Experiencing Rowland M925 4-chassis reference amps


My pair (or should I call it my quartet?!) of the new SS Rowland M925 reference mono amps were finally delivered yesterday.... Needless to say, I am excited!

The 430W M925 monoblock amplifier is a hefty affair: The amp is formed by four chassis: two power supply chassis and two audio chassis, amounting to a total weight of 380 Lbs in the four boxes, and 320 Lbs in their birthday suits. Each chassis is double boxed, protected by heavy urethane foam inserts, and then bagged in a heavy cloth sleeve tied with a drawstring.

Each power supply box also contains an accessory carton, featuring a power cord terminated at one end with a 20A IEC connector, a heavy ombilical to carry DC current to the audio chassis, and a skinnier ombelical, which I conjecture carries control signals and may have an additional grounding line. A baggie contains 3 1-inch spherical delrin footers that can be screwed into the divets at the bottom of the SMPS chassis if if you do not use 3rd party spikes/footers. A smaller baggie contains 4 smaller delrin beads... They fit into the dimples milled into the top of each the power supply chassis, and are used to keep top and lower chassy from touching when the two are stacked.

I am using Nordost Titanium Sort Kones instead of factory-provided footers. Each power supply chassis stands on top of 3 divet-centered Kones. The whole thing sits on top of 1.5 inch thick granite slabs, which have been patiently waiting in place for the M925 amps since 2011.

The audio chassis are even heavier... They will get into place in the next few days, one way or another. Rowland recommends the stacking be a two-person job.

In order to break-in both output terminal in each unit, I will connect each amp to my Vienna Die Muzik with a form of shotgun wiring: Aural Symphonics Chrono and Cardas Golden Ref for the time being. The Aural Symphonics speaker wire connects to the single 5-way binding post of the Muzik speaker with bananas; the Cardas Golden Ref connects to the same posts with spades... I have already tested the configuration using other mono amps... Works flawlessly. Of course, I have no idea if M925s benefit from shotgun wiring... This will be part of the discovery fun!

The amps will be fed by the Criterion linestage through Aural Symphonics Chrono B2 XLR ICs.

Power cords will be Aural Symphonics Magic Gem and Ultra Cube XXV, plugged into a dedicated 20A circuit served by Furutech outlets.

According to Jeff Rowland, breaking may be excruciatingly long, because of the oversized input transformers and power supply. I suspect that the process may extend well into the summer months... I will log my periodic observations on this thread.

For sake of completion, here are the amps specs as far as I know them:

Monoblock Power Amplifier OUTPUT POWER: 430 watts @ 8 ohms/850 watts @ 4 ohms
Monoblock Power supply: 2400 W regulated DC SMPS per channel, with Active Power Factor Correction (PFC).
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5 Hz - 50 kHz
INPUT IMPEDANCE: 40k ohms
THD + NOISE: 0.004%, 20 Hz- 20 kHz
OVERALL GAIN: Switchable 26/32 dB
Combined AMPLIFIER chassis & POWER SUPPLY chassis WEIGHT: 160.4 lb / 73 kg (per channel)
TOTAL DIMENSIONS (H/W/D): 16.5" x 15.5" x 16.25" (per channel) 419mm x 394mm x 413mm

Saluti, Guido
guidocorona

Yes, my beloved Rowland M925 monoblocks have been making fantastic music without a glitch since May 2013... For the last few years, I have been feedin M925 directly from an Rowland Aeris DAC,this powered by the Rowland PSU ultra-capacitor-based external power supply. Yet, I have been wondering for some time if my audio nirvana could ever be uber-nirvanized, as the technology of audio reproduction has continued to evolve. So, when Rowland released its statement integrated amplifier in the form of Daemon, I became curious. Could an integrated equal, or at least get close to my Aeris + PSU + M925 trio?             


Thus,  I have been long hoping to evaluate the Rowland Daemon 1500W Superintegrated amp. Could a class D integrated fulfill my yearning for sonic bliss, or would Daemon leave me pining for the wonderful music of my separates? Eventually, a Daemon review unit was delivered on February 28th. I Started break-in the following day, and have been scribbling my listening notes since… The writing project will continue for at least a few months, until the device has stabilized, and I have exercised several of its many input and output features. I have been waiting for a long time for this 99Lbs single box critter. It is Jeff Rowland’s integrated statement. The DAC + Preamp + 1500W/8 (2500W/4) dual-mono power amp in a single chassis measuring 17.5” x 15.25” x 9.5” is sounding amazing after just a little more than 300 hours of break-in.

 

Discovering the extraordinary musical beauty that Daemon produces is being a fascinating experience… Already I am stunned by Daemon's power reserve and unreal tonal grace. Join me to chat about my adventure with this integrated flagship around its new Audiogon watering-hole:

 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/jeff-rowland-daemon-reviewing-the-jrdg-superintegrated-flagsh...

 

And, feel free to PM me with any questions about it.

 

Saluti, Guido


Hello Guido:

 I hope you are doing well and am sure enjoying hearing about your journey with the Daemon. I still think separate components would be sonically better, however I will await your final analysis. 
Look forward to your future up-dates.

Stay well,
Sam












Hello Guido:

 I hope you are doing well and am sure enjoying hearing about your journey with the Daemon. I still think separate components would be sonically better, however I will await your final analysis. 
Look forward to your future up-dates.

Stay well,
Sam












Hi Sam,

 

in some past, the single box design inherently compromised the performance of an integrated... Just to site an example, a single power supply was mostly used for all subsystems because of size limitations, thus cross-talk and distortion could leak among subsystems. Conversely, on devices such as Daemon, there are individual regulated SMPS on various subsystems.... In the amplification section, there is a dedicated power supply on each channel, making Daemon's amplification a dual-mono design.

 

But I realize that in the end, proof of goodness must be in the pudding... So I will eventually compare the performance of Daemon feeding Die Muzik directly to that of Daemon feeding M925, and those into Die Muzik speakers.

 

BTW, all my wiring is by Cardas... Clear Beyond XL for power cords, and Clear Reflection for speaker wires and analog ICs... I found that Cardas has extraordinary synergy with Rowland equipment, and am in fact amazed about the glorious sound I am getting, even though the Reflection line is at least a couple of levels below Cardas's Clear Beyond, which is Cardas's top of the line for analog ICs and speaker wires.

 

Saluti, Guido