Jeff Rowland Phono Stage

Any thoughts about the ph-1?

I've been running the Cadence in my main system for almost five years.

I ran it with the A/C power supply for the first two years, and the last two+ years with the battery power supply that it shares with the Coherence II line stage that I also use. It is ahead of an Aries (sitting on a BDR The Source Shelf, the motor sitting on sorbathane discs sitting on the Shelf) with JMW 10.5 arm and a 0.65 mv. output van den Hul Frog. I run a Kimber TAK hybrid copper/silver phono interconnect from the RCA junction box of the Aries to the
Cadence, where the Kimber is custom terminated with XLR's (the Cadence is fully differential balanced and has only XLR inputs and outputs). It has two 64 db. gain settings and two 74 db. gain settings, switchable from the front panel (I use the 64 db. gain setting, I THINK loaded at 400 Ohms - can't remember). It feeds the Coherence II with Kimber Select 1030, connected via Cardas rodhium coated RCA-to-XLR convertors (the whole system is wired with 1030). My amps are VAC Renaissance 140/140 Mk. III monos fed from dedicated 25 amp lines connected to Revel Salons with Kimber Select 3038 speaker cables. The system features a lot of tweaks and the listening room relies upon a large, thick-pile Indian rug, curtains and furniture for room treatment. My bass modes are at 30-40 Hz. (up about 5 db.), the rest of the bass being mercifully flat as a pancake (lucky room).

While the sound with the two different power supplies is close, with the A/C power supply, it was perhaps a touch solid-state sounding (but only a touch). With the battery power supply, it is really natural sounding. I would recommend it with either power supply, but it sounds better to me when run on batteries. It replaced the on-board phono stage of a CAT Mk. III full-function preamp, which it bettered in most ways when run on A/C and in all ways when run on batteries (at least with that cartridge -- I have only run it with a van den Hul Frog).

Being very well built, it has proven to be a plug-in and forget component, and I obviously think it sounds great.

Hope this helps.

I had the Cadence in my system for about 2 years and found it a very flexable piece with overall excellent sound. I upgraded to a Manley Steelhead to get that extra tube bloom and extension. Probably a matter of personal perference of tube over a solid state design. Only drawback of the Cadance is that it does require it's own power supply or can be shared with the Jeff Rowland Synergy's power supply. The Rowland Model 10 amplifier has been the only permanent piece in my system over the last 5 years.