German specialist analogue hi fi magazine 'lp' recently reviewed the Silhouette SXV2 Phono Preamplifier in their 2/2009 issue.

Duck out to your local German magazine shop to pick up a copy in the flesh, or take the easy route and stump up €4,30 to download the 2/2009 issue from their website...  Although, you'll need to scrub up on your German.

The SXV2 inspired these words from reviewer Holger Barske:

“Perhaps one of the musical chip phono preamps ever. The Perreaux plays in detail, light, charming, almost with a little tube charm. The easy handling and extensive customization to speak also for the New Zealand import.”

Translation courtesy of Google Translate.

Go back 20 years and all high-quality stereo systems would invariably comprise of separate preamplifier and power amplifier components. In today’s marketplace by comparison, the top-of-the-range products are still separates, however it’s now commonplace to use a high-quality integrated amplifier.

From my experience there are no hard and fast rules to denote that one topology is necessarily better than the other... so let’s take a brief look at both.

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With the measurements of 216mm x 58mm x 192mm (8.5” x 2.3” x 7.6”) this Perreaux SX25i integrated amplifier is above all - NOT A MACHO! So the idea for above picture came quite easy – I would not want to miss this motive, simply too close is the association "pocket amp".

Not only the measurements, but also the power of the Perreaux SX25i with it’s 25 watt into 8 Ohm, don't really show this amp as a “heavyweight”. So this amp might not deliver enough punch to fill big lofts with sound, but smaller up to medium-sized rooms will rarely need more power. Only if they use speakers with a very low degree of efficiency, which would fulminate too much of the little power this nice amp delivers. A medium-sized room with a pair of sensitive compact speakers is my idea of a perfect ambience for this little Perreaux. Maybe the “library room”?

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Now that the Silhouette series is complete, it's a good time to look at what it can offer. From the inception of the series, our focus has always been on extracting every last grain of detail and to provide the highest level of performance available.

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We have recently taken a series of photographs focusing on the Silhouette series.

Please feel free to browse through a selection of the images:

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The recently released Silhouette Series SXCD Compact Disc Player achieves a Gold Award in the latest issue (Issue 63) of New Zealand hi fi and technology magazine Tone.

The SXCD inspired these words from reviewer Steve Smith:

"The music flows with a smooth, detailed delivery that can rival CD players costing twice the price..."

"I was flabbergasted at just how good the SXCD was..."

Read the SXCD Compact Disc Player review in it's entirety.

Issue 63 is on news-stands now, why don't you pop out and get yourself a copy...

We know you've all been eagerly awaiting a CD player to grace the Silhouette Series, and on a couple of occasions we have prematurely gotten your hopes up. But we're very pleased to announce that the Silhouette Series SXCD Compact Disc Player is at long last officially released.

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Please accept our sincere apology for the protracted delay on the release of the much anticipated Silhouette Series SXCD two box CD player.

More than 2 years have gone into the development and finessing of this high quality unit, only to face unexpected delay on account of the discontinuation of critical components by one of our suppliers.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing however and we feel fortunate to have been made aware of this before releasing the unit. Nothing would have been worse than to have to make changes shortly after release. We have been busy selecting new components, relaying the PCB, and rewriting firmware.

Circle July 23rd on your calendar and write Perreaux SXCD next to it.

You are passionate about your music. A very long time ago already you made the transition to CD and have also got a foot into the convenience of the ipod revolution.

However... you never bothered to sell off your old vinyl collection, and for all those years it has languished in cardboard boxes in a cupboard. It’s time to rediscover your old collection and while you’re at it marvel at how far the technology has come.

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Perreaux has a long history of designing and producing phono preamplifiers. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s LP and 45 records were the only viable method of producing stereophonic music. The quality that it offered was taken for granted. Naturally Perreaux was also active during this time, producing preamplifiers such as the SM2 and SM3 that incorporated excellent phono preamplifier input stages. Many of these products are still in use today.

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