I've experienced some stunning audio/visual systems and a few disasters also.

I received a call from a friend the other day asking my advice on a home audio system for his new house. He had received a multi-room audio proposal from his local store and they felt he needed audio in every room of his house. The system was both extensive and expensive, but importantly there was far too much emphasis on quantity and convenience over quality.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm just not buying into all this convenience. When I'm in the bedroom, my prime focus is usually rest; and when I'm in the kitchen, thoughts of food take presedence. To me, this is the hoary old chestnut of less adding up to so much more. Rejecting everywhere convenience in favour of focusing on a few select prime areas of use and making them all they can be is definitely the way to go in my opinion.

More

We're marking our return to the UK – exhibiting this coming weekend (27th and 28th March) at the London High Fidelity Show 2010.

Our UK distributor Maroly Santosh of Concerto Audio is exhibiting at booth T8 in the Blue Converence Center of the Park Inn Heathrow.

Make sure you get along and support the show. While you're there drop by and say g'day to Santosh and check out our 750W monoblock power amplifiers and new éloquence integrated amplifiers and CD transport.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Perreaux Launches New Compact Disc Transport

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (March 4th, 2010) – New Zealand hi fi amplifier manufacturer Perreaux is proud to announce the launch of the éloquence CDt compact disc transport.

A CD transport behaves exactly like a normal CD player - but instead of the audio output being an analogue signal, it outputs the digital data from the disc and requires an external digital-to-analogue converter (DAC).

The CDt is the perfect partner for the éloquence 150i or 250i integrated amplifiers, and is designed to complement and seamlessly integrate with their onboard 24-bit/192kHz upsampling DAC.

"As a dedicated CD platform, the éloquence CDt captures the heart and soul of the 16-bit/44.1kHz CD format," says Perreaux Managing Director, Martin van Rooyen, "revealing the full potential of the humble compact disc."

The CDt features transformer coupled BNC and RCA outputs, as well as an optical TOSLINK output, to transmit the 16-bit/44.1kHz SPDIF digital signal. Separate digital interface transmitters ensure each digital output is optimized to keep interface induced jitter at a minimum.

More

Well CES has been and gone once again. Attendance was good this year – while it seemed down on previous years, the enquiries and leads were more qualified. Perhaps the last 12 to 18 months has seen the "cream float to the top".

Speaking with other manufacturers, for many, the last six to eight months have been stellar, us included. So perhaps it's a sign of things to come, it's certainly reassuring to see some buoyancy returning to the market.

We exhibited in room 29-112 at The Venetian, alongside Acoustic Sounds, Thorens and Harbeth. A massive thank you to Chuck and Clark from Acoustic Sounds – firstly, for having us in their room; and second, for playing some outstanding records from the Acoustic Sounds catalogue.

We must also express sincere gratitude to our US distributor Walter Swanbon from Fidelis Distribution. He put up with a lot of grief and must have been close to tearing his hair out when it nearly went "pear-shaped" after a firmware upgrade of the 150i went horribly wrong (you'd think experience would teach us that Murphy and his law always make an appearance at these sorts of events).

Thankfully, after traipsing around what seemed like the entire city of Las Vegas looking for a computer with a serial port, a Vegas local came to our rescue after we posted an SOS on the Atmel AVR Community forum AVR Freaks. Thank you "peret" for getting us back up-and-running and allowing the show to go on.

More

Leading online AV magazine Audio Video Revolution has reviewed the éloquence 150i integrated amplifier.

Reviewer Andre Marc was quite taken by the 150i, here are a few of his discoveries and comments:

“The 150i did not suffer in comparison in any way to my separates, much to my great surprise.”

“It offers such a coherent presentation, and did not have me shying away from any genre of music.”

“This is one of my all time favorites and the Perreaux brought me closer to the music than before.”

Be sure to find out what other revelations he had and read Andre's 150i review in it's entirety on the Audio Video Revolution website.

Steve Guttenberg has reviewed the éloquence 150i integrated amplifier for online publication TONEAudio Magazine and he captured it's ethos in one short phrase &ndash the 150i has a rock 'n' roll heart.

To put Steve's words into context, this is what he said in the review:

“Listening over the éloquence 150i, this CD's wider than average dynamic range exploded over my Magnepan 3.6/R speakers, and you know what they say about Maggies: they need a bit of juice to really come alive. The éloquence 150i has a rock 'n' roll heart beating inside that compact chassis.”

He goes on in the review to say:

“There's something about the way the éloquence 150i let me hear the spaces between instruments that immediately grabbed my attention.”

“I didn't intend to listen to all of Sgt. Pepper, but once I started I couldn't stop. The amp must be doing something right.”

Make sure you read Steve's 150i review in it's entirety to discover what other impressions he had of the 150i.

Esteemed Canadian audio magazine Son & Image have reviewed the éloquence 150i integrated amplifier along with Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeakers.

Reviewer Michel Leroux had these words to say about the 150i:

“...demontre l'aptitude de cet integre a maintenir les membranes des transducteurs des enceintes en place suite a un deplacement, un impact ou un <> avec pour resultat, des basses rondes mais fermes, une dynamique et une tres bonne definition sonore sans pour autant induire de son trop sec ou dur.”

Which, courtesy of Google Translate, roughly translates to:

“...demonstrates the aptitude of this integrated to maintain control of the speaker after a displacement, or impact "beat", resulting in the bass being low but tight, a dynamic and a very good definition sound without being too dry or hard.”

Unfortunately we don't have an English translation of the review, but if you can read French, check out Michel's review of the 150i.

French audio magazine Stereo Prestige & Image likened the power delivery and impact of the éloquence 250i integrated amplifier to a "Tyson left in the chest":

“...le "déferlement" de puissance totalement sous contrôle, avec un impact physique dans le grave digne d’une gauche de Tyson en pleine poitrine.”

They also go on to say:

“La voix de la chanteuse Michelle Shocked ressort avec un timbre chaleureux, presque doux dans ce monde de brutes, avec un caractère expressif étonnant sans la moindre trace d'intermodulation. Les voix en background se détachent parfaitement sur deux plans différents derrière elle au lieu de se superposer, révélant un parfait maintien de la phase à des niveaux pareils qui assurent une réelle surpression sur les tympans : époustouflante tout simplement.”

Which loosely translates to (via Google Translate):

“The voice of singer Michelle Shocked projects with a warm timbre, almost sweet in this cruel world, with an astonishing expressiveness without the slightest trace of intermodulation. The voices in the background stand out perfectly on a plane behind instead of overlapping, revealing a perfect continuation of the phase at such levels that provide a real pressure on the eardrums: simply stunning.”

For those that can read French, check out the rest of the 250i review from Stereo Prestige & Image.

The Prisma SM6 MkII preamplifier and 350 power amplifier have been reviewed by Laurent Thorin in French audio magazine Haute Fidélité.

The SM6 MkII and 350 inspired these words from Laurent:

“Le préamplificateur est assez complet, et facilement pilotable. Quant à l’amplificateur, il propose une puissance colossale, qui permettra d’alimenter sans aucun problème les enceintes les plus gourmandes. Voilà donc des réalisations recommandables, à considérer avec attention.”

Which, thanks again to Google Translate, translates to:

“The preamplifier is quite comprehensive, and easily controllable. As for the amplifier, it provides colossal power, which will supply without any problem the most demanding speakers. These are commendable achievements, worthy of attention.”

Sorry, we don't have an English version of this review, but for those who can read French, the review of the SM6 MkII and 350 is available in it's entirety.

Wow, how exciting, we've started shipping the éloquence CDt Compact Disc Transport. Shipments have already gone to France, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand; with more to follow to Norway, Denmark, United Kingdom, United States, Chile, India and Hong Kong before Christmas. Boy do we have a busy couple of days ahead of us.

The éloquence CDt is the perfect partner to the éloquence 150i and 250i integrated amplifiers. When used with the digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) module internal to the amplifiers, the full potential of a dedicated éloquence system is realised.

Now, I can hear you thinking "that was cut and pasted straight from the marketing machine" – but the CDt really does complement the éloquence integrated amplifiers perfectly.

We totally weren't ready for the amount of detail the CDt extracted from the humble CD. The sound is immensely detailed and resolute, the amplifiers internal DAC module ensuring the sound remains musical, without hint of sounding clinical or dry.

Every time a CDt is on audio test, a little smile finds it's way across our faces and we're reminded how special the éloquence range of components are, what they represent for us and the formidable benchmarks they set for future developments.

Anyhow, now I'm getting all sentimental. Keep an eye out for the official press release from CES 2010 in Las Vegas early next month. In the meantime, check out the éloquence CDt Compact Disc Transport product page on our website.