Plinius 9200

I have heard the 9200 but it was not yet run in so it is hard to be definitive. Living close to the Plinius people I have also heard the stories about the improvements in the 9200. But without hearing one properly for myself it is probably best not to pass them on. In any case it did not appear to be a radical departure to me. I find the 8200 to be a nice sounding amp that is either too laid back and gutlessly boring if you are driving difficult speakers, or stunning value if the rest of your system suits it. Textures and timbre are very good at the price, but forget that power rating. The lower powered SA102 absolutely hammers it. Moving from the 8200 to the 102 is like night and day, and in the power stakes the 102 sounds an order of magnitude more powerful. So if you want an amp that will rock, then there are some warning bells that should be rung about the Plinius integrateds. They can indeed rock but they need a reasonably easy speaker and probably a small to medium room. I know it is out of your price range but the new Plinius SB300 is the one to look at in the new range. Heaps of power, very close to the performance of the SA250, in a box the size of the 102, and a pretty good price - just no Class A operation. Essentially the Plinius gear has a lush and full sound that gets away from the edgy yet dark sound of many transistor designs. But that benign character can tip over into sound a little dead, sluggish or recessed if the amp is not totally in control of the speaker. Therefore I have always found that the Plinius amps all sound wonderful until they are worked hard. This is not to imply they are not powerful - just that they go a bit sleepy when worked hard. When a Plinius amp (I mean the current batch) is operating in the zone you will get tons of body, dimensionality and accurate textures. For many average rock recordings it will tame some of the harsh edges. But it may seem to lack a bit of the "edge" you need to get your juices flowing. Not a lot - but some. While they perform well on most stuff, I find they are ideal for someone into large orchestral music where the combination of grace and scale is highly beneficial.

I had never read about Plinius amps more accurately ... I owned a 8200P and now a SA102 and these are just the words to describe them.

Do you think they will work well with maggie 12s???