I recieved my Perreaux amp on Saturday and had everything hooked up, but just wasn't able to listen to them until lunchtime today. The amp is a Perreaux 200P and this model is still in production with an MSRP of $3,600. Not astronomical audio, but pretty darn good, especially from the original owner for $850 with all the manuals, original packaging and in mint condition. This 2004 amplifier replaces the 1978 Sansui G-22000, that had me looking for better sound.
The Sansui is beatiful and at 220 wpc it is loud. But something was missing and I was getting to the point where I wanted more. There's gotta be better and technology does move forward and with helpful advice from all of you on this forum, I started looking around. I found the Perreaux through an audio shop back east and they were selling it for a valued customer. After talking with him a couple of times, he was good enough to ship the amp before the check cleared. Great people! Today, I took off from work and went home to audition this amp. I'm using my trusty Great American Sound Thalia Preamp. While the GAS Thoebe or Theadra is a good deal better, it's going to have to wait, the Thalia is nice enuff for now.
Listening to it today, I was quite impressed. Better mid-range imaging and detail. Nicer highs that had a little more articulation than previous. The bass was very much in control. Not a muffled beat whatsoever, as the superior damping of the Perreaux had it all pulled together tightly. The low range was better as well and I could feel passages on music that weren't quite there before. Bass passages have more extension and went deeper. No problem whatsoever with 'feeling' the music. An hour and a half later, while I was rushing to get out, I left the stereo on at volume and went upstairs to grab some things. I was surprised to feel the floor on the second story getting a solid pounding from underneath as the big L-300's really let it loose. You could almost feel the floor move upwards!
All in all, I'm very happy with my new acquisition and the new amp really makes the L-300's even more impressive than they were before. I'll never sell them, ever. And I'm happy (for now...). Thanks all for your recommendations on the audio freshen-upper thread