Has anyone heard the Jeff Rowland Concerto Int

I own the Concerto and think it to be one of the finest integrated amps you can buy. At this price level there is no best, it comes down to personal taste, price, availibility, etc. I went from the Concentra 1 to the Concerto. IMO the Concerto is quieter, more powerful, more controlled base and gives a richer, wide open sound. Make no mistake about it, the Concentra is a fantastic amp but I feel the Concerto to be nicer sounding. I compared the Concerto to the KW 500, Mac 2900, Naim,and the Krell 400. Again sound is personal taste, but I felt the 400 not to be in the same league as the above mentioned, but at $2500 a fantastic deal. It came down to the KW and the Concerto, both sounded great, but the Concerto was less money, less space, and easier to set up in my cabinet. I was also struck by its low noise floor and resolution, wide dynamic range and transient response. It seems that the Concerto, 201 and 501's are not considered in the same category, or more entry level compared to some of the other JR products as far as some of the A gon readers are concerned. But I gotta tell you, if the Concerto is considered entry level, then the bar has been raised by leaps and bounds.

There is a much pricier Rowland amp (the3 302), so technically the 201 and 501 are the bottom of the line. It seems to me that people call them entry level either because the amps are lower-priced than Rowlands traditionally have been (call it the ICE dividend) or because they are trying to put down Rowland amps in order to make a case for whatever it is they bought.

Jeff Rowland Concerto Integrated received the famous award of the Diapason D'or 2005.
Source:Diapason/Date:01-Sep-2005/ Country:France
few reviews-
http://www.hifiproline.com/Jeff%20Rowland/essais/test_concerto.htm
http://www.hifiproline.com/Jeff%20Rowland/essais/test2_concerto.htm
http://www.hifiproline.com/Jeff%20Rowland/essais/test2_concerto_2006.htm
use Babel Fish to translate from French
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Compared to my previous Concentra II the Concerto is in every aspect a clear notch above except of the speaker terminals. Try to use a big, heavy power cord and massive speaker cables - you won´t succeed. But apart from that a very nice sounding unit. Only serious contenders in that price range Edge G 3 and ASR Emitter 1 Blue Exclusive.