Price Paid:  $1800.00 from Totallywired.co.nz

Summary:
This is the second New Zealand Made Perreaux Amplifier I have owned this follows a pre/power Plinius and Various Japanese Amps from Yamaha, Sony, JVC and Denon. I have also listened to the Class A Amp from Musical Fidelity and others of similar quality. Until I heard the 200iP(200w), I was using the E160i (160w) from Perreaux, which is their entry-level unit. This was to me an extraordinary amp for the price, and presented my CD’s in a warm, full and articulated way. The only reservation I had was when I connected up the newly acquired Wadia 850 player the sound stage was not as startling as the owners of the Wadia player seem to say it would be. That was until I matched it with the Perreaux 200iP, and hello here it was in all its glory, not only was it bigger, both in width and height, but it was much more defined. What’s more it was faster, more dynamic and much more involving.
Trebles were more defined, the mid- range was not more forward, but it just seemed richer, the lower end had more Punch. Vocals seem to reach down into the base and grab lower notes when needed giving them a timbre that previously never existed.
You know you don’t realise what you have been missing even with the superb E160i until you hook up an amp that gives your music more “life”. It brings out far more of the potential of the Wadia front end than I knew was there. All this and it had only been playing a few hours, if the E160i is anything to go by it will get even better over the next few months. I am not the only one to notice the difference in our house, totally unprompted my partner described the differences after casually listening for just an hour.
This amp is also like a tank with superb build quality, hard to fault in this respect and comes with heaps of exposed heat sinks. The remote is OK but not very intuitive, though I don’t use the remote much, as the Wadia is hooked up direct in to the power amp at present, I plan to try the balanced inputs at some stage to see how they compare with the direct in.
The Tannoy revolution R3 speakers I use with this set-up were looking like being due for replacement, but the Perreaux has given them a new lease of life making me think they really require the extra grunt they are now getting.
I often think a lot of these reviews are so subjective, and so often when you have committed to a particular product you tend to think you have made the right decision, you will back it to the hilt no matter what. So I often take these reviews with a certain grain of salt. All I can say is this, the Perreaux made a dramatic difference to the music I am so familiar with and brought it to life with so much more emotion, vigour and clarity, as big if not a bigger effect than the addition of the Wadia 850 to the system. I link the system together with Harmonic Tech.Precision Link Interconnects and Straight-wire "Stage"speaker cable.
I am still puzzled as to why this amp has not got the rave reviews that the also “Made in NZ “Plinius 200w Integrated Amplifier has managed to get. I think it just probably comes down to lack of exposure and marketing in general, or maybe it is just that I am wrong and my ears are not giving me the true picture at all. Well if that is the case I will quite happily live with my illusion for the next how ever many years and just wonder if this secret will ever be discovered by the hi-fi world.

Strengths:
Build Quality,Natural sound, dynamic presentation.

Weaknesses:
None that I can Find.

Similar Products Used:
See below

Price Paid:  $2200.00

Summary:
First amplifier I've ever owned that broke down.Contacted Perreaux they told me to ship it to New Zealand at my cost ,the unit weighs over 60 lbs, and they will fix it for a nominal fee . They were no help at all to the certified repair shop I brought it to.They had to get parts in Canada.

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
Unit Broke Down Perreaux won't cover Warranty!!

Price Paid:  $3000.00 from Totallywired (on web), Dunedin, NZ

Summary:
I had upgraded my speakers recently to Proac 2.5s, and needed more power (headroom) than my Naim NAP90/SAC62/snaps. I auditioned (at home) Plinius SA100 and VTL175s and the Perreaux 350 (not 250 as stated). They were all nice in their own way, but the Perreaux seemed to have all the good features of each plus a lot more. The main thing that is quite spectacular is soundstage. It is simply enormous, and allows great resolution. You need a big room though. From other reviews I thought that I would need valves to extract the best out of the Proacs, but the Perreaux are as sweet as the VTLs but much less brittle. To be perfectly honest I find it hard to believe how good the Perreaux is (in combo with the SM6 Pre, with balanced interconnects) compared with other high end product, especially at the price we pay in NZ for these. Perhaps the highest accolade I can give is that I now find I am listening to the music more than the gear, which is quite something for an audio enthusiast to admit. Some of my 'boring' CDs have become interesting again!

Strengths:
Sound stage - width, depth, height, transparency, effortlessness, sparkle.

Weaknesses:
Not too many so far!

Similar Products Used:
Plinius SA 100 Mk2, VTL 175 monos

Summary:
Equipment Reviewed
Perreaux SM6 Classic partnered with Perreaux 250P

Versus

Plinius M16 partnered with Plinius SA100 Mk3

Associated Equipment

Marantz CD17KIS, Cardas 300b, Kimber PBJ (balanced), Ocos, Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk2, DH Cones & Squares under CD player.

Opinion

Firstly, I am generally not quick to form opinions on audio equipment and this is no exception. I need prolonged exposure to really work out what is going on. That said, the Plinius & Perreaux both transformed my system. The difference was enormous. I was not previously aware how power starved my current system is. The big amps opened the soundstage dramatically & let the music effortlessly wash over the listeners. My 60 watt integrated (Marantz PM17) now sounds miserly by comparison, still enjoyable, but you have to work harder to get into it.

I liked both the Plinius & Perreaux, selecting a favourite was not easy. The Plinius produced a soundstage that was more forward & had more depth, but the Perreaux's soundstage had enormous height & greater width. The 20 x 14 listening room has a ceiling height of approximately 18 feet (speaker end) sloping to 8 feet. The Perreaux effortlessly filled the available vertical space with a huge wall of sound, so much so that questions were raised whether it was a little overblown on the live Marianne Faithful track "Time Square" (Blazing Away) sounding a touch more stadium than cathedral. Alternatively it could be considered that the listeners were moved from row 20 to the front row.

The "naturalness" of instruments (acoustic guitar) was debated, with honours being given to the Perreaux by all. This is very subjective, and impossible to prove unless one was there when the track was recorded.

On some tracks the Plinius sounded a little edgy on the tops, not exactly harsh but significant enough to cause concerns about fatigue over extended listening sessions.

Some may say the Plinius combination extracts more detail, however the Perreaux presented the same detail but in a more natural, cohesive way. Nothing was founded to be missing.

Overall when the enjoyment test was applied, I recall the times when I found myself really enjoying the music was when the Perreaux was playing.

Another Listener’s Opinion

The Perreaux was far more assured and open, laid back and controlled. I remember saying the speakers suddenly sat up and folded their arms (like an obedient school kid). The soundstage was enormous by comparison.
In contrast the Plinius was interesting and involving beyond the initial sample of the integrated amp. But the base/lower midrange tended to run away with itself, especially on the cello track. The overall sound was harsher/brighter than the Perreaux.
The Plinius' soundstage was quite small and more directional, but the imaging was still good.

Conclusion

A close finish but it would appear the Perreaux takes the honours, although I have awarded the same marks (4) to both. I am a tough marker.

Summary:
NZ makes some great audio equipment, and being very parochial I ended up comparing the Perreaux 250P to other high end NZ amps.
I auditioned Ocean 1, Plinius SA100 and McLaren 250W mono's (can't remember the number), as well as Counterpoint and Quad for a bit of international flavour.

I have been extremely pleased with my purchase, with the 250P offering improved dynamics, soundstaging and emotional content over all other systems tried. Muddy Waters on MFSL 'The Folk Singer' is absolutely awesome!!

It is built like a brick outhouse and I can forsee many years of pleasurable use, and has both balanced and unbalanced inputs when I have the money to upgrade to balanced.

Beware, this beasty is large and heavy, and DOES NOT fit into a standard audio rack / cabinet.

I use a Marantz CD player, modified Esoteric Audio Research 802 valve pre amp and Dynaudio Finale's (professionally built kits).

Not sure what the $$$ translate to overseas, however in NZ this amp is great value for money.

5 thingees for value, 4 for absolute perfomance (only because I haven't heard the big Krells, CJs and ARs. who knows, it may well equal or better those!!)