Rowland 625

Dtanclim, I noticed the spheres when I was at the last RMAF.... I asked Jeff Rowland about them. He told me that the spheres are made from Delrin, and he prefers their sonic effect to that of the traditional Sorbothane pads. I do not know if the audible improvement is real or not. I rather suspect that using the spheres as footers is mostly happenstance: they are derived from their use as chassis separators in multi-chassis devices like Criterion and the upcoming M925 monoblocks.

So Jeff now thinks that Class A/B amps are the way to go? Has he completely moved on from his ICE powered amps of the last few years?

How does this amp differ from the 10T 5 years back?

I tried a pair of 201s in my system and they didn't work for me one bit. Next to a Bryston 4BST, easily the worst amp I've had in my system.

Keith, as far as I know there is little or no commonality between 150W 10-year old M10 and 300W M625, except that both operate in class A/B, and use some forms of SMPS.

I have no real information whether Rowland has "abandoned" class D or not. Fact is that at this time tech detail is a little scant.... All I know beyond the product page on the Jeffrowland.com site is that M625 and M925 operate in class A/B with some form of "variable self adjusting bias" (my term not JRDG's) and no "global feedback" (their term).

Technical commonality with M201 is even less, M201 being an entry level device and M625 far from it. As for M925, it will cost approx 10X M201... I sure hope there is some difference beyond chassis and price tag, or I'm going to be one unhappy camper when I finally get my own units (grins!)

As for the sound, I have not heard M625 and M201 in the same system, but purely from fickle memory, they do not seem to sound the same at all at all at all.

G.

How much does M625 cost and how much is the cost of Corus preamp?
Anyone heard the Corus?
I am really curious. It seems 625 is not as heavy (and not rather large in size) as the 301 units and still it's not an ICE amp?
Better ask here, as you guys have the hands-on knowledge:)
Guido, are you here?

The 625 retails for 13,500. I think the Corus is 10,000. A bunch of us heard the Corus at RMAF, but it was being fed by a laptop into a Ayre DAC. I have a Criterion. When I got home with my 625 and let it warm up I was totally astounded to hear such a dif between the 312 I had and the 625. As for how much dif between the Corus and the Criterion....I hear it is only a very very minor dif if you use a top flight power chord on it. I use a pair of Esoteric digital separates. P03/ D03. To me I think this source is far better than a laptop into an Ayre DAC. I'd save money on the Pre and buy a Corus and put the rest into a better digital (or analogue!) front end. The 625 can do things with imaging and low level (very low level) detail that any of his ice powered amps could do. As for weight. It has more balls per pound of output that any amp I've ever heard. Again, it very much reminds me of a class A amp. Would I like more power or current? Yes, but but I do NOT find myself always missing it. In fact unless you're using very inefficient speakers(less than 85db), you'll never be wanting. I once had a Gryphon Antellion Sig stereo amp in my system. That thing was class A and weighed 198 lbs out of the crate. It had so much current you could arc weld with it, but the sonic effect of that much current is dynamics that will allow you to turn up your amp so loud and not damage your speakers, but your pictures will start to fall off your walls and ruin your pantry! I think that is what Jeff's new Mono 925 amps will be able to do. What the Gryphon could not do as well as the Rowland is total transparency and illuminated depth of sound-stage. It also did not have anywhere as good low level detail as this 625 amp. Tubes are about the best in low level retrieval, but along with that you get a whole host of other drawbacks inherent with tubes. All I can tell everyone is you must get out to your dealers, or if you know someone who has one, and listen! Aloha, David.