Perreaux amplifier 3150B - your opinion sought

Rwd: Sorry for the phenomenally slow response. As you might have noticed, i've not been on the puter as much lately.

As to my "deathly" comments, you would have to be doing something really dumb to have an amp "cook" you via the binding posts. None the less, many high quality amps of good power are capable of doing what i mentioned IF you somehow managed to put yourself in such a position. The 3150 may offer slightly more potential to do so since it runs very high rail voltages (+/- 90 volts ) and makes use of bare metal binding posts. For the record, most amps run the rails somewhere in the 40 - 70 volt range.

Motorpsychos: Personally, i think that the 3150 & 2150 sound noticeably different from one another. It is hard to believe that they came from the same manufacturer let alone make use of 90% of the same parts. The 2150 is noticeably brighter / edgier sounding to me in the mids and upper range and lacks the bottom end "oomph" that i find the 3150 to normally display. Having said that, some might prefer the more forward and leaner sound of the 2150 than that of the warmer / more "potent" bottom end of the 3150. Obviously, this would boil down to system synergy and personal preference. Sean
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Hi Sean, My 2150b from 1983, had a staggering bottom that drove Infinity RS-1 bass towers better than anything I had.
Perhaps they didnt all sound the same. The amp was quite a bargain when it was introduced. We also thought quite a bit of the 1150b. You say output transistors are no longer available? Another reason to stick with the big established types like MAC. A basic power amp should be servicable for as long as one cares to keep it going........Frank

Hi Frank. I too remembered the 2150's as having excellent bottom end "way back when". The first time i heard the amp, the first words out of the owner of the shop's mouth were "listen to the bottom end on this baby", etc... After comparing a few 2150's to a couple of 3150's in a side by side, there is NO comparison when it comes to bottom end impact and slam.

As far as the 1150 goes, i think that it sounded a little smoother than the 2150 but was a little lacking in terms of dynamic punch. This was probably due to the reduced amount of available power.

In terms of the availability of output devices, these amps use the same outputs as MANY amps i.e. B&K's, Muse, etc... to name a few. While there are some substitutes available, i don't know how well that they work. I have heard of some "heavy duty" versions that are basically a "double stamping" ( twice the amount of junctions within one casing), but i don't know much of a "drop-in" they would be. It should make for a very rugged device but as far as sonics go, who knows ???

As far as sticking with "reputable brands" i.e. long term servicability, i agree with what you are saying but also know that a manufacturer has no control over what is / isn't available on the market place. Don't you think that every manufacturer would like to produce a product that they could stand behind "forever" in terms of reputation ?

I know of a major manufacturer that built a product based around a specific Integrated Circuit, sold thousands of that product and when it came time to re-order, the manufacturer of that IC stated that it was no longer available and there was no substitute. What does a single manufacturer do in such a situation ???

While you would think that Hitachi, Toshiba, Motorola, Sanken, etc... would recognize the captive market that they have for some of these "unavailable" products and do a small production run every now and then, i guess that they have got bigger fish to fry. It's a shame too, as a lot of good products end up in the boneyard simply because we can't get the parts for them. Sean
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Sean, good points all, The Products that used "special" ICs, are indeed a big problem. The 3k Mcintosh MR-80 tuner, is just such an item. If a particular chipset does indeed fail on that unit,its adios to your investment. The chipsets are all ticking timebombs that will eventually fail. This is a real concern when buying older equipment. Sticking with all discrete circuitry, all the time, is pretty hard to do......especially with Japanese oriented SS products, (but increasingly worldwide production as well)
Should'nt serious high end mfr's, take long term servicability into account before issuing a zillion megabuck item? Lets say you purchased a crazy exotic, like the Krell KAS-1 four piece amplifier from 94, at 28k. Can you imagine the shock and anger you would feel after being told it was not fixable due to parts unavailability?? Just something for everyone to consider before the big money is parted with. On the other hand, an item like the 1968 McIntosh 2105 amplifier, should always be repairable, due to the straightforward circuitry.........Frank