Plinius Tautoro

By Michael Wong

December 2007

Plinius Tautoro stereo preamplifier. Line version, $8680. Phono version, $10010

Plinius Tautoro from the front...

...and from the back

Tautoro (verb) to stretch forward, extend oneself, extend. From www.maoridictionary.co.nz

When the first pictures of the Tautoro appeared online, most of the early comments centred on how large the unit was. If anything those comments were conservative, in the metal the Tautoro is huge. Comparing official measurements, the Tautoro dwarfs the M8 preamp, occupying similar floor space to the SA-201 power amplifier. It’s just a little bit shorter, a bit deeper and a lot lighter on the scales.

Like the rest of the range, build quality is excellent. Unlike the M8 and SA-201, the front and side panels are now a single piece U-shaped fabrication, doing away with the fussy J-piece front/side panel, separate end piece and folded over lid arrangement of those earlier models. There are Odeon styling cues in the asymmetrical front foot and support pad but these are purely cosmetic as the Tautoro sits on unremarkable, hard plastic feet.

Don't fence me in

The large amounts of real estate on the front and rear panels allow for excellent ergonomics. Good sized, source selection buttons with adjustable illumination, a large tactile volume control and the rare appearance of a traditional ¼” headphone jack. The rear panel stands out with neat, logical grouping of the high quality WBT socketry.

There’s an optional phono input (based on the Plinius Koru with external mini-switches for selecting input loading and gain), four line-level inputs, a home theatre bypass input, two pairs of preamplifier outputs and a stereo fixed level output for recording. The phono input and line output are single-ended only. The four remaining line inputs and preamp outputs are available in either single-ended RCA or balanced XLR flavours. The circuit configuration precludes running single-ended and balanced simultaneously, so users must choose one or the other. Selection is by small toggle switches near each input/output.

A traditional Plinius ground lift switch, 12V trigger input/outputs, third party remote input and the main power on/off switch fill out the rear, all highlighted against the attractive blue chassis.

The familiar truncheon styled remote control adjusts the volume, source selection and secondary preamp functions like display dimming, home theatre bypass activation, and phase inversion. Additional buttons allow for full operation of the Plinius CD player.

As with all Plinius equipment, buyers have the choice of silver or black finish.

A fully printed manual (goodbye to the old spiral bound manuals) and a pair of white cotton gloves lend a professional touch to the presentation.

The Plinius deviation

Like the recent Koru phono stage, the Tautoro deviates from the traditional Plinius sound. The Tautoro is clean and neutral without sweetening or richness. Control and definition are the name of the game. From the extended, open highs and flat, leanish mids to the taut bass end of the spectrum. The trade-off is a touch of coolness and diminishment of body plus a little less scale and authority in the bass. Transparency and detail are first class. If it’s on the record you will hear it without it being presented in an over-analytical manner.

Speaking of records, the Tautoro phono stage is every bit as good as the stand alone Koru with perhaps just a little less blackness in the backgrounds. Soundstaging and imaging are excellent Panavision-wide vistas with well focussed performers in a realistically sized space. A little more dimensionality would be nice. Dynamics are good but a little softened.

Both these aspects of performance can be markedly improved by using aftermarket isolation under the preamp. At this price point one has to ask why Plinius persist with these horrid plastic feet.

Though it uses a slightly reworked Plinius M8 line amp board at it’s core, the Tautoro does not sound like an M8. Like the recent Koru phono stage, the Tautoro is more explicit sounding. There’s a bit more openness and some tonal coolness, with more control, at the cost of restraining some of the M8’s exuberant nature. It doesn’t sing quite as sweetly as the M8, being more matter-of-fact. Not better or worse, just music from a different perspective.

The new Plinius Tautoro preamplifier marks the welcome return of a full-function preamplifier to the range and serves as a worthy flagship partner to the company’s finest amplifiers. Some will bemoan that it’s size but I feel a component this good deserves a dedicated stand and to be proudly displayed. Likewise to the naysayers who complain that it’s too expensive. Compare the cost of the full blown Tautoro to an M8 plus Koru, factor in the Tautoro’s arresting aesthetics, extra functionality and it makes sense. It’s well worth an audition by anyone considering an expensive, full featured preamplifier.