Best amp to Partner with Jeff Rowland Criterion

Sounds good to me, David! G.

Sounds exciting.... Did you buy 301s new, or you purchased the set advertised by David Weinhart on Agon? Heard Criterion + recent production 301s on Revel last July at Renaissance Audio in Dallas, and the result was wonderful. G.

david, you may need an amp that yields more than 40 amps peak in balanced output mode, or more than 90 amps in the more common single ended output mode. With the new Rowland offerings, the 925 mono and the future 825 will likely do what you need, but it is unlikely that the 625 will even match the throughput of 312. In the current JRDG lineup, the 301 monos will give you 90 Amps per side, more than twice the 312. One other amp I am very curious about is the new monoblocks from Chapter Audio. . . like JRDG 300 series, they are based on ICEpower 1000 power conversion modules, and like all current JRDG higher end amps, they use a combination of active PFC and SMPS. . . have not heard them yet, but have seen them at RMAF and they look gorgeous. . . I hope to be able to review them in the not so far future for PFO.

It's worth pointing out that, the Criterion having an output impedance of 60 Ohms, it really does not matter what amps it drives.

Guido

David, I'm thinking that Osvaldo might have a valid point. I'd really be curious to have you listening to my setup. . . X-01 + Criterion + 312 + Vienna Mahler 1.5 is anything but anemic in the bass region. But I have also found that my setup is very sensitive to all forms of cabling and conditioning.

Sorry Osvaldo for the confusion, what I meant to say is that in my system, the bass of 312 does not sound weak at all. Last night I put on Dvorak's New World Symphony under Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, and the initial low brass chorale in the 2nd movement was simply hair-raising in its power. . . David, when are you coming for a visit?

An 825 stereo + 312 stereo byamped combination would be very intriguing. . . the only problem is that I have truly no idea when the 825 will be released.

In relatively recent times, the core of the 301 internals gave up the old conversion modules used for the M302, and went to the ICEpower 1000ASP modules used for M312. There may be other changes, but I do not know what they may be. Guido

Husk, I really did not concentrate on speakers this time around.... My attention was mostly on CDPs.

Out of the speakers you mention, I heard only the Evolution Acoustics. The suite also had the PD MPS-5. Truly a fabulous sound... Jonathan Tin and Andreas Koch are men of profound musical sensitivity.

My favorite speakers remained the Vienna Die Muzik, which were featured in the Soundings showroom, across the parking lot from the Tech Centers Marriott. I believe they were powered by Boulder 2050, with the Boulder 1021 media player, and the result was musically magnificent.

As for the Rowland 625, in room 2002, by Sunday the device had approx 40 hours on it, and I was in love.

Another memorable suite was the Vivid, Luxman, Audio Aero, Shunyata, and HRS room --Blanca peak I believe -- which featured the new $40K player from Audio Aero.... once again, absolutely scrumptiously musical sound.... So much so that I had to go back 4 times... and the sound got better at every visit.

G.