The New Jeff Rowland amplifiers ROCK

Hi Rapogee, I was not able to attend CES, but managed to get a little more scant info about the new Rowland products. Here is what little I know for now:

925 monoblock amplifier -- 4 chassis balanced design; class A/b; power rating between 450W and 500W per channel; multi-regulated SMPS with PFC rectified front end; List price $48,000. Probably end March deliveries.

625 stereo amp -- Class A/B balanced; around 350W per channel; regulated SMPS with PFC rectified front end; single chassis design I believe; $12,500. probable end march deliveries.

Corus preamplifier -- 1 and a half chassis design. . . main chassis contains all audio circuits and controls, while a separate heavy aluminum box contains multi regulated AC SMPS with integrated passive PFC rectification. . . the power supply is apparently same as in Criterion, but without batteries. The rest of the circuit is also apparently substantially the same as that of Criterion. . . but it might lack some seldom used features (not sure about this). Price is $10,800. I heard about late January deliveries, but I am not quite sure.

I have not received official specs from Rowland, so all of this might change. . . but I have my greedy eyes on 925. . . we'll see if lust has the better of me (grins!) G.

Claude, Rowland had some new Avalon speakers in the suite, but these were not connected to the new amps.

Braz, considering that the circuit of Corus is largely derived from Criterion and is designed to yield similar performance at a lower price point, it is difficult for me to expect that Corus will exceed the performance of Criterion.

On the subject of the disparecido, no meaningful answer was provided.

Dtanclim, some of the new JRDG products are being shown at the Munich show this weekend. But I believe they are in a static display. I have no reports yet on the sound of Model 925 and Model 625 amps. G.  

Price of Corus preamp in US is $12,200. G.

I checked with the factory. It appears that an interim draft of the Corus manual was posted to the jeffrowland.com web site while the final draft was being reviewed. The most recent version of the document, should become downloadable soon. The newest version should address a number of small textual issues and clarifications. G.

Hi Claude, I have not seen Corus. But, for what I have been told, the main chassis of Corus probably looks very much like the control chassis of Criterion. But in Corus, main chassis houses audio section as well as control section. Power supply in Corus is in an external box, which can sit somewhere on the floor, because the connecting cables are 2M long. I looked at the specs, and the external SMPS box appears to have same dimensions as an external PC-1 rectifier.

Macro, Corus manual does not discuss internal phono cards because... there is no provision for internal phono cards in either Corus or Criterion. G.