1. I’ve been looking at tube products for awhile, but my dealer tells me that modern solid state equipment performs as well, so why choose this technology? Technically—on paper at least—solid state performs better. As a manufacturer of tube gear, that sounds like heresy, but let me finish. The complaint we hear from many people is that solid state is a little too precise and that it’s missing something elemental. So stop for a moment and consider this: EVERY musician you listen to—every vocalist, guitarist, violinist, oboist, glockenspiel and kalimba player—records with tube equipment. Every one. Why? Humanity. Tubes bring a warmth, a glow, a humanity to recordings that solid state—in its exactness—simply can’t. And incorporating advanced designs, tube equipment is now just as easy to operate as solid state and perhaps a little more fun. These reasons explain the proliferation of tube gear manufacturers during the last decade and the indisputable success of first, PrimaLuna and now, Mystère.

2. Some people say that tube equipment is unreliable. What's your experience? It is erroneous to assume that tube equipment is more or less reliable than solid state. Reliability—or a lack thereof—is not related to either of the technologies specifically but rather the equipment’s design and manufacture. The tube gear we’ve brought to market in the last decade has been the most reliable equipment we’ve been involved with in our 33 years of business. US distributor Kevin Deal also handles the PrimaLuna brand and out of thousands sold, reports an unheard-of defect rate of one-half of one percent! No manufacturer—tube or solid state—can make such a claim. Deal states that PrimaLuna is THE most reliable, problem-free line he’s ever been associated with in a career dating back to the mid 70s. Adopting similar, exceptional designs and strict manufacturing oversight, Mystère promises to deliver equal dependability.

3. I’m sold. It’s reliable. And I’ll admit, I’ve always been infatuated with the glowing, warm sound of tube amps but shied away because I’m not inclined to mess around with biasing and stuff. Any advice? Rest easy. With the high-end features found in Mystère, anyone can own and operate a tube amp. ANYONE. You may be thinking of other products that require manually biasing tubes, multimeters and the like—which can be a little intimidating. None of that is required with Mystère. We’ve incorporated our exclusive Adaptive AutoBias circuit that instantly and continuously monitors and adjusts the tubes to their sweet spot. So no manual biasing—ever. We’ve included a soft-start circuit that powers the amp up gently, extending not only the life of the tubes, but all critical parts of the amp. Finally, in the event of a power surge or some other unforeseen occurrence, the amp is self-protecting, meaning you blow a fuse, not the gear. Of course, nothing in life is 100%, so don’t take it in the Jacuzzi with you or try to run it off of 220 volts.

4. OK, lots of bang for the buck but those features you mention are also found in PrimaLuna components, which you manufacture as well. Are Mystère amps just a dressed up version of PrimaLuna or are there distinct differences? First, we are indeed proud to say that Durob Audio designs and manufactures the PrimaLuna components. What great success upon which to build! And that’s exactly what we’ve done with Mystère—we’ve built upon the idea of providing high quality, cutting edge features that don’t require a second mortgage. Mystère incorporates PrimaLuna features, as documented above, but it’s distinctly different. The brands have different designs and different parts. PrimaLuna is an ultralinear design and Mystère is a pentode push pull. Mystere uses higher grade parts and it’s cabinet design and finish is superior. Finally, Mystère incorporates a 24-step volume attenuator and the ia21 has a special EL34/KT88 switch that recalibrates the Adaptive AutoBias board.

5. You guys are making a pretty big deal out of this 24-step volume attenuator. What are its benefits and what about the special switch for EL34s/KT88s? The simple, layman’s explanation of the attenuator: 95% of the products on the market today use potentiometers to control volume. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that but their design incorporates a bunch of electronic parts, each one degrading the signal ever-so slightly. The 24-step volume attenuator is much more efficient. It provides a direct pathway running through a single resistor and therefore, there’s virtually no signal degradation. Now don’t confuse this notched volume control with those that appeared on your 70s-era Pioneer Super Receiver or Sansui 9090DB. Different game entirely. This kind of volume control appears on gear costing five times as much—and up! As for the external EL34/KT88 switch, it recalibrates the Adaptive AutoBias board for optimal performance with either tube. It’s like having two boards in your amp, each one providing the best possible setting for its particular tube.