Jeff Rowland amp owners: What's your pre-amp??

I am using a First Sound with rowland 201s. Looking forward to trying out a Rowland Concerto pre.

I've heard that the Audio Research (upper end) preamp sounds wonderful with the Rowland amps. This comment that I'm passing along come from several owners.

I would urge you to try the JRDG Synergy or the 2 I. I read where one member prefered the Synergy with the 201.

Paul

Responses will depend upon which Rowland amp you have.

Early Rowland amps used the 600 Ohm balanced input impedence standard and won't work well with some tube preamps.

The 6/8ti/9ti, the 10/12, and the 300 series amps are transparent and resolving -- they demand quality preamplification. These amps are fully differential balanced and benefit from a balanced preamp (that's one reason the top ARC amps work well with them).

The 201/501's are more forgiving of partner components.

I used two single-ended preamps with Model 6's, a Hovland with the amp switched to the higher impedence setting (18 Khz.), and an ARC LS-3, with the impedence set to the standard 600 Ohms. Both set ups were great.

I use a Synergy 2i with my Model 10.
Whichever pre you'll choose, get a balanced one.

Happy listening