Perreaux Preamps

Back in the late '80s, maybe early '90s, I took a Perreaux SA3 home for a few days as a loaner from Stereo Exchange while my Audible Illusions Modulus 2(?) was being repaired. Keep in mind that the Modulus was a tube preamp and definitely on the romantic side of things. To be perfectly honest, I didn't like the Perreaux very much; I was surprised since I had heard one of their amps which was popular at the time (2150b?) several times, and I thought it was pretty good. I found the SM3 to be very unnatural in the highs; very tipped-up, highlighted, and not very well integrated. Overall detail, sound staging, and image stability was very good, and there was a certain appeal and sense of purity to the sound in a hi-fi way. But I just couldn't get past the very forward top end. I liked the look of the piece as I've always been a fan of those low-profile designs of that time period. I would be careful about pairing it with your vintage Threshold amp, although I can imagine something like a Grado or a warm sounding MM cartridge sounding good going into it. The MC's that I used at the time made for a very aggressive top-heavy sound. If I am not mistaken, the SA33 is from the same time period as the SM3. Good luck with your decision.

Somut, I was just reading your system page and you mention that you once owned the Superphon pre. For what ever it's worth, and as follow-up to my previous comments, I also owned the Superphon around the same time period, and considered the Superphon more to my liking than the Perreaux (overall). Not as "HI-END" sounding, but not as aggressive in the highs.

FWIW, I owned a SM3 for a year or so and I agree with Frogman. Not my cup of tea either. I traded it in for an ARC SP10. No mistake there. The difference was huge. I had a Perreaux stack and the best component in it was the TU3 tuner which I kept for 20+ years. I also had a Threshold SA-3 which was much smoother than the Perreaux 2150B amp too. It (the 2150B) really was a 'sand' amp. Oh, BTW, my SM3 was mechanically unreliable as well. Back for repairs 3 times.