of days but is sounds already in a convincing way almost immediately. The Prologue Two did not show particular signs of microphonicity, therefore it is not needed ( unless you place it on unfortunate places ) to use dampers for the tubes, the transformers or for the capacitors, including the ones on the phono board.

The amplifier has four big and very effective (decoupling) rubber feet.

I tried to place the PrimaLuna on three (coupling) aluminum spikes (take care to do not scratch the shelf where they rest ), and I must say that I noticed "drying" and  an increased velocity of the sound though by itself does not become useful to the general timbre.

The supplied power cord is much better than the ones normally around, a 3x1,5 mmq with a nice Schuko; do not trust the phase mark indicated on it since in the delivered unit it was assembled in the opposite way. If you really want to swap it, choose one having a section and connectors really generous (I'm thinking to a 3x2,5 mmq or to a TTS): you'll get a very slight reinforcement of the bass frequencies (but depending on which power cord, you might also get a very slight  "lengthening").

Installing the spikes and swapping the power cord as suggested, will reinforce the low register maintaining it well dry and it will give to the machine a bit more of controlled grim : with some sources or loudspeakers it might be a small element of improvement for a matching already successful. Small, eh, they are real nuances that, if they are present, could be perceived only when the entire system is perfectly tuned.

I liked the Prologue Two the most with the standard rubber feet and a shielded BlackWire 3x2,5 power cord.

Both the 8 and the 4 Ohm outputs must be tried regardless of what is written in the loudspeakers' plates, it can not be said in advance which one performs better (in my case, the  8 ohm one with both pairs of speakers).

It is also possible to swap the tube set, and thanks to the automatic bias it won't be a problem. About this topic, the manual is not stingy of good recommendations including tables of equivalence and the warning that "Swapping tubes is interesting and funny, and we agree on that, but do not exaggerate": at PrimaLuna must know well the hi-fi lovers. However, bear in mind that a 12AX7 is about one hundred euro and a KT88 MOV (Marconi - Osram Valve) sells around the two hundreds.

And the sound of a push - pull does not come only from the tubes but the output transformer where the two half-waves will rejoin is also crucial. I would keep all the tubes at their place at least for a while.

The fully solid state components phono board is available for 160 Euro excluding assembling and it can be installed by your dealer when you buy the amplifier or later on (some tooling and expertize are needed) while obviously retaining the warranty's validity. In can be adapted to the integrated Prologue One and Two and to the Prologue Three preamplifier.

The decision to buy an internal phono stage is influenced by several factors: at the same price, in the board you do not pay for chassis, power supply, power cord, interconnects; in short, every single cent goes into the components reproducing the sound.

On the other hand, you must rely on the internal shielding of the amplifier and it will not be possible to use a net filter in order to isolate the phono preamplifier section from the rest of the power supply. In the specific case of the Prologue Two, the board accepts only moving magnet cartridges even though form the bit-chaotic documentation it can be deducted that the same board in a moving coil (only?) version might soon become available.

With this amplifier it is not possible to copy vinyls on tapes for listening in the car or on reels for not  wearing them, because it has no tape output (it is not possible either to connect the turntable to the recorder directly because the RIAA equalization would not take place ).

The board is completely inside the machine therefore there is no ground nut coming out, and the PrimaLuna's coating is so accurate that the chassis does not offer any valid contact point. The solution is one of the hex screws fixing the bottom cover to the chassis or even better, as I found out after some try, an RCA connector plugged into a free input of the amplifier with its negative only (the external body) connected to the ground spade of the turntable. This solution is even more silent.

Right away two important remarks: first, the board is very silent; second, it has the same amplifier's timbre which is important and could never be given for granted.

Also here the message is credible, refined and stable with a nice dynamic and determination on the lows. Perhaps the soundstage is a bit narrow, very good the instruments' timbre. Compared to the external "pro" phono preamplifier Telefunken RN 100 CX at that time used by several TV broadcasters including the RAI, which uses also a  net filter that for this kind of units is often an holy hand, the Prologue Phono draw out  musicality and grim demonstrating itself as a convincing phono stage.

A very satisfying test for a board to be bought without hesitations, especially if we think what else it is possible to buy with the same budget on the stand alone phono preamplifier market ( second hands included ).

It is a great machine in absolute terms: beautiful, well built, well sounding, makes you feel to switch it on and to listen to the music.

Sold at a reasonable price in general and extremely convenient given its construction and performance, really plug & play thanks to the automatic bias, it is a demonstration of how it is possible to take advantage in a smart way from the opportunities given by the transfer of the production in China  and how a very proved design gives its best when it's in the hands of technicians who really know how to extract the maximum.

I believe that when the importer will turn up to have the Prologue Two back, for a while my answering machine will inform him that I'm not at home and it will suggest him to retry a few days later … and more than that, several days later.

Translation by Carmelo Di Stefano - All prices and selling conditions refer to the Italian market