Jeff Rowland's Continumm

See Continuum Review for my review.

Guido my friend, JRDG, Soundings and I are in the Mountain Time Zone, one-hour behind Central.

Dave

Facias, I'm not sure what "module" you're speaking of. All the amplifiers that you mentioned contain ICEpower modules, some also have Power Factor Correction. The Continuum 500 has the power units as the 501s. It has PFC units, but not the same ones available in the PC1 as an add-on to the 501. The pre-amp section of both Continuums is the same as the Capri, except that the 500 operates in DC, thanks to the PFC units in the 500.

Besides the power difference, the Continuum 250 does not have the PFC units that the 500 has.

Did one of us answer your question?

Dave

BTW, welcome to A'gon.

Dave

Resend your email and give it a few days. Jeff checks his email once or twice per week. You can also call during business hours (probably more reliable).

Just curious, if you don't mind, why would you care?

Dave

Pinkus, you have a right to your position about burn-in, but if you're going to write reviews (you did, despite its brevity) you owe it to the makers to take the effort to burn-in. You'll notice that the "pro" reviewers routinely mention burn-in. Whether they or you believe in it or not, enough users think that they hear a difference that it's considered important if you're going to make comments that may impact a designer's livelyhood.

Please take this in the spirit of me trying to be helpful. I think you're also trying to be helpful, thus the advice.

Dave

06-01-08: Coffeey said:
"Send one to hi fi critic and see what they say about it."

LOL.

Imagine all the poor audiophiles out there that don't listen for themselves and actually build systems off those dweebs' advice.

Dave

06-01-08: Facias said:
"I am too, very excited about getting my new amplifier. I am trying to be just little prudent about it since the continuum is so new and there is no information even on the company's website. That's all."

Oh, so you already ordered one? What part of the world are you in? They're selling like hotcakes in Asia and parts of Europe, based on the number of units being shipped the two times I've visited JRDG.

Jeff is trying to finish up the Criterion, his new ne plus ultra battery powered preamp. Hopefully the next project will be to update the web site. There's no one on staff to do that regularly, so it gets squeezed in between creating new world-beating products. Maybe I can convince the guys at Soundings to donate a day or two's time to do the update.

Dave

Some of us like vanilla and some of us like chocolate.

I'm glad there are choices in the world. We're talkiing about integrated here, BTW.

Dave

06-01-08: Pinkus said:
"If you think Rowland is good...wait till you hear Ayre. No need to spend big bucks...try their AX-7E. I say this after hearing the Capri and Synergy 2i. Actually I owned both the Synergy 2i and Capri. The Ayre smacked both the Capri and Synergy...and I mean smacked beyond comparison."

Perhaps you should gather your thoughts and post an intelligent review in the appropriate section. You'll need to think up another descriptor or two if you want anyone to take you seriously.

Dave

06-01-08: Pinkus said:
"Dave,

don't want to rain on your parade."

Thanks, but don't worry, I don't need your validation.

I'm looking forward to your thoughtful review.

Dave

Well Macrojack, the specs of the Continuum are very good, but I suspect that many others amps have comparable raw specs.

I think many of us DO indeed try to state our preferences in our reviews. All the JRDG stuff that I've heard lean toward open, transparent, dynamic and very close to colorless. Lots of people will not like that, prefering perhaps something more forward or with softer highs. I prefer open, detailed highs, but sweet and not etched. One hard sounding IC will make the Continuum sound hard, so your associated equipment needs to be chosen accordingly.

Anyway, I think these A'gon reviews are useful. Just like reading Stereophile or TAS, you need to take things with a grain of salt and look at the reviewer's systems and preferences in order to get some idea if your tastes might line up. That's easy to do here, since most reviewers do post their systems and it's easy to see what they've said about other components. So, reviews here are useful, if used with appropriate caution.

Dave

Pinkus, I think I saw one of the new Ayre chassis when I was visiting the Vertec Tool machine shop with Jeff Rowland. Very nice indeed. Hopefully all the Ayre chassis will be upgraded, getting away from that cut and folded metal.

I'd love to see some pictures of your rig with the Synergy 2i, Carpi, Nagra, et al in there. That must have been one fantastic rig. It's neat that your were able to find a budget item that "smacked" not only JRDG, but ARC and Nagra. That's VERY impressive.

How much does that KX-R cost? I couldn't find an actual price for that new preamp.

Dave

Well, I agree Pinkus, people looking for "full bodied" sound should probably look elsewhere than JRDG. I seek "neutral" and find it in JRDG's current stuff. I've got a number of great recordings with rich mids, extended highs and slam in the bass and I don't want my electronics adding to that. You my friend, seem to be from one of the other camps that likes a more forward presentation. There's nothing wrong with that and I find at least half the world is populated with those seeking what you seek.

I was wondering how Ayre could make that chassis affordable. It is IMPRESSIVE indeed, riviling JRDG in many respects. It's visually stunning, derived from a single billet and should make a great platform for Ayre. I suppose that'll be their "statement" product.

You're relatively new around here, so please consider posting pictures of your system in the Virtual Systems section. It's not a requirement for sure, but I think it helps us to understand more about where our friends are coming from.

Dave

BTW Guido, Soundings loaned me a Solo Crystal Oval IC to try with my Continuum's phono-stage. OMG, I couldn't believe the bass. I didn't take the effort to measure it, but it was so obvious that I swear that I could have measured it with an SPL meter.

I started listening to small combo jazz, with lots of bass and I was concerned that it may be TOO much; however, I pulled out the classicals, including my Solti/Beethoven 9th and all my Reference Recordings of the Dallas Wind Symphony (which I've heard live many times) and was blown away by the transparency. The bass drum slams on the Holtz stuff almost blew me out of my seat, yet the highs were silky and crystalline. Very nice indeed. I'm ordering two-pair.

Have you tried the A-Ps? How would they compare to your favorites?

Dave

Very funny G. We're all looking forward to "blind testing" you the next time you're in Colorado. Please forgive me.

Jeff's manuals actually say that his components should sound good right out of the box, but when you talk to him personally he thinks that there's is indeed a difference after burn-in. Just last week he theorized that it's mainly due to dielectrics taking a stabilizing charge over a period of time.

I think I could hear the difference between a brand new Continuum and mine with a few hundred hours on it. Both would have to be plugged in for an hour or two to stabilize first, because the few times I've turned it off it took hours to sound its best again. Still, that would be harder than hearing the difference between new Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8 speaker wire and the same wire after burn-in. That's a very dramatic change.

The JRDG stuff tends to sound pretty good right out of the box. As Guido mentioned earlier, he thinks that his Ref 3 went through a much more dramatic transformation, so YMMV, depending on what you're listening to.

Pinkus, I think that your muscian point is valid. We're not the only ones that can hear and I've seen audiophiles train their ears to be more acute over time. Still, it's like anything else, the more you work at it, the better you get and musicians spend hours daily or weekly on just such things and we constantly hear things without electronic "stress". The more you hear the "without" the easier it is to hear the "with".

Dave

I'm finding Colorado, by and large, a little more politically correct than Texas, as you might imagine. (If we could throw out the Republic of Boulder we would swing way back toward "normal"). Anyway, that 'optically disabled' handle is a new one on me. As I consider it, there may have been a time or two in the past when I might have temporarily qualified. That somehow doesn't seem right, since I still don't even have glasses at age 60.

It's interesting how society struggles to name disabilities. For instance, "blind" seems like an absolute to me, but then they came up with "legally blind" to describe something less than complete. Now we have this term "optically disabled" attacking from the other end of the spectrum, covering everything from being a little "foggy" in the morning to the absolute, which I suppose we're not allowed to call "blind". Now we'll need a whole set of sub-modifiers to "classify" everyone within the OD category.

Sorry, way OT. Let the thread continue-um. (Pun intended, duh).

Dave

Well Coffeey, if you're going to depend on reviewers to tell you what to listen to, then Rowland is probably not for you. OTOH, those that listen for themselves should step right up. Of course, our friend Guido is a reviewer. Maybe you should listen to him.

With ICEpower, just like Class A, B and AB, there are great designs and not-so-great. Don't lump them all together.

Dave

06-05-08: Coffeey said:
"Bel Canto Red Dragon"

Well, there you go. That's not even in the same league.

The issue is not Class D or ICEpower, it's the designer. That's no different than in any other amplifier class.

Dave

BTW, there's a blog about our Rowland Factory Tour, including some discussion of Rowland's philosophies, at Soundings Blog