Pre-Amp For Plinius Power Amp

I have tried a number of pre-amps. I have had success with both solid state and tube, but in response to your question, the Placette is a great match. I owned the active for over four years with wonderful success. I also tried and loved the passive model. These come on Audiogon well under $1000.00.

Hello Jonchew Ive also got a plinius sa 102 [2- one silver and one black serial #s 2173/1865] in mono and a p-8 for my center along with an sa 100 mk3 on surrounds in a hometheatre setting, personally ive not tried many preamps only an Adcom gfp 750 with my initial Plinius sa100mk3,that with a Kora hermes tubed dac using Pearl cryovalves"1975 nos cv2492/ and 1964 mullards matched pairs , also have a Magnum Dyn. 102 triode tuner using amperex bugle boys matched pr.What Ive done is use pliniuses M-8 preamp along with tubes in my source, thus tuberolling to audibly tweek sound to my liking. Many like pliniuses sa poweramps; me also, however the preamp seems not as highly regarded but for me with theyre hometheatre bypass and rich dynamic sound ,its a perfect match as it was designed to go with theyre poweramps.So with all due respect to Mr Jadem6 as hes assembled a very nice system dont count the M-8 out as a synergistic match as the company intended.P.S. I personally did not want to go through endless hours auditioning different preamps so the M8 was a easy solution and in the last 18 months of use has provided me with endless hours of musical enjoyment.NO REGRETS! Good luck in your quest!!!Regards Tim W.

The Plinius has normal input impedance and fairly high sensitivity so it can be matched with everything from tubes, SS or passive. Maybe, use no preamp at all if you are just using CDP and find one with variable output.

There are very few amps that have the character that matches so well with passive preamps. A high gain preamp is not necessary even if you play music at concert levels with average sensitivity speakers. I use a TVC based passive with a SA100 MkIII.

The Plinius M8 preamp is grossly underated. It is highly synergistic with the SA 102 adding a significant level of dynamic contrast in comparison to a Consonance R1.1 and an Audio Aero Capitole (volume attenuator in Audio Aero cdp). The synergy with the SA102 is scarcely surprising. It is said to be significantly better than the Plinius M16. Plinius is in the process of developing a new reference preamp.

Kevin

I had a Plinius M16 with my SA-250 and replaced it with an ARC Ref2 MkII. What a difference. Everything is better now. Even bass quality.

I have used a Reference Line PreEminence 2 passive with my SA100 MkIII for several years with very good results. I now use a Joule LA100 MkIII and am extremely happy with this combo as well.

I am using Cary slp98p with my sa102 , very happy.
I think tubes is the way to go.
Other good matches Hovland, EAR 864, Klimo and from solidstate the best was Audionet pre G2 (the big one).

I have an Adcom 750 that I use in the passive mod. It work wonderful with my Cary 303/200 player, very detailed and very dynamic. It sounds much better passive than powered.

Has anyone tried the '102 with the Aesthetix Calypso? Also, how can you tell a "regular" '102 from a "Mk2" version?

Hello Tab110s,

YES. I have been using the Aesthetix Calypso with the Plinius 102 for over a year now. The two are an absolutely wonderful match. I have the Sony SCD-1 (with every Audiomod modification, Richard Kern available)as my front end Dunlavy IVa speakers. This system is extremely natural and wonderfully neutral. The highs are smooth and fully extended. The bass is deep and tightly focused. Midrange is magic, full rich and... U use NOS Mullard 12AX7 10M gold pins and Telefunken 6922's. Absolute perfection.

I wrote a review of the Calypso and Plinius so if you would like to talk further please write me and I will send you my phone number.

jd