I'm running the full line of Rogue's top components: Apollo monoblocs, Hera II preamp, Ares phono. An absolutely fantastic match with my Tannoy Canterbury. There are no worries about sonic matching between components -- they all gel together. The MSRP of the full Rogue stack is 22K, though I've also added a Bob's Devices 1131 SUT and tube upgrades.
Rogue gets lots of attention for their entry-level and midrange-priced products, but not so much for their top line (at least in North America). But they represent a very nice option, above the midrange-priced stuff but still below the "full audio retard"-priced gear -- and well worth the money over the midrange in my experience. When you get this Rogue stack behind some great speakers in a decent room (as Rogue has done at some shows), I think it's hard to not walk away impressed.
Some years ago I inserted a VAC Renaissance III pre+phono in place of the Hera/Ares, and it definitely had its good points, but in the end I went back to the Hera II and then the Ares again. I've also heard various full VAC stacks, and they're all capable of sounding very very nice, but cost A LOT more once you get beyond the basic Sigma 160 integrated. All my systems prior to this were mixed, and basically sonic junk compared to the current end result, though they consisted of some nice components.
Rogue gets lots of attention for their entry-level and midrange-priced products, but not so much for their top line (at least in North America). But they represent a very nice option, above the midrange-priced stuff but still below the "full audio retard"-priced gear -- and well worth the money over the midrange in my experience. When you get this Rogue stack behind some great speakers in a decent room (as Rogue has done at some shows), I think it's hard to not walk away impressed.
Some years ago I inserted a VAC Renaissance III pre+phono in place of the Hera/Ares, and it definitely had its good points, but in the end I went back to the Hera II and then the Ares again. I've also heard various full VAC stacks, and they're all capable of sounding very very nice, but cost A LOT more once you get beyond the basic Sigma 160 integrated. All my systems prior to this were mixed, and basically sonic junk compared to the current end result, though they consisted of some nice components.