Jeff Rowland Pre-Amps: The Corus & The Capri

Hifimaniac,

Thanks for the response. Have you heard the Capri? As a frame of reference, that is currently in my system and I wonder how much the Corus would effect the rest of the components I currently have. If you can, take a look at my system and let me know your thoughts. Thanks Stephen

Thanks for all the comments. I wish I had a dealer near me so I could go back and forth and hear the differences in my system between the Capri and the Corus.

Hifimaniac,

Thanks for your responses concerning the possible move from the Capri to the Corus. I wanted to throw out my thought process and ask for your thoughts on it. One way to go would be to go from the Capri to Corus as we discussed. Another would be to upgrade my monoblock amps from the Pass XA60.5 to the Pass XA100.5 which would give me more headroom and control of the loudspeakers. These speakers have all SEAS drivers and that includes 2 ten inch woofers, 2 seven inch miss and the tweeter. I really like the Pass XA line and that is another choice. A third approach would be to think about something like the Rowland 625 instead of my Pass mono blocks. That would seem more of a risk . I love the Rowland sound from the Capri but I am not sure I want to give up the Pass sound on the Amp Side. Do you have any thoughts on this. One person said to me that if I upgrade the pre amp, I will effect the transparency and the smoothness of the sound and the lack of background noise. The amp move would effect the headroom and all the tis associated with a power increase. The Pass XA line is outstanding to my ears. I appreciate any thoughts

Inna,

In my room, with my system, I really like the Cardas cables and can't see changing them. I have tried many other cables and always come back to Cardas.

I keep coming back to whether I would effect more of an upgrade by upgrading from the Rowland Capri Pre-Amp to the Rowland Corus pre-amp or by going from the Pass XA60.5 Monoblock amps to the Pass XA100.5 Monoblocks. Its so difficult because I don't have the opportunity to try both in my room and actually hear the changes from both moves. That is the down side of not having the products local to try each change which is really what I would want to do.

Ed,

Have you heard the two sets of monoblocks ? Would it not also be room dependent as well as speaker dependent or is your view that regardless, there would not be much of a change. My speakers are 4 vs 8 with a sensitivity of 91. They have alot of drivers including 2 ten inch woofers.

what sense does it makes to buys new preamp when 50% of the "better signal" will not be transmitted by your golden ref ??

I dont agree with that comment and don't believe that cables are the main ingredient to define a system. They are an added flavoring on the top of the cake.

I really like the Cardas Golden Reference Cables. In addition, I believe the quality of the system is more determined by the ampp, pre-amp, speakers, source, and room.

Thank you Jeffrey for your thoughts. Its so hard to compare all these components when we all have different rooms and other components they are matched with.

Onhwy61,

Very thoughtful and important question that I keep asking myself. I would say that I am confident that my speakers can give give me more back with a more powerful amp. They take a bit of power to push even in my 12 by 24 room and are not being pushed by my current amp. How much will another amp effect it? I am not sure. I do know I play the music loud and there is a point where the amp can't go.

Hi Guido,

Thanks for the response. Where does the Coherence II fit into this equation regarding the quality of the various Rowland preamps. Thanks Stephen