Review: Jeff Rowland Design Concentra mkIIp Amplifier

ps: Shortly after the Concentra II became available, Rowland began to migrate to a different technology for their amplification. This could account for the short shelf life of the C-II, if it in fact has been discontinued.

I ended up with Synergistic Research Absolute balanced interconnects from the Rowland to an Ayre CD-5xe, SR Absolute 10ft. Speaker cables to Vince Christian E-6 monitors/dedicated Sistrum custom stands. SR Absolute Power cords to the Rowland and the Ayre, with a SR Master Coupler X-2 from a Exact Power EP-15 to a Dedicated 25 amp circuit wired with Cardas 10 Gauge in- wall cable to the main panel. This Cardas wire is six nines copper with teflon wrap on the wires. My equipment sits on a SP-5 Star Sound Sistrum audio rack with 1-1/2" thick maple shelves. The Ayre then sits on Black diamond racing cones/carbon fiber shelf squares #4. The Rowland sits on the same maple shelf material but uses Finite Elemente Ceraball feet. The bass is filled out with a small unit Paradigm Seismic 12 sub connected with a SR Phase II balanced sub-woofer interconnect (killer) and another SR Master Coupler X-2 power cord. The SR Quattro is next in line for me.
The room is filled with echo buster room tunes. With the volume up to about 65 on the Rowland the sound opens up big time and fills the room. The detail is astounding. The Rowland is far from being a piece of junk. The Rowland is mighty powerfull. My Vince Christian E-6 monitors will clip at about 78 on the Rowland but its way to loud anyway. I turned it up by accident as well my son did the same thing, lucky not to have blown the speakers. All I can say is the better the power cables, interconnects, speaker cables, and conditioning the lower the noise floor, the cleaner the sound and the more realistic the sound becomes. The Rowland thus far will hold its own against any Solid State Amp bar none. Using the Rowland in balanced configuration, matched with another truely balanced front end such as the Ayre CD-5xe and then you will hear sound like you have never heard before. Authority and power beyond belief. The Seimic 12 is incredible as well. Ihave a Revel B-15 as well but its not needed in my stereo room so Ileave it in my Theater Room which is another topic altogether and equally as awesome as my two channel. Once again the cables, power and equipment stands make all the difference in the world.
Happy Listening and all good things come in time, hard work and lots of money, above all patience and more patience and more hard work. Gotta Love this hobby.

Ovature: strange comments about the C II. Never ever heard of any C II user that complained about build quality, ergonomics or sound quality. The build quality inside/outside is world class and the sonics of the C II are more stable, transparent and dynamic than the original C I with better frequency extension on top/bottom. Don´t know which problems you had with the C II but normally the C II is a great performer in its price class.

The Jeff Rowland Concentra II is wonderful sounding and very well built. Ovature must have a hearing problem. The Concentra II is one of the finest sounding integrated amps I have owned. I also had the Mark Levinson 383 and many separates. I much prefer the Concentra II over the ML 383 and it performs better than a handful of well known separates.

Ovature,
What type of integrated do you have that is so much better than JR. My CII is still working flawlessly and its over 12 years old, still looks new too. I am using SF Auditors and some SR AR cables to good avail. I took a look inside the piece and thought it was quite well built even though hard to get inside. You and other high end audio folks I run into on occasion have stirred up the same pot of bull stew you are stirring. Something seems wrong here, more like a personality conflict. I blew your response off but after so many years of listening to other components and separates more expensive and very well built top of the line front ends nothing really sounds a whole a lot better than the Rowland to this day, unless its costs three times as much. If Steve did design the guts then it should be good right. I think your are incorrect with this particular piece of junk as you put it, what a classless comment. Its a classic not your comment and well deserved. Heck I can still sell it for what I paid for it. Hopefully you have found the illusive audio heaven cause it sounds like it could help you. Lastly JR is a gentleman all the way, to the bank.