Perreaux Radiance R200i
Integrated Amplifier
 I was sitting
in my dentist's chair watching him examine his tray full of shiny, bright, sharp
tools. He picked up a 12" Bowie knife and sighted along its gleaming edge.
"I looked at that integrated amplifier you
recommended," he said. "What was that company, Perreaux?"
"Un huh," I replied nervously. I realized that I
had forgotten to mention that it cost $3995 USD.
"It was interesting," he purred, testing a
machete's sharpness against the ball of his thumb. "I bought it."
I watched nervously while he struggled to lift a mammoth
syringe onto his instrument tray. "I like it."
Whew.
"I like it a lot. Open wide."
I almost passed out with relief. The guy who was about to
root around my gums with pointy things liked my recommendation.
He peered into my mouth, his eyes glinting above his white
gauze mask. "But you didn't tell me about expensive speaker wires," he chided
me.
Arrrrgggghhhh!
I am escaped with the skin of my teeth
Perreaux was established by Peter Perreaux in 1974, and
immediately became a major player in the New Zealand audio scene. If you think that's like
being the prom queen at a home school, think again. Perreaux was the first Western company
to successfully market an amplifier employing power MOSFETs, in 1979. During the '80s the
company began exporting its products worldwide, and they were very well received.
The company did not navigate the shoals of American
distribution without incident, however. Several distributors of its products attempted to
"break" the US market and failed; instead, the market may well have
"broken" Perreaux, since each failed distributor deeply discounted its
remaindered product, making it impossible for the newer models to sell at retail price.
This left the company vulnerable to an outside takeover and, ultimately, to a series of
changes in ownership.
In 1995, the company was re-purchased by Duncan Perreaux
and Alec Isbey (who had first purchased it from Peter Perreaux in 1987). Perreaux and
Isbey wanted to re-establish Perreaux as an innovative audio company offering high-quality
products at reasonable prices, so they committed it to an intense bout of R&D, which
has resulted in a series of products that offer several gallons of hi-fi at quart-jar
prices.
A year ago, at HE2002, I ran into
Martin van Rooyen, Perreaux's musically passionate managing director, who bought the
company four years ago. Van Rooyen had a black-clad beauty of an integrated amp in tow --
the working prototype of the Radiance R200i, code-named "The Pearl." It was a
fascinating blend of brute force and high tech, and I knew I simply had to get my
hands on one. Who knew my dentist would get there first?
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear
The short description of the R200i is that it’s a
dual-mono, remote-controlled integrated amplifier that delivers 200W into 8 ohms (300W
into 4 ohms). That doesn't begin to describe just how different the beast is from your
run-of-the-mill integrated, however.
To start, there's the faceplate. Other than a small LED
"status window" inset into its swooping 3/8" faceplate, the amp's front
panel seems blank -- the unit initially appears to be commanded in its entirety through
its tiny (but hefty) remote control. Appearances can be deceiving, however -- there are
five very discretely placed touchpad controls within the cutout that contains the
window. Personally, I wouldn't have missed the front-panel buttons if Perreaux had omitted
them. I think they're mostly present on audio components because they've always been
there. Other than the "open drawer" button on your CD player, when was the last
time you really used 'em?
But the Perreaux's remote does a lot more than
simply change volume, source, and balance. The R200i has a heart (its huge toroidal
transformers) and a brain (its software-driven microprocessor). The microprocessor gives
the consumer an astonishing amount of control and flexibility over the R200i. Inputs, for
instance, can be labeled as needed, and each input can be assigned a separate balance
level, or start-up volume, or default status.
The processor also offers the consumer tons of monitoring
options. Both left and right heatsink temperature are individually monitored and are
displayed in real time in the LED window. If the amp goes into thermal protection, the
display will say so. When the amp cools back down, it will automatically pass signal
again. If the amp enters overload protection, it will automatically ramp down the volume
1dB and continue to monitor itself as it ramps back up to its original output in 0.5dB
increments. If it fails again, it will reset itself again -- 2dB down this time -- and
start the process over again.
The volume control, while digitally activated, is actually
a precisely matched analog resistor-ladder. This offers excellent channel-to-channel
matching, without the physical degradation that occurs over time with motorized
potentiometers. To prevent the AC hash that LED displays and microprocessors produce from
polluting the audio circuitry, the control circuitry gets its power from its own multi-tap
toroidal transformer.
The microprocessor even controls the binding posts. Need
two sets of outputs for different loudspeakers? No problem, just pick the proper setting.
Need to biwire your speakers? Again, choose the option and the circuit will adjust to it.
The processor also allows the consumer to reconfigure the
integrated amp as either a preamp or a power amp, lending it welcome system-building
flexibility. This is reflected in the physical layout of the R200i. The rear panel
contains five pairs of RCA inputs (and an additional pair for "direct" input),
one pair of balanced XLR inputs, one pair of power-amp inputs (RCA), a pair of preamp
outputs (RCA), two line-level outputs (RCA), and two hefty binding posts per channel. An
IEC power socket, a grounding post, and three remote triggers (one master, two slaves)
complete the rear-panel considerations.
Well, for now. What the rear panel does sport that I
haven't mentioned is a spot labeled "USB." Perreaux is working on two additional
modules for the R200i. One is a phono section; the other will be a USB input with
high-quality DACs that will allow consumers to integrate their computers into their hi-fi
systems. Availability is yet to be determined.
The R200i employs bipolar transistors, which are run in
class-A mode to avoid crossover-notch distortion; output transistors are MOSFETs (six per
channel), which run class A to around 10W output (class AB beyond that, of course). The
amp's power supply employs custom-designed, epoxy-cored toroidal transformers with
separate taps for power and control voltage. The power supply employs 80,000uF of
smoothing capacitance. In a pinch, the R200i can deliver 500W of impulse power into a
4-ohm load.
A final note: I've come to expect a certain level of
fit'n'finish from expensive audio components -- and most of them live up to that
expectation. The R200i gives off a palpable sense of luxury. Your sense of style may
dictate otherwise, but I love the way the unit looks, from its sculpted faceplate
to its glossy Plexiglas lid to its hefty, jewel-like remote. It's built like a brick, too
-- it feels as solid as a rock and weighs in at a hefty 40 pounds. None of which would
matter a tinker's damn, of course, if the unit didn't deliver the sonic goods.
What manner of speech has escaped the barrier of your
teeth?
And boy does it ever deliver when it comes to full-tilt
audio ecstasy!
Don't just take my word for it -- listen to what my dentist
told me while deftly inserting the tip of his pickaxe between my plaque-encrusted
incisors. "I tried a lot of different amplifiers in my new house -- open wider
-- and they just didn't deliver satisfactory sound. They sounded lifeless and flat. Wider.
But the Perreaux has such impact … and it sounds alive and rhythmic."
"I was surprised when I first learned the price, but
I'm not unhappy that I spent the money. It was worth every penny. Now, let's talk about
your flossing."
Man, I hate it when amateurs think they can do my
job. Yet, my good doctor essentially got it right. The R200i's most obvious attribute is
its slam and drive. Other amplifiers, even very good ones, just don't have the rich,
dramatic life that this amp imparts to music. Records have pulse, vitality, and a
sense of breath with the Perreaux that just isn't present with average hi-fi components.
Unlike my dentist, you might not be disappointed with other
offerings -- at least not until you hear your favorite discs through the R200i. Then,
you'll note how even the calmest recordings actually consist of constant changes --
changes in time, changes in dynamics, changes in pitch. You might initially be impressed
with the effortless power of the Perreaux's bass response, but that will quickly come to
seem natural (which it is) compared to the way the amp delivers the subtlest and most
revelatory variations in music. And, since music is change personified, that's not
a minor attribute.
Given the brutish nature of the R200i's output stage, the
amp had no problem driving any speaker I could throw at it, from the relatively
easy-to-drive Wilson Audio Sophias to the surprisingly demanding Dynaudio Special 25s. In
fact, even with the Dynaudios, I doubt the amp stirred out of its class-A range of
operation, other than occasional instantaneous peak demands. This is, of course, why one needs
a big power amplifier in the first place -- not because you'll normally need 200W to
listen to music, but because when you do need that power (and it's usually only for
a microsecond or so), having it makes all the difference between your system's sounding
like mid-fi or like the real thing.
The R200i may be able to bench press twice its weight, but
it doesn't act like a big bruiser -- it's very light on its feet. That means it has
quickness and delicacy in addition to its power. Its ability to delineate subtle tonal
differences -- such as those between Kaki King's Ovation Adamas and Taylor 710 guitars on Everybody
Loves You [Velour VEL-0302 CD] -- is uncanny. No generic "acoustic guitar"
sound here, the Perreaux clearly revealed the differences in each instrument's harmonic
overtones and sustain.
Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and
grinders
Among the audio products with which I am familiar, the
obvious point of comparison for the Perreaux R200i is not another integrated amplifier,
but high-quality separate components, such as my reference Conrad-Johnson Premier 17LS and
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300. For the comparisons, I employed a system utilizing the
Wilson Sophias, the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player, and Shunyata Research Aries
interconnect and Lyra speaker cable.
Before getting into sonic differences, I should comment on
the Perreaux's user interface. As much as I love the sound of my reference system, it
requires that I accommodate it when it comes to using it everyday. The preamp has
remote-control volume and switching, of course, but power on and off and most aspects of
system configuration require physically fiddling with connections. I love the Perreaux
software-driven ease of use and adjustability. It accommodates me -- which is how
it ought to be.
In terms of sheer power delivery, the Perreaux and the
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 are pretty evenly matched. I couldn't make either of 'em
whimper or gasp (quite the contrary, actually), even with my current big-sound,
full-tilt-boogie favorite demo disc, Telarc's Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain; Hymn
to Glacier Peak; Mount St. Helens; Storm on Mount Wildcat [Telarc SACD
60604]. There's lots of big, bombastic sound on that SACD, but I couldn't detect a
nickel's worth of difference between the two systems when it came to capturing it.
Which is not to say there were no differences to be heard.
While the Perreaux sounds far from cold or clinical, the CJ/MF combo had a touch more
roundness and "presence" than the integrated. I put "presence" in
quotes because I'm not sure that's the right word. I'm speaking of an extremely subtle
difference and it's not the additive warmth one might expect from a system that employs
tubes. It's more akin to the "jump factor" that some scribes have alluded to in
the past -- a tactile sense of "aliveness" that's about as distinguishable as
the sensation of a mild wind on the hairs of your forearms.
This was most noticeable on the sound of the woodwinds,
such as oboes and flutes, especially in the softer passages. This difference -- assuming
you notice it (and value it) at all -- doesn't come cheap. The CJ/MF combo (not counting
an extra pair of interconnects) costs two-and-a-half times more than the Perreaux. That's
a lot of money for such a slight sensation; only you can tell if it's worth the freight.
The differences were similar with Cantus' Against the
Dying of the Light [Cantus Recordings CTS-1202-2]. In terms of timbral delivery,
authority, or low-level detail, I would have been hard-pressed to distinguish between the
two systems. Yet, the CJ/MF went a smidge more toward creating a fully fleshed soundstage
with the recording. It was one of those "sensed rather than heard" differences
that make me a little uncomfortable to make a big deal out of. In fact, I would probably
not mention it at all if I hadn't just been in Sioux Falls witnessing the group record its
newest program. There, in the glorious acoustic of the Great Hall of the Washington
Pavilion of Arts and Sciences, I heard the group from a third-row perspective. There's a
ringing brightness that the tenors achieve (especially Al Jordan) that I had always
associated with the small-hall acoustic of the group's previous recordings. It isn't the
hall, it's the way those 12 guys actually sound -- and I heard it with an incrementally
greater degree of detail from the separates.
That's not to say it wasn't present from the Perreaux. It
was, and since it's in the pits of the CD, so it really ought to be.
We each day dig our graves with our teeth
So the Perreaux Radiance R200i doesn't quite, almost, match
my reference separates, which cost a lot more and took me years to mix'n'match. That's
pretty refined performance. Add in the ease-of-use factor and the amp's ability to be
configured in precisely the manner you require, and the amplifier seems like a heck
of an overachiever.
I like the R200i. It sounds fantastic and is fun to
use. I think it's styled nicely (if that matters to you -- I pretend it doesn't mean a lot
to me, but I keep coming back to it, so maybe it does). If the ultimate measure of a
product's success is whether or not I'd spend my money on it, then the Radiance
R200i is a resounding success. Yes, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Oh, it's definitely one of those products where I'd
put my money where my mouth is.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
Perreaux Radiance R200i
Integrated Amplifier
Price: $3995 USD.
Warranty: Five years parts and labor.
Perreaux Industries Ltd.
2 Kingsland Terrace
Kingsland, Auckland
New Zealand
Phone: 0064 9 815 5452
Fax: 0064 9 815 9581
E-mail: info@perreaux.com
Website: www.perreaux.com
North American distributor:
Audio Advisor
4717 Broadmoor SE,
Suite A
Kentwood, MI 49512
Website: www.audioadvisor.com
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