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Thoughts on the Jeff Rowland Concerto integrated?

I am looking for any reviews that may be out there on the JRDG Concerto Integrated amplifier. I have done a search on Audiogon and a Google search and have come up with little in terms of actual review information. If you know of any such reviews, I'd appreciate it if you let me know where I can find them.

Have you had a chance to compare it with other integrated amps out there and how did it stack up? How about comparison with the better separates? It certainly appears to have ample power. How is it in terms of tonality, PRAT, imaging/soundstage? Finally, how good is the on-board phono stage?

I am looking at consolodating a couple of components (Lamm L1 line stage, Pass Labs Aleph 5 amp, highly upgraded EAR 834/S&B transformers) with a single unit. Would the Concerto (or any other integrated you can recommend) come close, or even better, improve on this? My speakers are Dunlavy Alethas, but will likely be downsized to a Merlin VSM/TSM or Kharma 3.1/3.2.

Many thanks in advance for reading this and for any information you can provide.

All the best,
Neville
njp
flg2001's avatar
flg2001
543 posts
 
The Rowland signature sound in present in almost all of their amp designs, I would describe it as velveted, nice soundstaging and very coherent in all the sonic soectrum (freq. response).

I have had more than five Rowland amp (including the Rowland 2 which is the foundation for the COncerto design) and you just cant go wrong with these one.

Are there somo other good options available for that price, maybe yes... but you will end up with a very nice - single box design, high POW and a very reliable amp.

I would highly recommend it, just look out for a good option in the used market.

Fernando
jay_douglas_2879b79
239 posts
 
the stuff you've got is superior to the stuff you want. if this is a 'space' thing, keep looking
streetdaddy
349 posts
 
I have had my concerto for 6 months or so. I love it. It has everything you could want out of an amp. High power, small footprint, almost no heat, looks great, great customer service and i could go on, and on. If you factor in no preamp and 1 less ic and pc, i think it is a bargain for $4300 used. I don't even think about amp changes anymore.I don't know why there isn't more talk about the concerto on the 'gon, maybe the owners are too busy listening to music. I know i spend a lot less time here.
njp OP
44 posts
 
First, many, many thanks to all for the response so far. Please keep the information coming.

Streetdaddy - many thanks for information. I agree completely - I too was surprised that I didn't find more information on the Concerto on audiogon or for that matter any reviews on it in any of the major audio publications. It looks like an excellent component and I would have thought it would be extremely popular. By any chance are you using the inbuilt phono stage on the Concerto? Is it setup to handle moving coil carts? What is the sound quality like? Vinyl is a big part of my musical joy so I need to seek out a component that would do this justice.

Many thanks,
Neville
hbarrel's avatar
hbarrel
342 posts
 
Streetdaddy would you please expound upon your customer service experience with The Jeff Rowland Group?
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