Stereophile: Plinius SA-Reference power amplifier - Jason Diffusion

Stereophile: Plinius SA-Reference power amplifierhttp://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Ste...Bakels and the Bournemouth Symphony's recording of Vaughan Williams' SinfoniaAntartica (CD, Naxos 8.5507330) had spot-on roundness, richness, andprojection.Several tracks from Nick Drake's Bryter Layter (CD, Island IMCD 71/846 005-2)provided outstanding examples of the Plinius' capabilities. "Northern Sky" is abenchmark of intimacy and soulfulness. Drake's delicate acoustic guitar andsupple, melancholy voice did cause me to think I was listening to tubes. Whiletubes may give a whisker or two of additional palpability, a skeptic would have toaudition the SA-Reference back to back with a superior tube amp to notice thedifference. John Cale's vaporous, enchanting celeste on "Northern Sky" was assoothing and gentle as a soft breeze on a warm summer day in the countryside.The flute in the instrumental "Sunday" had a fetching and uncannily lifelikepresence in my room.The Plinius absolutely loved well-recorded voices. Eva Cassidy, Buddy Holly, k.d.lang, Jacqui McShee—all sounded unabashedly marvelous, and the increasedintelligibility of previously murky vocals was another standout trait. While JacquiMcShee's crystalline voice has always been easy to follow on "The Baron ofBrackney," from Pentangle's So Early in the Spring (LP, Green Linnet SIF 3048),I've always found Bert Jansch's Scots-inflected slurring considerably moredifficult to make out. The Plinius let me understand more of Jansch's words thanhave other amps I've used, even my reference Lamm M1.2 Reference.Article Continues:Page 2Plinius Audio Ltd.Web SiteUS distributor: Elite Audio VideoDistribution1027 N. Orange DriveLos Angeles, CA 90038> Page 1Page 2SpecificationsAssociated EquipmentMeasurements(800) 457-2577As noted above, Morrison and Thomson went back and forth with the treblevoicings of the various SA-250s; in the SA-Reference, they've struck a nearlyideal balance. This amp has unaccented and grainless highs—not too soft, nottoo forward, the amp's top octaves are now like Baby Bear's bed: just right. Evenin this day and age, one still occasionally encounters a solid-state amplifier thatdoesn't sound quite right on the harmonics generated by orchestral strings.Though they're not yet extinct, such amps are now much less frequentlyencountered than they were 15 or 20 years ago. In its silky delicacy andconvincing fullness of body, the SA-Reference represents the other end of thespectrum.Exceptional clarity and evenhandedness in the top octaves is a necessarypredicate to natural-sounding transient performance. The SA-Ref showedexceptional fidelity to live sound with its reproductions of plucked strings andpercussion. The mallet percussion in "The Duel with the Skeletons," from Journeyto the Center of the Earth: The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann (UK LP,London Phase 4 SP44207), was immaculately clean without any amp-suppliedcrispness. The isolated percussion points in A. Clyde Roller and the EastmanWind Symphony's recording of Hovhaness' Symphony 4 (Dutch LP, MercuryGolden Classics SRI 71050) hung luxuriously in the air. Acoustic guitars hadshimmer but avoided any edgy highlighting of the initial attack of plectrum onstring. Things sounded as fast as they do in real life, with no added illusion ofspeed.3 sur 11 21/09/06 14:11