Perreaux SM2 preamp - any opinion?

62vauxhall

62vauxhall

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
May 14, 2014
Messages
2,356
Location
Southwest Kootenays BC
Tagline
No such things as bad days, just bad moments
Is a functioning Perreaux SM2 preamp worth having? Saw the SM3 mentioned in the Larry Mellette Memorial PL400 Drawing thread. I have no previous experience with Perreaux products.
 
Will be going to have a look at it on Sunday.

Owner says he's had it 15 years and used it as his "guaranteed to work go to pre-amp" when he needed one. Said he'd been through the high end mill, lastly with Conrad Johnson and claimed this Perreaux to be nearly as good. Obviously I know of Conrad Johnson but have never laid a finger on any so don't have an opinion.

During the conversation, he mentioned also having McCormack. I thought he meant McIntosh but he clarified and told me that McIntosh was highly over rated. That was a coincidence because earlier today, while poking around for Perreaux info, I ran across an Audio Asylum thread where several contributors said the same thing.

I just looked up McCormack and apparently they're in Virginia.
 
62vauxhall said:
Will be going to have a look at it on Sunday.

Owner says he's had it 15 years and used it as his "guaranteed to work go to pre-amp" when he needed one. Said he'd been through the high end mill, lastly with Conrad Johnson and claimed this Perreaux to be nearly as good. Obviously I know of Conrad Johnson but have never laid a finger on any so don't have an opinion.

During the conversation, he mentioned also having McCormack. I thought he meant McIntosh but he clarified and told me that McIntosh was highly over rated. That was a coincidence because earlier today, while poking around for Perreaux info, I ran across an Audio Asylum thread where several contributors said the same thing.

I just looked up McCormack and apparently they're in Virginia.
Click to expand...

My son has a McCormack amp as one of his amps. It is OK.
 
The WOPL Masters son has a McCormack??????????



BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Northwinds said:
Anything Perreaux is worth having
Click to expand...

I believe it was you who posted about having an SM3. Since I have found little online, do you know how it differs from an SM2?

Was also wondering about residual noise. Have you ever, with no signal present at the inputs, had the preamp's volume up full?
 
62vauxhall said:
I believe it was you who posted about having an SM3. Since I have found little online, do you know how it differs from an SM2?

Was also wondering about residual noise. Have you ever, with no signal present at the inputs, had the preamp's volume up full?
Click to expand...

I have a SA3, it's dead quiet

No clue about the "2" series, they were lower cost versions (but still pricey)
 
Last edited:
62vauxhall said:
I thought he meant McIntosh but he clarified and told me that McIntosh was highly over rated. That was a coincidence because earlier today, while poking around for Perreaux info, I ran across an Audio Asylum thread where several contributors said the same thing
Click to expand...

McIntosh IS over rated. Every piece of McIntosh gear I have had has disappointed me and it was sold quickly. I firmly believe their SS gear is better then their tube stuff by a country mile but then again, I left tube audio by the wayside long ago. It's ok for old geezers who like that kind of sound listening to Sinatra and it does that stuff well. I DO like McIntosh speakers though

Perreaux makes great solid gear and the preamps have killer phono stages which is all I care about. They are Dual Mono Class A configured, you get what you pay for and your not paying $1k + for a used one unlike a McIntosh. I am sure the SM2 will delight you provided it works like it's supposed to
 
Thanks for the feedback.

Although I should not even be considering buying another piece of audio gear (I have not bought 3 months of motorcycle insurance because money's tight and property taxes are due July 1), I'll probably wind up with it. On the phone, the owner sounds even older than I am and he sounds like he is or was an audio tweeker so it's probably in decent condition. Funnily, he has nothing to plug it into, maybe he abandoned this obsession some call a hobby. I'll be taking a Hafler power amp and a pair of Minimus 7's with me to check for control noise etc.

If I do get it, I'll have to flip the Phase 3300 II that Lee rebuilt (sorry Lee) which I got from Lyle. Might even sell the NAD Monitor 1000 that sounds pretty good and never let me down.
 
Northwinds said:
I have a SA3, it's dead quiet

No clue about the "2" series, they were lower cost versions (but still pricey)
Click to expand...

The most stuff I could find to read about Perreaux SM2/SM3's was on Audio Assylum and it was alluded to that an SM3 was a "pro" version but differed little from an SM2. I am glad you say your's is dead quiet. Since becoming the proud owner of completely, totally, utterly silent WOPL 700B, I was hoping for a pre-amp to be likewise.

Since they're MOSFET and Class A, I imagine they throw off a bit of heat?

In winters past, I swear the Hafler DH220 I was using contributed big time to keeping my apartment warm.
 
laatsch55 said:
Gary no problem...I didn't birth it..
Click to expand...

Yes I know but you re-birthed it. Whenever I get something going again, I have a hard time selling it or passing it on to someone. But then logic sets in eventually and does dictate that I cannot be up to my armpits in stuff. When you have less than 800 square feet to live in, space is at a premium.

There's been a bunch of "micro condos" being built near to where I live. Just heard yesterday that some around 12' X 12" were selling or about to be going on sale for around $139,000 and that includes in-suite kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Since I don't own an iPod, I wonder how I'd do in one of those?
 
That's what the local rag said. Bath/kitchen must be a Porta-Potti and a hot plate. The article mentioned the unlikelihood of hosting family holiday dinners. There are supposed to be common "living/study"'areas and I imagine interesting times when it comes to who gets the remote.

It's stupid expensive to live around here and right in Vancouver it's obscene. Those "micro condos" are supposed to be aimed at college students but even though they're tiny, $139,000 sounds like a lot to me for 144 square feet.

A year ago, there was talk that developers would be constructing 300 square foot condos in Vancouver. Don't remember a price but if $139K gets 144 SF in Surrey, a quarter mill or more for 300 would not surprise me.

A single family detached house anywhere in Vancouver is pretty much $1,000,000 even if it's a tear down. A couple needs a combined income of $128,000 or so to get a mortgage for the cheapest detached anything regardless of neighbourhood. Lots of talk in the press about it lately but it sure does seem that it's only foreign investors who can afford property here

Today, the head of the Province denied it was foreign investors driving up property value. Yeah, right.

Government in these parts are mighty beholdin' to special interest groups.
 
Chaos around the world, and especially Europe, money is looking for a safe place to park. Real estate in Canada and the US is a safe place to park money...too bad the locals have to suffer....My house was appraised at 165,000 the other day. 3 Bedrooms up stairs and a full basement, I don't know how you guys do it...
 
I don't think many here do do it. The City of New Westminster, really a bedroom community of Vancouver these days just mandated that of all new construction (read multi-family buildings) 10% of the units must have 3 bedrooms to provide affordable family housing. The definition of affordable here would mean about $400,000. The same proposal is in front of Vancouver council (except the affordability factor goes up) but I doubt it will pass. A symbiotic relationship has evolved between property developers and City Hall. Bureaucrats have nice jobs (with a different understanding of the word affordable) and the developers get what they want - billions, trillions maybe.

Another joke is that when a pre-existing house is sold, chances are it will get torn down and a gargantuan,elephantine monstrosity built in it's place, usually with no or little lawn/garden area because the structure is nearly property line to property line. Street parking all but disappears because each big house has 2 or 3 suites so the vehicle count per address is many. If I owned and lived in an older home next to one of those monstrosities, I'd be righteously pissed. Especially since nothing I could do would prevent it.

But enough of my ranting. Test any good (or bad) transistors lately?
 
62vauxhall said:
I don't think many here do do it. The City of New Westminster, really a bedroom community of Vancouver these days just mandated that of all new construction (read multi-family buildings) 10% of the units must have 3 bedrooms to provide affordable family housing. The definition of affordable here would mean about $400,000. The same proposal is in front of Vancouver council (except the affordability factor goes up) but I doubt it will pass. A symbiotic relationship has evolved between property developers and City Hall. Bureaucrats have nice jobs (with a different understanding of the word affordable) and the developers get what they want - billions, trillions maybe.

Another joke is that when a pre-existing house is sold, chances are it will get torn down and a gargantuan,elephantine monstrosity built in it's place, usually with no or little lawn/garden area because the structure is nearly property line to property line. Street parking all but disappears because each big house has 2 or 3 suites so the vehicle count per address is many. If I owned and lived in an older home next to one of those monstrosities, I'd be righteously pissed. Especially since nothing I could do would prevent it.

But enough of my ranting. Test any good (or bad) transistors lately?
Click to expand...

A lot of that happening in Seattle neighborhoods as well. Teardowns are prevalent in the Ballard neighborhood that my son lives in. Nice upgrades are going in but they consume virtually all of the postage stamp lot. Those rebuilds are driving up the valuation of the remaining houses on the street as they all become targets of teardown once this cycle starts.
 
62vauxhall said:
Since they're MOSFET and Class A, I imagine they throw off a bit of heat?
Click to expand...

My SA3 does not even get warm, Class A preamps do not generate heat like Class A amps

Telling you right now Gary, there is not a preamp made that is quieter then a WOPL (at least that most people can afford), I know my SA3 is on but it's so faint it could fall into the dead quiet range compared to most other preamps
 
laatsch55 said:
Chaos around the world, and especially Europe, money is looking for a safe place to park. Real estate in Canada and the US is a safe place to park money...too bad the locals have to suffer....My house was appraised at 165,000 the other day. 3 Bedrooms up stairs and a full basement, I don't know how you guys do it...
Click to expand...

Our's was apparaised at $214k, we would be lucky to get $130-140k AFTER all the winter damage is fixed. Thank goodness it's paid off. Only thing going for us is we bought it for $60k so it's hard to lose money. Appraisers have no clue and their lofty expectations only end up costing you more taxes
 
Northwinds said:
My SA3 does not even get warm, Class A preamps do not generate heat like Class A amps

Telling you right now Gary, there is not a preamp made that is quieter then a WOPL (at least that most people can afford), I know my SA3 is on but it's so faint it could fall into the dead quiet range compared to most other preamps
Click to expand...

Good to know about the heat thing as a DBX unit will sit on top which is not deep so ventilation should be adequate.

The pre-amps I've got are not bad noise wise but I'm hoping the SM2 will be quieter. I like how Lee's rebuilt 3300 II sounds but I don't care for the stepped volume control. This WOPL 700B has so much power on tap (and bypassed level controls) that with some sources, even with the attenuator on, one spot is too quiet and 1 click up is too loud. My NAD Monitor 1000's volume pot is continuously variable and it does have that "NAD Sound" which I like but I prefer how the 3300 II sounds by comparison. Guess I'm trying to have the best of both worlds.

Also have a Hafler DH101 in pretty much stock form and I like how it sounds too but its got some idiosyncrasies so has been a work in progress. If I wind up with the Perreaux SM2, I'll put the 3300 II and the NAD up for sale (I'll have to) but keep the Hafler. Those are not worth much at the best of times and I did put a fair bit work into it over 5 years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top