Jeff Rowland Capri preamp

Recently I purchased a used Capri and in my downgrading/simplifying my system from an Aesthetix Calypso with upgraded NOS tubes. First off, the Calypso was/is a great preamp, one of my favorites and one of the best values in preamps. To the point, the Calypso is a better preamp in most areas over the Capri, but in most cases by a fairly small margin.

The most notable preference of the Calypso over the Capri is in its ability to deliver and maintain a sound stage that is filled with musicians and instruments without collapsing or becoming congested. While the Capri does not fall apart in this regard, I have found it does not compete with the Calypso's abilities to maintain stabiity and focus playing a moderately loud, large recording piece.

Surprisingly, I also found the Calypso's bass was a bit tighter and more musical than that of the Capri. This was/is my largest surprise considering tubes vs. solid state.

I find that the Capri is better, almost surprisingly with with the upper frequency metalic sounds of symbols, bells and the like. The Capri delivers a glass like view into these areas (glass translating to clear, not brittle or bright). This is actually the part of the Capri that I like best.

I also find the Capri slightly more resolving - this was expected based on tubes vs. SS and did not come as a surprise.

All this being said, the Calypso is said by many to being of a sound combination between tubes and SS, more SS than many other tube preamps. The Capri, reported by many (herein included) to be sort of tube sounding, especially for a SS preamp.

I think the former is more accurate with regards to the Calypso than the latter with the Capri sounding tube like. For example, I don't find it quite as tube like as two of the Ayre preamps (both SS). Having owned several tubed preamps from Cary and BAT, it is no where near as tube sounding as either of these brands.

Overall though, I would place the Capri in a short list or category of real value for your money performance. Also in this list I would have to include the Calypso (one of the best bang for your buck performers), the Resolution Audio Opus 21 with GNSC mods and possibly even throwing in the Totem Arro speakers which can be had used for about $600.

Overall, the Capri is a nice preamp which I can recommend, even more so for its very reasonable price tag. Unfortunately, I cannot say that it performs to the level of the REF 3 (which I felt was one of only a very few preamps that I have heard that exceeded the performance of the Calypso).

In the meantime, I will spend some time re-adjusting my speaker placement (which over many months had been fine tuned with my Calypso) with the Capri now in place to see if this impacts my opinions with regard to bass performance and holding its focus in large scale recordings.

Hi Ckoffend, I agree with you. . . the Capri does not sound tube-like to me either. But I do confess that I am not necessarily seeking a tube-like sound. How many hours of playing time have you put on your Capri since you received it? G

Choffend said:

"... The Capri, reported by many (herein included) to be sort of tube sounding, especially for a SS preamp."

I don't recall anyone ever saying such a thing about the Capri. Was it here on Agon? I'm curious to read that post.

I like your description of the highs, which is very consistant with my observation. I'm using the Continuum and don't note the imaging issue that you point out. Cutting out the amp/pre interface is very nice. In this case, I think that less is more.

Dave

I would agree with Ckoffend's comments for the most part. I don't feel the Capri delivers the deepest of sound stages or the tightest bass, but I do feel it is resolving and has many other attributes. Overall I enjoy this preamp and the phono stage is a bonus. It has also been a very good match with my VAC Musicblocs.

Dave/Dcstep, the following comments were taken from a very, very quick review of previous posts within this thread alone. I scrolled up to the top and looked at about the 1st 15-20 posts (or so, I didn't actually count) with the following quotes:

From Above:

01-22-07: Nolitan
i had the pleasure of borrowing a Capri pre-amp for about two months now with the contention of probably buying it.
Like most posters rowland is smooth and tube like--yup, thats the sound. No grain.

03-29-08: Pause
…… The sweetness and musicality of tubes with the drive and authority of solid state.

03-29-08: Guidocorona
"sweetness and musicality of tubes with the drive and authority of solid state."

Pause, my sentiments exactly. May I quote you if I ever write a review of the Capri for TAS?

I have read several similar comments in other threads on this preamp about it being "tube-like" sounding.

Look, I think this is a terrific preamp and I also feel it is one helluva bargain. I just don't see that it is tube-like as opposed to performing how good SS can perform (there is a lot of good SS amps and preamps that are quite smooth sounding).

Guido - I have a couple hundred hours on the preamp since I received it. It came right out of another system and has thousands of hours on it. I am very happy with it, but I may need to re-position my speakers based on its differences to the Calypso which was taken out of my system.

Before everyone jumps on me for not having the appropriate source, etc. . . I have run two digital players into it (EMM Labs and now an Esoteric X-03SE). My amp is a Krell FPB 300C and speakers are Wilson Watt/Puppy 5.1 with Transparent cables (speaker/IC) and various power cables.

I do plan to purchase the power cable that Guido recommends in another thread (I believe it was from another thread) for this preamp.

And finally, for the record, Guido's comments had much to do with my purchasing of this preamp. Thanks Guido, while I don't agree 100% with every glowing statement, the reveiws were well written and I agree that this is an excellent preamp, made even more impressive by its very reasonable price.