Mystere is a valve-based audio company from Holland that's new to these shores, but has a tale to tell. Although the name is new, Mystere is the sister company of valve aficionados Prima Luna.
Its products are being distributed by Pistol Music, which is a specialist division of Absolute Sounds - the UK 's foremost high-end audio distributor. What separates Pistol Music from Absolute Sounds is that all the products in its portfolio are hand-picked and offer "excellent value for money, without sonic compromise".
All about Mystere
The first products to arrive from Holland are two integrated valve amps, the ia11 (£1,250) and the ia21 (£1,850). Both model are said to have been tuned to deliver a little more pace, rhythm and impact than their Prima Luna stablemates, without sacrificing the 'valve' sound.
However, both amps also sport Prima Luna's proprietary Adaptive AutoBias circuit, which monitors and smoothly adjusts bias consistently and instantly. It's said to reduce the need for maintenance and increase the sonic performance, due to a reduction in distortion.
The amps are based on full pentode push-pull output topology and sport eight valves in total. The 40-watt ia11 combines four 6SN7s with four EL34s and the 50-watt ia21 offers an identical complement, or the option to switch the EL34s for KT88s, to 'tune' the sound according to taste.
