CES 2006

Chinese OEM manufacturer Dissun was sharing a room with Tetra, so when we stopped by to see what Adrian Butts had wrought, we were pleasantly surprised to see the suite filled with interesting components—all of them looking well built and beautifully turned out.

We've grown used to good-looking affordably priced gear sourced from China—and we expect to see a lot more—but Dissun's Original electronics impressed us with novel engineering and solid design. Tetra's floorstanding 506es sounded solidly three dimensional with the CD-2008mk ($1598) and V-8 250Wpc dual mono integrated amplifier ($2898), which was listed as "hyper class-A."

"What's hyper class-A?" Wes asked. "We use circuitry to keep the signal from touching zero—it creates a warmer, more gutsy sound," we were told. Sounded good.

However, what really impressed us was the $2198 system consisting of a CD8, PS99 integrated amp, and Tetra WOW 120UB ($295/pair). A whole system for just over $2k? Not just that, but it looked great and sounded better—relaxed, rhythmic, and holographic. That's Original.