Jolida 1501RC hybrid integrated vs. Rogue's Sphinx

Thanks to Lowrider for the additional comment.

Mapman, I have a pair of Acoustic Zen Adagios. They are 88db efficiency and are 6 ohms. They use a transmission line design, but I think the bass is only about a C+/B-

I drive them with Red Dragon M-500 digital monoblocks which 250RMS each. Also, I have a Bel Canto PRe3 pre-amp line stage. The combo sounds good to very good, but like every other obsessed audiophile, I would like to eke out some additional performance.

Financial concerns have forced me to post a sell classified on AG for the combo separates. Whether the Rogue Sphinx or the CM can deliver more performance is a question up for grabs. I have never used a tube amp or pre-amp with the Adagios, and I may be sacrificing some aspect of performance by dropping to an integrated amp.

Lastly,a CD player will be my only source, after all is said and done, through both Rogue IA's, supposedly have good phono stages. I am looking for the best sound, and easy of operation. The Sphinx offers a chassis you can put a CD on top of; the CM is a only for a rack or side by side installation. Thanks again to all for your advice.

Sunnyjim, I see Rogue specs these amps at 100 wpc/8 ohms. Give Mark a call at Rogue and ask about driving your 6 ohm speaker. I'll bet the Class D Sphinx would not have a problem, but the Cronus has 8 ohm and 4 ohm taps so you'll need some advice.
The guys at Rogue are very cool to talk to.

I had a chance to listen to both the Sphinx and Cronus Magnum recently, just a few weeks ago. Visited my local dealer to hear the Sphinx specifically, and while there figured I'd branch out and check out all-tube options as well. We tried a fun exercise - we went through the CD collection and tried to find what we thought would be the lowest-fidelity, most poorly produced and possibly lousiest-sounding CD we could...and we chose a Great White CD from the late '80s. I wanted to hear how it would sound on the CM vs. the Sphinx, to see if an all-tube design would make a difference with a "bad" recording. The rest of the system was an ARC CDP and a pair of Proac Studio 140 MKII speakers, with Nordost ICs and speaker cables. All together, some nice gear.

On the Sphinx, the Great White CD sounded lousy...borderline unlistenable. It was harsh, it was bright, it was strident, it was just not enjoyable. Which is nuts if you think about it - between the Proac, ARC, Nordost cables and Sphinx it was probably $22-23K worth of equipment, and the result wasn't pretty.

On the CM, it sounded worlds better. Dramatically better. Still a poorly produced CD, but the output was just more musical and less fatiguing.

I offer this anecdote not as criticism of the Sphinx - I enjoyed listening to it through the Proacs with other music, and The Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session sounded great through the CD7 into the Sphinx and Proac. But everything sounded better on the CM. It's very possible that was just a matter of system synergy with the Proacs, and through any other speakers the Sphinx would sound better. So take this anecdote for what it's worth. Our test wasn't scientific, just going back and forth with one CD between two amplifiers to see which we liked better. But I did change course and ended up buying an all-tube integrated instead of the Sphinx that I originally went to demo. I didn't get the CM, but only because the dealer had just taken in a mint pre-owned ARC VSi55 with new tubes and the money was similar - if the ARC hadn't just come in, I'd have walked out with the CM.

And side note, I did take the CM home for a night and tested it with my B&W PM1, which are difficult-to-drive speakers, and that was a great combo. So I wouldn't hesitate to pair the CM with speakers that people might otherwise consider best with solid state, depending on your specific room and speakers, of course.

To Lowrider I may have ask Mark about the CM's ability to drive the Adagios several months ago, but can't recall what he said. I believe he said it was OK. I will have to check back with him

To Bcgator, Thank you very much for the input and information. It was very useful. I would say the consensus seems to lean toward the CM favorably because both bad and master recordings CD's sound better, if not much better.

Now, if I can sell my separates at near my asking price, I can fund a new CM or at least a minty used CM. Most dealers will not entertain an even up trade on new gear because they claim they can't make any money. Of course that is bullshit All to often, they offer a third of what you are asking.... and I can't accept that, nor should anyone else......Many thanks to all

The CM is great, and for my speakers I'll pick the CM over SS every time. However, my friend's shop has a Sphinx hooked up to Kingsound Prince electrostatic panels, and it just struck me as a really sweet combo. In fact it seemed a bit better of a match than the CM that was hooked up previously (the CM got sold).

I wouldn't expect that to be typical; it may be a electrostat thing -- and that being said, the panels aren't really my thing, either, though they do have their strong points. Speaker-to-amp matching does matter; were I in your shoes I'd roll the dice on the CM over the Sphinx.

Also, I have to reinforce that while the CM's (and I assume the Sphinx's) built-in phono stages are good starter or stopgap solutions, they'll increasingly become a bottleneck once you've upgraded your analog rig to say the $1K table/arm/cart level. It's very worthwhile it upgrade to an outboard stage at that point, which of course includes Rogue's own options. The 99 Magnum's built-in tube phono stage is also very good, btw, so I can't lump it in with the other built-ins.