Rooze: Glad you're "temporary fix" worked out as well as it did for you. Nothing like a pleasant surprise, huh? : )
As you noticed, i have a couple of Perreaux's that i use for subwoofer duty. Both are 3150's and run in the same system driving eight NHT 1259's ( two per channel ). I've had other Perreaux's, but these two seemed to work best for what i wanted out of them. In comparison to the 2150's, the sound is much smoother and warmer with far greater authority on the bottom end. Even though these amps look the same externally and even quite similar internally, there are some very noticeable design revisions that differentiate one from the other ( other than power output ).
Tvad: The earlier Perreaux's didn't have any type of protection circuit other than fuses on the mains and in the rails i.e. no speaker protection due to signal degradation. I think that after Peter Perreaux sold the company, there were other designers involved and the products changed markedly. As such, i wouldn't expect the same sonics or performance from later Perreaux models as what was delivered from earlier models. I do know some folks that had some of the newer models and from what they told me, the bass performance still seemed to be intact.
From what i've gathered here, everyone that seems to be reasonably happy with this product line are using the original models that Peter designed i.e. the 1150, 1850, 2150, 3150, 5150, etc... Having said that, even amongst these amps, sonics do differ.
El: While i stopped following the thread, the test results that John Curl posted on the Carver Pro ( no relation to Bob Carver or Sunfire ) amps leads me to believe that they are far less "potent" than what the spec's would lead one to believe. If memory serves me right, these amps were going into oscillation at 180 wpc @ 8 ohms. Even if their power supplies were up to the task, that would only equate to 360 wpc @ 4 ohms under ideal conditions. Given the lower impedance and the fact that most amps become less stable as impedance is dropped, even that figure may be somewhat optimistic.
JHoriwitz: All of the speakers that you've mentioned are known for being "tough loads". The fact that the "little" Perreaux has been able to drive them to your satisfaction is quite a statement.
As a side note of similar nature, there was someone on Agon that used to run two 2150's in bridged mode to drive Acoustat's. Given that Acoustat's drop below 1 ohm and a bridged amp sees half of the speaker impedance ( 1/2 an ohm ), i think that says a LOT about the ruggedness and reliability of the older Perreaux's in general.
As far as the comments made regarding Pass designed amps, my experience is that they sound better at low impedances than they do at higher impedances. If you can find one that has a suitable power rating, that would seem to make these amps a good candidate for what you are looking for. Sean
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