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PC for Rowland 312 and others?

I have tried 2 power chords on the Rowland 312 switching amp:
1. Cardas golden Reference -- This appears to be the default PC often recommended by some JRDG dealers like Soundings of Denver (Co). In this application, it yields very good harmonic development and appears quite extended at both end of the spectrum. Interestingly, it does not appear to be creating the kind of idiosyncratic mellow/warmish sound associated with some of the reputation of this PC. Conversely, the same Golden Ref is not in my opinion indicated with the Capri Linestage or the PC1 Power Factor Correction unit + Capri preamp combination -- the sound becoming somewhat dry compared to Purist Anniversary or Anaconda Helix Alpha.

2. Purist Anniversary. Very surprisingly, Seems to be at odds with the 312, while yielding greater authority than the Cardas Golden Reference, it sounds both warmer and has a strong tendency of making piano overtones sounding 'jangling' (very odd indeed). Much better on the Capri+PC1 combo, it yields very good harmonic content with only very slight jangliness on piano.

It has been recently suggested that Shunyata Helix PCs may mate very well with current JRDG gear; I have only tried a Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha on Capri+PC1 and found it to create the most significant stage, with harmonically very complex sound devoid of artifacts and oddities. In this particular configuration, I also had the Purist Anniversary on my TEAC X-01 Limited, and the Cardas Golden Ref still on 312.

Next I will move the Anaconda to the 312 and will see what happens.

I'd be very interested in hearing about experiences with PCs of various brands/models on recent JRDG switching stereo amps (102, 302, 312), integrated (Concerto, Continuum), monoblocks (201, 301, 501), and pres (Concerto, Capri). I suspect that switching amps/pres are unique enough that common wisdom on PCs may need revising.

I admit that my own findings have surprised me. I would have expected the Purist anniversary to be a star performer on the 312, but it seems to excell in the 1st position of my chain, when feeding the X-01 Limited instead.
guidocorona
phous
18 posts
 
Guido, I've used Rowland amps for many years. Currently 501s, Concerto and Esoteric XO 1 Limited. While I have not tried all available PCs and ICs, certainly I've auditioned the top recomended. Nothing performed as well for me as Cardas Golden Reference.
Paul
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Guido, the reason I asked is because, as I thought, you are switching more than one cord at a time. From my experiences, the power cord on the source makes more of a difference than the cord on the amp. So while you say that you do not care for the PAD Anniversary on the 312, what the case may really be is that you do not care for the PAD Anniversary OFF of the X-01. To truely test the PAD Anniversary, you should borrow another one and leave the first PAD Anniversary on the X-01. Otherwise, how do you know the faults that you hear with the PAD Anniversary on the 312 are not actually the faults of the Anaconda on the X-01?

The PAD Anniversary may yet be the 'star performer' as you speculated, however, if you move it downstream and replace it on the source with a lesser cord, I would say that your complaints are about the Anaconda on the X-01, not the Anniversary on the 312. Just my $0.02.

Cheers,
John
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Paul and Garebear! paul, what other PCs have you tried on JRDG 501s and COncerto pre? Does Golden Ref perform equally well on 501s and Concerto pre? Garebear, the Shunyata VX variants contain some filtering material that may end up deadening low level information. For the price of a single Shunyata Anaconda VX Helix you might be able to get 2 PC1 units for the 501s. . . these are expected to bring the 501 mons very close to the performance of the 312 without any filtering of low level information. Then perhaps think about some non VX variants at a later time.
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
Some more info on Cardas Golden Ref vs Purist Anniversary test on 312:

I baselined this test by keeping Anaconda on X-01 and a Cardas Golden Ref on PC1+Capri.

I then played with my 2nd Cardas Golden Ref and Purist Anniv on 312. purist has 20Amp IEC so it connects directly; Golden Ref has 15Amp IEC so I used a Voodoo adapter. Purist Anniv was in this position for several days and I couldn't get to like its effect on 312, for all the problems discussed above. But as I said, I really like it on X-01 Limited instead.
jfz
570 posts
 
Guido,
I love the Elrod EPS-3 Signature on my 302.
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