the new perreaux éloquence integrated amplifiers.

And power is at the heart of every Perreaux amplifier - we make no apologies for this, as for an amplifier to perform consistently in a wide range of systems, room sizes and styles of music, it must have the capacity to do so. And no matter what is suggested, no-one wants to have their musical enjoyment compromised (although I thing strangled is a better description) by a wimpy amp that will only work well under tightly proscribed conditions. In short - Perreaux amplifiers are more fun because they ARE powerful.

Perreaux éloquence is the most important new product release from any New Zealand manufacturer in many years and provides very stiff competition for any imported product. Remember of course that Perreaux is primarily an export oriented company so the new éloquence is expected to foot it with the best amplifiers in their own countries of origin. The feedback from European, Asian and US markets is already overwhelmingly positive.

Perreaux have always been one of our flagship brands - not only because they are New Zealand made, but also because they deliver on their promise of performance and reliability that now goes back over 30 years. There is a personal connection there and over those years some of our best listening moments have been associated with Perreaux amplifiers. They have continually evolved and refined, yet ultimately remain focused on high quality amplification - this is their real strength.

Ever since the best selling 200IP dropped off the Perreaux range, we’ve been looking for an improved, high power integrated amplifier option. And we’re not the only ones. The éloquence series has been in development for some time now and Perreaux have been pouring everything they have into it - We tested the pre-production prototypes in several settings and have now sold a good number of units to our clients.

What I'll give you really is my personal take on these amplifiers. The éloquence is a modern design - of particular note is the optional DAC board - to be honest I think this would be included in any amps we sell, simply because it works so well and opens up a whole lot of possibilities. Before I get carried away on that front, do note that there is also a phono stage and in our household at least, this would be the primary input when the highest sound quality is called for.

But back to digital. It doesn’t matter wether you are using an iPod, computer, CD, DVD player or streaming device - it’s all digital and the quality of the conversion to analogue is the key to sound quality you’ll enjoy - The DAC board within the éloquence is very, very good and as a consequence, digital sources connected to this amplifier perform in a way that just doesn’t seem to happen with conventional amplifiers with only analogue inputs. Let me explain a little more about how this works - first off, you have multiple digital inputs - both coax and optical for CD, DVD and maybe Sky. But also there is USB - this is something I particularly like as it means I can easily connect my MacBook and listen to everything I’ve got on iTunes.

With Perreaux’s Silhouette series DAC - the SXD2 we found the sound quality was directly comparable to a very good $2000 CD player - the Quad CDP2 for instance. The éloquence DAC board exceeds this performance level by a good margin, and the direct coupling of DAC to amp takes things further again. Which means that most CD players will in fact sound better via this input than via their own (and maybe out of date) digital to analogue conversion. And if you use Apple Lossless recording with iTunes, there are going to be no quality compromises - you can have both convenience and sound quality. About time too!

And also note that if you like the idea of connecting your iPod directly, we have the Wadia iTransport which is able to get straight into the iPods internal digital feed - this has also proved to work very well - far better than and other dock.

While there are a number of home theatre products feature digital inputs, none of them are even close to approaching the new Perreauxs where it matters - in straight-line sound quality. And virtually all competing stereo amplifiers are bereft of digital inputs requiring to to buy a separate DAC and then connect it. So score 10 out of 10 to Perreaux for forward thinking.

If you look at the pic of the front panel display, you’ll immediately gain some insight as to the breadth of features in the new amps - balanced and unbalanced inputs, remote control, and an extensive menu system. What I’ve found out is that this is only the start - you can seriously fine tune the operation of your new Perreaux in many ways that I’ve not seen in ordinary amps - matching input levels, muting, gain and many other parameters - this may seem complicated but the end result is that you’ll have a system that performs to its best on all inputs - analogue and digital.

Now let’s have a look at the differences between the two models - the 250 is very much the flagship for Perreaux now, being it’s most powerful and highly specified integrated amplifier to date. It is physically taller than the 150 - to accomadate both the much bigger toroidal transformer plus extra internal circuitry - including a separate power supply for the preamp section and headphone amp. There is a considerable weight difference too - 17kg verses a stonking great 25kg for the 250. Serious heavy metal. You can also see extensive heat sinking for efficient heat dissipation and enhanced reliability. Perreaux’s trade mark no-holds-barred construction is also readily in evidence with solid alloy front panel and the tactile nature of the design is further emphasized by the return to a large volume control that says, ‘turn me up.’

Looking inside the amps, the size and quality of the toroidal transformers makes an immediate impression - the importance power supply never diminishes and both models don’t skimp on this. In fact the 250 watt model is a seriously formidable beast - there will be very few other integrateds out there that will be able to claim to be the Perreaux’s equal in terms of driving ability. Sound-wise everything I’ve heard and seen so far is very positive. The 250 will really be the start of the show however - that extra power just gives a much more palpable depth and solidity to music - it’s easy to legitimize the extra for the 250 as it simply makes any speaker sound at least a model bigger and better. To be sure, the 150 will impress most listeners immediately, but the 250 will show you what it’s all about.

We do have a slightly bizarre situations in that we’re not supposed to post NZ$ retails for the Perreaux products on our website. This isn’t sinister, but simply a policy to not create grief in the larger marketplace, as it will be inevitable that once you factor in freight around the world,insurance, local taxes and a fair margin for the local importers, that a Perreaux in Europe will cost more than one in New Zealand. Suffice to say, the New Zealand price is a reflection of much lower costs and it would be unfair not to pass this on to local clients who have always helped support Perreaux.

So, you can take it that the prices in NZ are more than competitive with well known imported options. We still have our favorites in this regard, for instance the italian Audio Analogue models and Quad’s excellent 99 and 909 combination. The Perreaux éloquence delivers more power and flexibility than either of these and you’ll be able to reach your own conclusions with sound quality - each brand has its own character reflecting the designers priorities.

The éloquence amplifiers are now available - you can choose which model and select which boards are most appropriate for you and effectively have an new Perreaux amplifier built specifically for you. The fact that Perreaux is now based in Mosgiel, just a few minutes drive from Dunedin means we are able to make our close relationship with Perreaux work for you. So do e mail or call us to find out more about Perreaux's newest models.

And also feel free to visit Perreaux's own website here.