Jeff Rowland Concerto Pre + Phono option

I do not have a Concerto, but do have the Coherence II in my main system. It replaced a Hovland, which it trounced in all ways except for midrange bloom (the Hovland is more colored). The Hovland was also noisy due to its unshielded outputs.

I do not know how the Concerto compares to a Coherence II, but my guess is that it has a similar sound (neutral-ish), with the Coherence being more refined.

Hope this helps.

I MEANT to say that I've compared it to other integrateds. It is an integrated amp, after all! Also, I intended to say that outboard phono preamps are generally superior to those built into integrated amps. That's been my experience, at least.

Thanks for your response. As I had a JRDG Concentra II which I found quite cool - although it was a heavily modified unit - I switched to Ayre V-5Xe (even greater unit) and run my Audio Aero Cap. II directly into the power amp. But as I still listen to records I need a very good pre-amp with built in phono section. JRDG Concerto for eg. or an Ayre K-5Xe + Clearaudio Basic Symmetry (these two combos are my current favourites) as well as the Hovland HP-100 which matches very well with Ayre. I don´t know if Ayre matches with JRDG pre-amp? Any idea?

I have the Concerto, and it's an awesome piece. Cool-running, incredibly smooth, ultra-revealing, excellent bass response, etc. I've compared it to a number of other preamps, but not to the three you've mentioned. Would be an interesting comparison. BTW, I don't have the phono option, but in my experience, outboard phono pres are generally superior to those built into a preamp.