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Plinius 8200 MkII
Latest version of the Plinius integrated.
By Brent Burmester
November 2002
The original Plinius, Gaius Plinius Secundus, was a Roman naval commander, senator, and natural historian. A serious sort of bloke. His modern namesake, in the form of the Plinius 8200 MkII integrated amplifier, also demands to be taken seriously.
Physically it is no lightweight - weighing in at 13.5kg - and it shows a serious face to the world through an austere aluminium slab adorned by two rotary switches and a volume knob. Round at the business end you'll find two sets of speaker binding posts, pre-out sockets for bi-amping, an A/V processor loop for the home theatre fans, and an earthing post, indicating the presence of the on-board phono stage. There are another four RCA inputs for CD and other digital and analogue sources.
Within lies the toroidal transformer-that-ate-Manhattan, the main contributor to the weight, and a pre-amp derived from the exotic M16 unit that partners Plinius's class A super-amps. This second edition of the 8200 delivers over 175 remote-controlled watts per channel, with maybe the first couple in class A.
Switch the unit on, and the blue power indicator flashes slowly to let you know the amp is muted while it settles down for action. Once stabilised, the LED remains on and you're ready to roll – almost.
Plinius makes clear that the 8200 needs at least a day powered up before it hits its stride, and this certainly proved to be the case with the review sample. Although the amp showed encouraging virtues from kick off, it took about three days to loosen up. It also gave off a soft buzz, which was still audible at 2m away in a quiet room, something to note if you’re using high sensitivity speakers.
The seriousness extends to the sound of the 8200. This amp tolerates no waywardness on the part of your speakers: they will obey. This degree of command lends itself to precise placement of musicians within a wide and reasonably deep soundstage, and convincing dynamic contrasts.
The all-important midrange is warm and strong - voices come across clearly and free from sharpness and diction is particularly good. The treble is unobtrusive, giving cymbal crashes vibrancy without causing you to wince. During orchestral and choral works, the 8200 handles the swing from whisper quiet to all-stops-out with confidence.
Certainly, this amp is unfazed by high volumes, showing no sign of stress when called upon to deliver Regurgitator’s Obtusian at window-vibrating levels. I found my speakers seemed to have grown a few inches in all directions when energised by the big Plinius integrated.
The built-in phono stage reveals the same virtues. Surface noise off the vinyl is low, and records are played with insight, so that the different qualities of CD and vinyl can be plainly heard. One of my favorite orchestral tracks on LP is Leigh’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, a difficult balance of delicate plucked strings and massed violins, cellos, and double basses. The 8200 Mk II did it true justice, so the orchestra in full flight never drowned out the harpsichord’s part. On CD, the male voices of Celtic choir Anuna were conveyed with power and emotion, and there was no ambiguity about the position of each singer.
However, being a serious amp, the Plinius seems reluctant to shake its groove thing. Its preference is for acoustic material, especially well recorded jazz and classical and anything featuring a piano. Skunk Anansie and Supergrass don’t seem to go down so well.
Exactly why that should be is puzzling, but while the amp seems to approve of a concert hall’s reverberation, recording studio environments impress it somewhat less. I suspect the 8200’s complete lack of edginess is at work here – sometimes a track needs a bit of bite and snarl for full effect.
There is also a very slight ‘slowness’ to the tempo of the 8200, although this does not come across as a lag in the bass, rather as if the source disc was spinning just shy of the recommended RPM. Rest assured the woofer bits come through tight and low just as they should.
This amp will certainly appeal to those with significant record collections wanting to upgrade from, say, a competent Japanese or UK integrated, especially since it can fill a hole in a home theatre system as well. If you have a taste for music recorded without the benefit of Marshall guitar amps, or speakers with a little too much ‘zing’, I’d definitely recommend an audition.
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