REL Stadium and Rowland 201's setup -HELP

This doesn't help. but I could never get satisfactory performance from a
REL when I had a Pass X-150 amp. The REL worked, but not properly.
And Sumiko was of very little help. The RELs appear to be somewhat
fussy, I guess.

I use 201's with Thiel 2.4's, and was curious about trying a REL. So am I
very curious about your difficulties.

Hi Drubin,
What are your thoughts on the 201's? Are they much better than your x-150?

Way better, I think. Islandflyfisher, how do you like them with your Thiels, REL problems notwithstanding?

I believe that I've remedied my problem with the help of Sumiko. Rowland amps input- pin configuration are different from industry standard. When auditioning these amps, I did not have a balanced cables to use since my preamp, uses dual RCA on its balanced output. I had to use an RCA to XLR adapter. Because of this, the REL did not see the positive signal because of Rowland pin configuration. Unfortunately, I was not able to hear the sub with the Rowlands because I promised the dealer that I’d get the amps back in their possession by today. I’m confident enough with Sumiko's remedy and ordered the amps. Sumiko contacted a dealer who has a pair of 201's running with a Stadium III and came up with the solution. The dealer told Sumiko that once the pins are switched, the sub should work perfectly with the amps.

To answer Dublin’s question on how the 201’s sounded with my Thiels. When I first heard the amps in the dealer’s showroom, I was very unimpressed. He had them running to a pair of Focal.JMlab’s Alto Utopia Be’s, a Simaudio Moon preamp and Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player through the Rowland 201’s. After doing a bit of research and urging from a friend who stated that the synergy of the 201’s with my Rowland Coherence preamp needs to be auditioned. What a pleasant surprise when I did this. This preamp-amp combo simply made my Thiels sing. My Parasound 2200 and Conrad Johnson tubes are the only other amps I’ve had in my system. The Parasound got it done with a nice bass and nice laid back sound. Maybe a bit too laid back for some. The CJ MV60 was wonderful with more non demanding music and moderate at best volume levels. The CJ improved my system and made the music sound fantastic with great highs and a wonderful midrange. If I’d have gone this route, I’d need a pair of MV60’s or a Premier 140 because of lack of bass or weight to the presentation. The Rowland’s just took my system to a different level. To put it simply, the 201’s didn’t make my system sound good, it made the music sound real. Crystal clear highs, a realistic midrange, and a decent bottom end. As earlier stated, I was not able to audition the REL with the 201’s.

I feel that some will be very satisfied with the Thiel 22’s 2.3’s or 2.4’s without a sub. I did not have a sub in with my Thiel’s for eight years. I only added a sub because of home theater. I thought that if was going to purchase a sub for HT, I’d might as well get one they will add something to my music. Now that I’ve had a great sub in my system for a couple of years, I don’t think I could every live without one. It just adds so much to the music. Now the crazy thing; all this took place with a RCA to XLR adapter and negative and positive pins reversed. I can’t wait to hear my system when I receive my 201’s with the correct cables and REL sub.

Howdy folks!

Just a note to everyone out there who is wondering about the polarity of the audio signal at the output of the M201s: the Model 201 does NOT invert polarity. The 300 series amplifiers and the M201s (as well as the forthcoming M501s) are actually Pin 2 POSITIVE (or hot), which adheres to the US standard.

Why did we make this change? Because for years we've been Pin 3 POSITIVE and confusing people about their set-up and it was finally time to put an end to it. If I remember correctly, the pin configuration is noted on the rear panel fo the M201 as well. No speaker lead reversal, polarity changes, or any other hard set-up changes necessary.

But remember - about half of your music was mastered with the polarity reversed, so regardless of how you set up your system, the phase will be reversed just about half of the time anyway! (Unless you keep track of the polarity of your recordings and make the adjustments during each listening session.)

Happy listening,

Rich@Rowland