Experience with Plinius M8 & P10

Hi J -

I have experience with both Plinius and Symphonic Line gear driving Revel Salon 2s although not with the same models.

I had a Plinius M8 pre feeding a Plinius SB-301 power amp in my system for about a year, before I turned to the Symphonic Line tube pre-amp and Symphonic Line Kraft 250 monos last summer. While slightly recessed in the treble, the SB-301 is indeed a powerful amp that provided bass weight and slam in spades.

I first replaced the M8 with the SL tube pre, which in tandem with the SB-301 provided better soundstaging, smoother mids and a more detailed yet less fatiguing treble. But the biggest difference was in microdynamics, which improved dramatically.

I would have been very happy to stay with this combination but for the fact that a pair of not even broken in SL Kraft 250 monos were offered to me at a price that I simply could not refuse. So in they came, and into the box went the SB-301. Where it stayed for the next six months, as I could not bring myself to sell it. Just a few weeks ago it made its way to its new home, and the new owner is very happy with it.

I love the Kraft 250s and see no reason to even bother considering other brands. They provide better microdynamics than the Plinius did, and better stereo imaging as would be expected from monoblocks. Their tonal balance is nearly perfect, and they actually play louder than the Plinius did despite their putative 250 watts into 8 ohms. And I have never heard an amplifier reproduce drum strikes so realistically - they are as fast as it gets.

Yet despite their clear overall superiority to the SB-301, the Plinius did have a weightier bass. At times I prefer the agility, tautness and accuracy of the Kraft 250s bass, but at times I miss the sheer oomph of the Plinius.

Now while I would not expect the 200 wpc P10 to produce the same weight and slam of the SB-301, I would expect it to best the 140 wpc SL RG 9 in that departmemt. The M8 should pair well with the P10, although my experience has led me to prefer a tube pre - SS amp tandem.

From your description of your audition I would guess that the Expolinears are voiced differently from Wilsons and may not produce bass the way that Wilsons do? You might want to try a few different amplifiers with the Expolinears to get more of a sense of their tonal balance, and from there try to project to your Sophias. If you find the Plinius combo to produce the most bass weight and slam with the dealer's speakers, they should do the same with yours.

But yes, still a risk to buy and pray. The price though is low enough that if they didn't work out, you could probably sell them here and come out even or pretty close. And I have heard that Plinius is more widely known in Europe than in the U.S., and is widely understood to mate well with Dynaudio speakers. So at least you'd have a strong used market if you wanted to keep looking after getting them home.

Decisions, decisions...let us know how it works out.

Glad you are liking it! Achieving happiness with your system is often an elusive goal.