Perreaux R200i - Manual

Perreaux Radiance R200i
Integrated Amplifier Review
by Robert van Waes
Hi-fi and music: it is a great hobby! Apart from all kinds of equipment
one also gets to meet many passionate people, every one of them with
their own view on audio reproduction. For example, I recently had the
pleasure to meet the owner annex business manager of High-end Chile,
Omar Gonzales and his charming wife Melanie (from Chile). This was a
very warm meeting indeed; those people became friends for life.
Another great thing was the new review candidate I picked up there, the
Perreaux Radiance R200i integrated amplifier.
Omar was so incredibly convinced by this little body builder and its performance that he wanted
me to hear it in my own listening room, using my own set-up. Accompanied by some nice
Chilean presents the friendly importer for the Benelux, Electric Audio from the Dutch town of
Apeldoorn, gave me a Radiance 200i to review. Perreaux, housed in Mosgiel close to Otago’s
provincial capital Dunedin in southern New Zealand, was founded in 1974. Their first
commercial product was the GS2002 integrated amplifier, an amplifier that delivered an
amazing 22 Wrms per channel. In 1976 Perreaux produced New Zealand’s first ‘home-made’
PA system used by the locally famous rock band Ragnarok. The sound system weighed three
tons, delivered 900Wrms per channel and led to some world fame for the brand name
Perreaux since a few Australian export orders were placed as well. During the years 1977-1978
Perreaux discovered the MOSFET as an end transistor, an end transistor that combines the
sound advantages of tube amplification with the physical advantages of the classic bipolar
transistor amplification. In 1979 the first Perreaux MOSFET amplifier was released, leading to
the fact that the company kept on expanding during the eighties. Very remarkable is that,
according to Perreaux, despite thousands of units warranty claims have been virtually non-
existent in all of Perreaux’ history.