Rowland Concerto integrated vs Rowland Capri & 102

I'm not compressing music anymore. I started my digital music collection in 1998, when I didn't know any better. Much of the collection was from those dark days. And I stupidly sold off most of my CDs, so re-ripping is not an option.

On a side note, I experienced something odd today. I have the Apple TV hooked up to my TV via HDMI. I also run RCAs direct from the Apple TV to input 2 on my Capri. My TV is also connected to the Capri via RCA at input 1.

Apple TV simultaneously outputs sound via HDMI and RCA; this I knew. But by accident, after setting things up, I listened to a few tracks with the Capri set to input 1 (the TV). The sound was great. When I realized I was listening to the Apple TV via TV to Capri, I switched over to input 2 (Apple TV direct to Capri) and the sound was identical. No noise. No loss of signal. Identical. I A/B'd multiple times.

Does this mean the Apple TV's output is so bad that it doesn't matter what I pipe it through? Could the HDMI possibly render an identical signal as RCAs direct from the Apple TV? It seems so odd not to hear any difference, even after the signal has passed from an HDMI cable, thru a Samsung TV, out via cheapo Samung RCA ports, into the Capri with some lower end (but nice sounding) ICs.

Hi - I'm starting a system from scratch, was impressed with Rowland's equipment, and looking at a used Rowland Concerto without ever having heard one. Any thoughts on the Concerto? What speakers and interconnects do you like with Rowland - I've heard the Concerto is 'warm' and 'brite'. - Hope I'm not hi-jacking your topic here but any advise would be interesting. I'm probably looking in the used 3-4K range. I've heard some B&W 804s on other equipment that I thought I liked pretty well - also plan to check out Paradigm Signature S6. Rock/Jazz/Classical - soft to very loud.

I have heard the Concerto pre but not the integrated, and it is not at all too bright, at least on the Vienna Acoustics gear I listened it on. . . but yest it did have just a hint of warmth. But for just about the same investment, why not get a pair of used 201 monos and a Capri? Both of these are compatible with the external PC1 device that you can add at a later time. It seems Vienna Acoustics speakers work particularly well with Rowland. I would suggest the Beethoven Baby Grands or the larger Beethoven Grands with either the 201 monos or the Concerto.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try to check out the Vienna Acoustics.

I'm getting the Concerto integrated for $3200. On Audiogon, there's a pair of 201 mono's that just went for $2795. There's a Capri pre-amp up for $2200. $3200 << $4995
Could have gotten a Capri with two 102's for $3300 - but I wanted the 250 watts/channel.

I would have prefered separates I think for flexibility (e.g. perhaps might want to upgrade pre-amp at some point) and the Capri is their latest pre-amp. I've heard the Concerto Integrated is discontinued right now and a new Capri integrated is coming out in April. I've actually talked to Jeff Rowland about whether the integrated would have any different performance than the separates and his answer was more or less - not really.

Capri vs Concerto pre-amp - I'm not sure. There's always the next thing coming out so if your buying used, you're not going to always end up with the latest thing if your hunting for a bargin (whatever that means in this hobby). I'll probably never get a chance to compare them, but I'm really excited to see what this amp does.

BTW - I'm amazed that the owner of the company takes the time to talk on the phone to some no one (me) who sent an email with some questions. I felt almost guilty taking his time.

Relative to power factor - What a watt meter (like the one on your house) will determine your power usage to be is the sum over time of Volts X Amps X cosine(Phase difference between Voltage and Current); were cos(Phase Difference) is the 'power factor'. A load who's voltage and current are in phase has a power factor of 1.0. If your load causes voltage and current to be 90 degrees out of phase, the power factor is 0, a watt meter detects 0 watts, and you get your power for free. A resistive load has a power factor of 1.0. For inductive loads, the current lags the voltage (+phase) and for capacitive loads, the current leads the voltage (-phase).

The power company generally charges customers with bad power factors a premium for their power because the meter reading is not going to reflect the power they are actually using. You can correct the power factor on an inductive load by adding capacitance or on a capacitive load by adding inductance.

None of this really makes much of a difference relative to the device that Rowland is making since an amplifier is not going to have enough of a capacitive load to affect the power factor of your house's power draw - which is mostly resistive (light bulbs, toasters, and heaters are resistors).

The device you describe that converts AC power to DC power will convert the amplifier's load into a resistive load and as such it does correct any power factor that the amplifier may have been presenting to the power company - which maybe why Roland calls it a PFC. However, I think you are also correct that the benefit here is that the amplifier is getting DC power input such that the power supply does not have to filter a half-wave rectified sinusoid to feed its capacitors and has voltage/current to charge the capacitors all the time (rather than only about 1/2 the AC cycle). I would think this should improve 60 Hz ripple noise within the power system and consequently, perhaps reduce the noise floor in the pre-amp and power amp sections. My guess is that it their PFC should work on any of their equipment, but that remains for them to indicate.

The real questions here are - what does it cost and how much better does it make things sound. I don't have any information.

Thank you Ric982 for the additional info on PFC. The PC1 PFC device from JRDG retails for $1500. The 201, 501, 102, Capri, and the new Continuum 250 integrated are pre-wired to accept the PC1. the 301 monos, 302, 312, Continuum 500 integrated already have PFC built in. I am not sure if PC1 can be applied to the Concerto. . perhaps you can ask Jeff on Monday and post the answer here?