Experiencing Rowland M925 4-chassis reference amps
Hello Chazzzy, the most notable discussion of M925 on Audiogon is by WhiteCamaroSS, Audiogon's very own amp marathon-man... He considers the Rowland M925 monoblocks the best amps he has ever had in his own system. He has chronicled his enthusiastic comparative experience with M925 on his thread, starting at:
Look at his posts mentioning M925 on the page above, and the following pages, starting on 04/30/2018.
Outside Audiogon, Marc Mickelson has posted an extremely favorable review of M925's stereo sybling, the M825:
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/jeff_rowland_model_825.htm
Note that M925 and M825 share the same design... Only difference is that M825 has two output stage converters to serve in stereo mode, and a single 2500W DC power supply that feeds both channels.
As for myself, I am ever more in awe with my M925 monos, which I have owned since 2013. Lately I decided to feed them through the new Cardas Clear Beyond XL power cords, with Cardas Reflection XLR ICS and speaker wires, and Clear coax to complete the cabling loom.... The result is even more jaw-droppingly resolving and musically immersive than the high performance level I was used to until now. I'll be happy to chat with you about M925 if you send me a PM.... Or post your questions about the monos to this thread.
Regards, Guido
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@chazzy007 I share your dampened enthusiasm concerning whitecamaross' methodology on short term amp listening and then resulting public proclamations. Like Guido, @guidocorona, I own the M925s. I have been running them for about a year with the Rowland Corus/Aeris/PSU combo. I use Cardas CB XL PCs for the M925s. Otherwise, I have a full Cardas CB loom. I share Guido's enthusiasm for these amplifiers. I'm confident that they need the 1500 hours of break-in Guido recommends. I went on this wild ride personally--the first 24-48 hours were really good, then the M925s got brittle--so much so I PM'd Guido and had him give me encouragement. And the ups and downs lasted a long time--but every time they seemed to plateau, then go down then sidesways, then reach a higher dimensional plateau. This continued for about 6 weeks. I'm surprised whitecamaross did not have this experience--it seems to be fairly common. Anyway, Guido's descriptions of break-in are, frankly, spot on. He truly knows and describes Jeff Rowland gear very accurately. I can't help you with meaningful comparisons between side by side M925s and other amps. But some listening history may help you. I have owned the JR Continuum S2 (which whitecamaross would love apparently since he is currently doing integrateds now). I have heard the JR 625S2 on multiple occasions. I have also heard the Daemon Integrated twice at AXPONA last year and this year. And I have heard other M925s besides mine at a dealer recently driving Magico speakers. I can easily state that IMO the M925s perform at a level worthy of being Jeff Rowland's flagship. Admittedly, I really like the JR sound--if it indeed has one--some have said it is the absence of having a "sound" that makes the current products special. The recent models I have heard all provide excellent SQ. But, nothing else in the JR amp line-up I have heard is as effortless as the M925s in providing power with headroom aplenty and a deep black background. Very, very quiet. And very very cool--it is hard to believe that these big audio blocks are always cool to the touch, even when driving highly dynamic music. Simply put, unless you absolutely need 500W or more at 8 ohms into your speakers, I doubt you are going to find amps that will exceed what M925s can offer. IMO this includes the currently hot Swiss and German makers. I'm not criticizing them. I'm saying the JR M925s are on par--or better. Regards Al |
Thank you so much @Alstewart... You summerized my own M925 experience to a T! The reason why M925 monos never get really hot to the touch is that they have an efficiency of approximately 93%. Ther power is approximately 430W into 4 Ohms, reaching 850W into 4 Ohms. Their 2500W DC power supplies let them generate a peak current of 45A per chassis. I never heard them breaking a swet on my Vienna Die Muzik speaker, even with the extremely high dynamics of Mahler symphonies at high SPL. The M925 have achieved recently a new quantum plateau in my system. I have adopted a full loom of Cardas cables in my system.... I started with the new flagship Clear Beyond XL power cords, and so to leave still room for future upgrades, the Clear entry level Reflection for XLR and speaker wires.... The result still stuns me: there is definitely a magic synergy between Rowland and Cardas, because I have never heard my system as refined and immersive as it is now. Interestingly, the break-in process for Cardas wires appears to be quite benign.... About 300 hours likely takes the entire loom to over 90% of their performance potential.... Even from the first few hours one can tell that there is something truly special goiong on..... Of course, there is a bit of performance fluctuation for the first 70 or so hours, after which the performance arrow points steadily up. Did I mention that bass is spectacular and harmonic development is to die for? And I have heard sweetness of treble that I do not believe that any other wires have yielded until now. Yes, I have loved my M925 monos since 2013 and have never suffered of an audiophilic wandering eye about them... But with the addition of the Cardas loom, these amps have achieved peaks of musical beauty that even I did not believe possible. I am working on a detailed review of the Cardas loom in the context of my system.... I am still gathering some technical information.... I'll post the full review to Audiogon as soon as it is ready. Saluti, Guido
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