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Legendary used amp, or economical new one?

This past week a couple of my 30-yr-old vintage amps went awry. One, a VSP Labs TransMOS 150 developed a loud hum and got smokin' hot before I shut it off. The other, a Heathkit AA-1600, lost the left channel.

I may get them fixed, possibly to keep as backup or to sell, but I've come across yet another, a 100 wpc ultra-wide bandwidth Perreaux amp, also from the mid-'80s. The Perreaux has some features I've always been curious about in an amp but couldn't afford in a new one--distortion at .009%, bandwidth out to 3Mhz, and the accompanying rise time below 1 microsecond. I'd love to see how all that speed and resolution translates into sound quality, spatial cues, low level detail, and pinpoint timing--key elements in musically involving.

But I don't know how rugged Perreaux gear is, and maybe for the same money I should settle for a new Emotiva XPA 200 or a much less used Odyssey Khartago or Stratos.

Thoughts? Feelings? Opinions? Condemnations? :)
johnnyb53

Showing 2 responses by almarg

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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Based on a quick search, it sounds like you are referring to a PMF-1150B :-)

I have no particular knowledge of how those things tend to hold up after nearly 30 years, but considering the relatively low prices they seem to go for, and the generally excellent reviews I seem to recall they received back in the day, if there were grounds for reasonable confidence in its present condition I'd be tempted to go for it if I were looking for a solid state amp in that power and price range.

My one additional comment, though, is that if the impedance of your speakers should happen to have severely capacitive phase angles at ANY frequency (not just those requiring lots of energy, such as in the bass region), I'd be hesitant to go with an amplifier that has extremely wide bandwidth and that also presumably uses significant amounts of feedback (judging by the low THD numbers). The combination of those three factors raises concern in my mind about phase shifts, frequency response peaking, and perhaps even instability if a heavily capacitive load is applied.

Just some miscellaneous thoughts that occur to me. HTH.

Regards,
-- Al
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almarg
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The following price info may be helpful to those responding: The Emotiva XPA-200 that was mentioned lists for $499, new. According to an older bluebook I have, the Perreaux PMF-1150B originally sold for $1150 (the same as the model number!), in 1982-1985 dollars.

Also, IIRC, Perreaux's "B" series models, including this one, corrected some significant sound quality issues that were present in the pre-"B" models.

Regards,
-- Al
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