Rowland "house sound"?

I am a bit hesitant when it comes to declaring that anything has a particular sound because so much depends on system interaction. So, this is a very general statement of what I have heard. To me, Rowlands are smooth, pleasant sounding amps that don't quite deliver enough toe-tapping excitement, i.e., they are slightly lifeless sounding. I've heard them in several systems, most recently, driving Sonus Faber Anniversarios.

But, they are not offensive, and I bet they would work well with speakers that are a bit edgy and forward sounding.

The Rowland Model 10s were absolutely the BEST sound I heard listening to Aerial Acoustic Model 10Ts about 7 or 8 years ago.

Long breakin time, but afterwards they were stunning in their realism straight up & down the scale.

My favorite on those speakers... not sure how they performed on anything else (except for some Audio Artistry Vivaldi's maybe Dvorak's??? where they also acquited themselves well).

They didn't seem to do anything wrong on either system (except for price - heh!).

Good luck in your search!

I haven't seen much on the Jeff Rowland integrateds. How do they fare against something like the ML 383.

I am a noob to the 2 ch world so therefore my experience is severely lacking.

Though it does seem from the posts I have read here both positive and negative that it would seem to suit my taste's.

I have Martin Logan Ascent i speakers and have tried a Bryston 4B, Bel Canto EVO 4 gn II, Nuforce 9.02 and now a set of Rowland 201s. The Rowlands just play music. The Bel Canto and Nuforce are too clinical for me. The 201s are smooth. As soon as I hooked them up I was drawn into the music. I have been sitting for hours listening to disc after disc. That is the highest praise I can give to a component. I am sold on the Rowland. I have not heard his older gear but I would like to.

Just shows how important synergy is. I had Rowland 201s and have found the Nuforce amps to be better with my Verity speakers. The Rowlands sounded a bit congested and lacking coherence and the Nuforce opened things up to sound more natural. I guess you might conclude the Logans are a more open speaker than the Verity, and that is probably true.