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New Rowland Criterion 2-chassis battery pre

Jeff Rowland Design has just created a page for its upcoming statement-level, twin chassis, battery powered full function preamplifier. Detail is still scant, but a little bit of info is already available, in addition to front and rear view pics. Here’s the page:
http://jeffrowland.com/Criterion.htm
And here’s the front view:
http://jeffrowland.com/Criterion-front.htm
And here’s the rear view:
http://jeffrowland.com/Criterion-back.htm

You will find a few specs already on the site. JRDG should be publishing more info in the next few weeks. I will post here as I receive it. in addition to the published specs that you can read on the page above, here are a very few additional tidbits that I have learned this far:

. Uses Burr Brown TI OPA1632 high speed fully differentially balanced modules.
. Includes phono stage.
. Uses standard NiMH D-cell batteries available in most electronics stores, loaded in 2 rear-inserted tubes of power supply chassis.
. Capable of AC/DC operation . . . will recharge batteries on independent circuit during AC operation.
. Full remote control
. Target price $18K (not sure yet)
. Availability: probably early Fall 2008.
. Will be featured at RMAF in Soundings Hifi suite Marriott 503 or 505 from Oct 10th to 12th in Denver.

And sorry folks, I have not heard this device yet. Nor I have any good third party reports on its sound. Any speculations on Sonics from my part would be just. . . pure speculations. I’ll keep everyone posted as I learn more.

Guido
guidocorona
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Kawika, all I can say at this point is that it sounded very quiet and musical in the 312/Dei Musik system. At one point there were about 8 people in the room and Rod switched from the Marantz SA7 to the Playback Designs everyone immediately recognized the improvement in transparency, sound stage and impact. There were a couple "wows" in the room.

When the firmware is finished and the Criterion is operating on battery power, I'll go to Soundings and compare it to the Capri in a more meaningful way. Unfortunately that may be about the time that you take delivery. I think we're talking about a few weeks. The programmer needs Jeff to get back from Asia and push him to finish.

Dave
Post removed 
fsarc
148 posts
 
I didn't get the setup or sound in the JRDG/Vienna/Marantz/PD Soundings room at all. It was like watching a 100" screen three feet away. The soundstage was flat with no dimensionality and the bass was boomy. I sat in the sweet spot on two different days to give it a fair chance. Not good.

How people can attribute good or bad "sound" and isolate it to one component in a system or room they have never heard before is beyond me, unless there are obvious, clearly identifiable mismatches between components. I need to acquire that listening skill. Moving from one seat side to side or front to back, or a door open or closed in the room can have a dramatic effect on what is heard.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Unfortunately there were a number of times I entered the Soundings suite and Rod was not playing "music". Someone brought in the soundtrack to "My Cousin Vinny" which was very impressive with bass dynamics and effects, but not musical at all. When we played real music it was a very musical system. As with most rooms there, the operator needed to avoid overloading the room. I heard Rod overload the room a number of times and the guy next door would often overload his room to the detriment of the Soundings room.

So, it's not ideal. Bring your own CDs that you know and ask for a level adjustment to suit the music. When you do that, it's actually fairly reasonable way to get a quick and relatively accurate take on equipment, IMHO.

Dave
clio09
3,360 posts
 
Dave,

Duke's room on Friday was not as impressive (although quite good) as on Saturday. On Friday he had both pairs of his new speaker designs in play and in close proximity to each other (basically side by side) which caused minor imaging issues. On Saturday, he removed the smaller set and the sound was better IMO.

BTW- I'm upgrading my Stormbringers to the Jazz Modules soon.

My favorites, not in any particular order:

Merlin/Joule (Bobby always seems to have a nice set-up)
Galibier/Atma-sphere (vinyl heaven)
Moscode (the new 402 sounded very nice)
VAC/Von Schweikert (both rooms)
Serious Stereo (these guys are for real IMO)
More to discover