Anyone know anything about a new Rowland 312?

Heard the 312 in Denver during the weekend at AudioFest. . . simply awesome. . . the most emotionally involving yet perfectly controlled amp I have ever listen to, of any persuasion. . . solid-state, tube, analog, digital, or otherwise! To paraphrase the old song. . . I left my heart in Denver. . . or was it in Colorado Springs?

Thank you Raquel for the insight. I hope to listen to the JRDG 312 and perhaps 301 monos at the AudioFest in Denver the coming weekend. If I do, I'll report here my observations.

Guido

I just checked the specs page from the Rowland website and see that the weight is down significantly for the new iterations of the 300 series amps. The 301 monos used to be +/- 110 lbs. each and the 302 stereo version was +/- 100 lbs. Now, the 301's are 80 lbs. each and 302 is 69 lbs. This means that he has ditched the heavy analog power supplies employed in the original versions of these amps in favor of what I presume are (but do not know for certain to be) switch-mode designs. While perhaps (but not necessarily) an improvement, that is going to change the sound and make the performance of these amps much more dependent upon the quality of the wall A/C supply (in fact, the website says "[T]he 300 Series power supply incorporates active power factor correction circuitry that assures full utilization of the electrical system").

Chris, I have no further info at this time. Some/any/all contraddictions may be solved once real specs and manuals are posted to the web. Until then. .. there is a little information and a lot of guessing by necessity.

Guido, if the 312 uses the model 501 ICEpower module (ASP1000), then it has a built in switch mode power supply. It doesn't make sense, why would Jeff replace the built in SMPS with an external (transformer based) one?

Chris

Does anyone know if this means the 302 is upgradeable?

No, the 300 Rowland series uses a custom very large PS.

Are the ICE modules in the 312 the ones with the B&O power supply?

I have just a little more info on the 312. Not much though, because specs and manuals have not been posted yet. The 312 uses the newer ICE chip also sported in the 501. It delivers 500W into 8 Ohms doubling to 1000W into 4 Ohms. Handles have been added to the chassis. The price appears to have increased by $300, but the unit can be purchased slightly below the new price without handles. A first production run appears to be ready for shipping. I have no other technical details at this time. Will post here as I learn more about it.

Sounds good. I'll buzz Jeff on Tuesday and will post here what new info I learn from him.

The 312 uses new ICE amps and replaces the 302 (in fact I believe that the 302 is NLA).

IIRC the wattage and dampening factor have both increased. I believe that pricing is similar.

JRDG has done it's usual bang-up job of keeping their dealers informed as none of the dealers I've talked to know anything about it. Call Jeff, he can fill you in on the details.

I haven't read anything on the net about a Rowland 312, except for the URL you posted above. I suspect that a call to Jeff himself would clear the matter, though. It is quite possible that the 312 may be a 302 sporting the newest version of B&O ICE chips already adopted by some other manufacturers.