Audio Analogue Puccini SE///REZERVIRANO DO 01 07

Audio Analogue Puccini SE ispravan..prva verzija bez daljinskog.u silver boji. slike su od stvarnog uredjaja i prikazuju stvarno stanje pojacala....


The Audio Analogue Puccini SE model has quite a few revisions in their design. Mainly it can be split into 2 different categories - with remote and without remote. The Puccini SE without remote features a simple but refined circuit based on high-performance op-amps, whereas the “Remote” models feature a totally discrete components' circuit. Both preamp section and power circuit of the remote version shows low feedback, large open-loop bandwidth and is suitable for bi-wiring. When comparing with the "normal" model and the "Special Edition" model, the special edition has twice the power devices. The Puccini Special Edition also features 2 bigger transformers than the normal version. Passive components quality is greater which its value for some components is ten times as much that of same type components in the base model.

The two toroidal transformers totalling 400VA, 40,000µF of filter capacitance and eight power transistors ensure a current reserve sufficient for peaks and transients and low efficiency speakers. Totally individual power supplies for each channel right from mains (a quasi-dual-mono configuration) give excellent separation. While maintaining the same transparent and refined sound, the same musicality, Audio Analogue Puccini SE dramatically increases drive, punch and soundstage at the value that has become one of Audio Analogue's trademarks. The amplifier still offers its music gently, with that velvet tubey touch that has made it a worldwide success. But the mid-high range is now smoother, cleaner, harmonically richer and it helps moving the whole sonic performance into the league of integrated amps that cost $1,500 and more. unit

The tubey and velvet touch of the Audio Analogue Puccini SE is there so the dynamic performance of this unit is convincing, though not exactly walls-shaking. Fast but not in a hurry, the Italian amp sounds solid but not explosive. Though, when hooked up to the right speakers, it still can shake floor and windows. In the microdynamics department, it sounds with plenty of detail and grace, though it can still give a lively kick to the most energetic rock tracks. Width and depth are good, while the height is just fair. Thanks to the fact this amplifier sounds with grace and elegance, the soundstage appears not exactly "sculpted" and "crystal clear". The contours of the virtual images of singers and instruments appear a bit "blurred" but the scene does contain many details. This characteristic may be a good thing though. If the stagestage is made crystal clear, it may become clinical. Overall, the Audio Analogue Puccini SE is mostly an universal amplifier, ready to play with the majority of the loudspeakers in the market. It will fill the user's room with plenty of good music.
Still, all these facts miss the real Puccini SE. Coherence and system synergy are often overlooked and underappreciated. Reviewers, like many audiophiles, can become so caught up in the micro detail level -- "Amp A not only allows me to hear the squeaks of the chairs in the violin section, it differentiates between the metal-legged chairs of the woodwinds and the wooden chairs of the brass section; while amp B goes that one better, allowing the oaken sound of those wooden chairs to fully develop, placing me not just at the conductor’s side, but actually under those selfsame chairs" -- that the focus of why we listen is lost. The Puccini SE returns this focus to its central place.

The detail of the Puccini SE was such that I felt I was hearing everything that happened at a recording session, but the naturalness of expression was also such that I felt as much as I heard. Listening to the title track of new Cowboy Junkies disc, Miles From Our Home [Geffen GEFD-25201], I felt as well as heard the loneliness of the road and desire for both love and home in Margo Timmins’ voice. The quiet and resigned fear in "Good Friday" from the same CD was palpable in my listening room.

The coherence with which the Puccini SE speaks was especially agreeable when listening to the recent Mobile Fidelity release of a live session by Harry "Sweets" Edison and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (In Copenhagen [UDCD 696]). With Kenny Drew on piano, the group alternates between ballads and mid-tempo tunes. The live recording is very good to superb, and the playing cooks. The Puccini SE placed me in Copenhagen (fortunately it was July so I didn’t need a jacket) with an ease that astonished.

Enter the mind

For $1150 the Puccini SE is more than a bargain; it’s a steal. In the context of a $5000 system, it both delivers as much or more quality than anything it would be paired with, and frees dollars to spend on those other components. On an absolute scale it is detailed but relaxed, an open and yet sweet performer. The bass is very good, but is also the weakest part of the amp. Staging is better than you should be able to get for the price, while dynamics of the micro type are superb, and of the macro variety are punchy if ever so slightly short of full impact. The feature set is complete in every way but two: I’d really like to see pre-out and main-ins so there is an upgrade path, and a remote would be nice. But if either of those toys would upset the perfect balance of the Puccini SE, I’d pass on them.

This integrated amp is very affordable in audiophile terms, even perhaps too cheap to be taken as seriously as it deserves. But over in the Real World, dollar figures account for something altogether different. They should account for more here in AudioLand as well. In this day of $15,000 speaker wire and $20,000 CD players, it is nice to find something that is affordable, sensible and also magical. The Puccini SE gets my heartiest endorsement and recommendation. Check it out. Simply put, it raises the bar for everyone else.

...Todd Warnke
todd@soundstage.com

Audio Analogue Puccini SE Integrated Amplifier
Price: $1,150 USD
US Distributor:
Hi-Fi Forum
P.O. Box 570
Chazy, NY 12921
Phone: 800-771-8279
Fax: 514-931-8891

E-mail: hi-fi@hi-fi-forum.com
Website: www.hi-fi-forum.com

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Specifications :
Output Power.........................................2 x 55W @ 8 ohms
.........................................2 x 85W @ 4 ohms
Line Input Impedance..............................50Kohms
Phono Input Impedance...........................(MM) 47kohms/220pF
...........................(MC) 100ohms
Nominal Line Input Sensitivity..................1Vrms
Nominal Phono Input Sensitivity...............(MM) 10mVrms
...............(MC) 1mVrms
Line Signal/Noise Ratio(Unweighted)........>80dB
Line Signal/Noise Ratio('A' Weighed)........>90dB
Phono Signal/Noise Ratio(Unweighted).....(MM) >70dB, (MC) >60dB
Phono Signal/Noise Ratio('A' Weighted)....(MM) >80dB, (MC) >70dB
Tape Output Level and Impedance............1Vrms/600ohm
Total Harmonic Distortion(THD)................100 @ 1kHz/8 ohm/1W
Slew Rate..............................................>10V/us
Bandwidth(+/-0.1dB)................................20Hz-20kHz
Bandwidth(+/-0.3dB)................................5Hz-200kHz (1W/8 ohm)
Channel Separation.................................R to L >80dB; L to R >80dB
Inputs.....................................................MM/MC Phono (PH1), Line 1/6
Nominal Voltage Supply...........................115VAC/230VAC 50/60Hz
Transformers...........................................Dual 200VA
Max. Power Consumption........................400VA
Dimensions(w x d x h).............................44.5 x 36.5 x 8.5 cm
Weight...................................................11kg