Pass Labs versus Jeff Rowland, Audio Research

The H2O, unlike the Rowland uses it's own analog power supply. Rowland holds prices down by using the ICE module with a digital power supply. The difference is, the H2O excels in depth, body, and sweetness. Oh yes, and price.

Check the user reviews at www.iceh2oaudio.com

Give the Jeff Rowlands 501s a try. I compared the 501s at home with my 201s and found they tonally sound similar. The 501s with its greater power (600w p/ch) had a touch more ease to its presentation driving my currenty hungry B&W Nautilus 804 speakers. After about a 100 hours of use the 201s sound more coherent, sweeter and even more musical. I suspect the 501s would be the same. The 501s are slightly larger and run just as cool and effecient as the 201s.

Hello,

I have written much here about ARC gear and my experiences with Magnepan 3.3 and now 3.5 speakers. Indeed, the VT100 is a wonderful amp, but the VT130 from the mid 90s was absolutely incredible ... midrange to die for....and what an awesome tonal match with the 3.3s. But there was just not enough power/ I then tried the older Classic 150s with 150w and these were still not even close....and the CL150s were a huge step back as they had that analytical hybrid ARC sound.

I truly doubt the VT200/VTM200 amps will do it either. The unfortunate side effect of owning the larger Magnepans is that as affordable as they are, you end up spending so much for an amp to hear their potential. And once you hear these with tube magic, there's no going back to solid state.

The Counterpoint NPS400 works incredibly well but for me, but the Wolcott Presence amps were what I had been looking for. These come in at 275w monos. They have all of the incredible harmonic richness and musicality of the VT130 but also have the headroom and dynamics of the NPS400. I can only imagine what a 500w version of the Wolcotts might do for these speakers.

I think you should try to check out the Wolcotts as well as the VTL 450s as I truly think the 200w ARC models will not cut it. And if you like to stay with ARC gear, one other thing you should consider is to upgrade the LS2B. You are not at all hearing the potential of the Maggies with this line stage in your system. The Maggies deliver a most incredible 3 dimensional presentation when the preamp/amp have these strengths as well....and this is one area the LS2B fails miserably. A small investment to upgrade to an LS5, maybe an LS25 MK I, or any number of the excellent BAT models like the VK5i, would be a huge improvement to the musicality of your system.

John

You mention an ARC LS2B - I had the MKII of that model and found the LS5MKIII to be far better - you can find one used periodically. Used it'd be a real value and you can still change amps. I think it'd get you closer to something great!

Best regards.

Bob

Hi:

I own a Pass X250, and have had some early-model Rowlands like the 1, 2 and 8 models (haven´t heard the new ones.

If I were in your shoes, I would try first to upgrade the source components, the 7 is a great amp where you will surely gain some minor things with new designs and loose some others IMO.

Hope this helps,

Fernando