Montreal 2001 Show Goodies!
by Rick
Becker
P. E. Leon Concept is a Montreal based manufacturer for speakers designed in France. I have reported favorably on their speakers before. In one room their Quatro Reference speakers
($1,700 CD) were making nice music powered by Naim electronics. (Perhaps this will redeem me from missing out at the Official Naim Room). And in another room I heard their Classic model, a two-way, three-driver floor standing speaker for $2500. It sounded quite good, for the money. It was powered by Atoll Electronique equipment, also from France. The CD100 is their top player at
$1,500 CD. Their new PR200 is their top preamp at $1,050. And the system featured their AM100 power amp at
$1,200. Good value here, too.
Their graphic/name on the faceplate seems a little overdone, but it is much less obtrusive on the silver face than the black.
More intriguing, however, were their integrated amps that featured headphone jacks and (if memory serves me correctly) separate power supplies. The model numbers indicate the wpc. IN50, IN80 and the IN100. Unfortunately, these were on static display.
Last year, the venerable British speaker builder, Ruark, showed a new series of modern design that radically departed from their traditional, furniture quality cabinets. This trend to more modern design has moved upstream in the Ruark line to the $7500 CD model CL30 in their New Classic series that sounded very nice driven by an Arcam FMJ CD23
CD player and an A22 integrated amp at 100 wpc. According to my notes this system was
bi-amplified with another amp when I heard it.
Scarlet Audio, the Ontario, Canada, manufacturer of fine tube amps had a pair of Pearl vacuum tube monoblocks, pure class A, push-pull, zero negative feedback, mosfet regulated power supply with special and expensive Plintron toroidal power and output transformers. We are talking 25 wpc into 4 ohms, driving a pair of scarlet colored Merlin speakers. An Arcam FJM
CD player fed a Scarlet Maestro preamp. This, too, was a very nice sounding room.
Blue Circle has made quite a name for itself over the past several years, and this Ontario company tried to pull the wool over visitors' eyes with a bit of masking tape over the label of the
loudspeakers in their room. The sound was good, but not THAT good. The speakers were PSB Alphas! And the BC8 225 watt monoblocks at
$9,995 CD really made them sing! They offered to throw in the speakers if I bought the amps. Some lucky reviewer will get to see what these amps can
really do.
In a room that featured the really cool Aurios Media Isolation Bearings by Vistek, a prototype OTL tube amp was sitting on a table, largely unnoticed.. I listened in as the host sorted out the design with a more knowledgeable amp-man than I. It was design by David Berning that featured a special impedance matching circuit that worked at radio frequencies. It was unclear at the time whether the amp would ever reach production. The enclosure was certainly aesthetically challenged...but it was only a prototype.
Two other small amps caught my eye in that same room. The Cyclop by GW Labs is a 12
wpc., push-pull integrated amp using EL84 tubes. It has two inputs and a headphone jack. It was about the size of a large phonebook, and in the current fad, vertically aligned.
The other small amp was a Korsun from China, a 50 wpc. solid-state design.
Another amp that caught my eye on a table was the Cary CAD V12 ($4,000 US). After eyeing the amp carefully for a moment, I turned around to discover another one in the system that was playing. 50 watts per channel class A triode, 100 wpc class AB ultra-linear. The Jaguar Carnival Red finish with clear coat was much prettier than the print ads show, but any aficionado of metal paint finishes can imagine even more spectacular alternatives. I sometimes wonder what might happen if the high-end really went after a younger audience with "awesome" cosmetics. The system sounded very good, and I expect this amp will receive major reviews in the immediate future. I can't imagine anyone NOT wanting to review it.
And then, just as I muse about cosmetics, here comes Perreaux from New Zealand, island mates of Plinius. Showing a chrome bumper influence that looks like it trickled down from Cadillac's of the 1950's, these amps were easily the sexiest looking pieces in the show. Above the standard polished aluminum finish in the Classic line, are the optional silver chrome plate, black chrome plate, and 24-carat gold plate. While I'm tempted to think "Marilyn Monroe", we're talking high power, solid state, high current designs here. The speakers in this system were by Vassen from Belgium. Their Box studio monitor ($7500 US) and Box floor standing speaker ($20,000 CD) were both on display, but I was so awed by the Perreaux amps that I didn't pay much attention to the speakers. Shame on me!
For the more conservative among you Perreaux has the Reference "P" series that also manages to escape the black box syndrome with unique design features, while still retaining a crisp tuxedo finish (black). And lest you think they just make 750-watt monoblocks at $8000 each, they also have stereo, integrated, and five channel amps. And don't forget their $5000 CD player, $5000 preamp, their tuner, and Dolby Digital/DTS processor preamp etc. etc.
The hosts assured me that the Perreaux tribe was really good friends with the Plinius tribe and not really engaged in a local "Survivor" competition in New Zealand. Both companies have a much more global perspective. Deservedly so, I'd say.
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