Jeff Rowland Pre-Amps: The Corus & The Capri

Yes, it's a difficult decision. I would guess that you are more attached to Pass amp than to Capri preamp. In any case, whatever you do will be an upgrade. Unless your speakers really need more current and power, I would probably get Rowland preamp now and later think about upgrading the rest of the electronics. After all, preamp is at the center of the system.

IMHO, the difference between the XA60.5 to the XA100.5 in terms of wattage/headroom is not worth the change. If you went to perhaps the XA160.5, there would be definite benefits.

Personally, I like the match between a Rowland preamp (Capri) and Pass Lab/Threshold amps (X5, Aleph 2, SA/6e).

Ed,

Have you heard the two sets of monoblocks ? Would it not also be room dependent as well as speaker dependent or is your view that regardless, there would not be much of a change. My speakers are 4 vs 8 with a sensitivity of 91. They have alot of drivers including 2 ten inch woofers.

I'm speaking from just a wattage point of view. There will be some sonic differences between Nelson's class A amps of 60W and 100W. However, I only noticed the greater headroom once I went from 60W to 125W or more. YMMV.

I you like Cardas cables try the Clear ... it is much better than the Golden Ref

start with the loudspeakers cables and then tell us

what sense does it makes to buys new preamp when 50% of the "better signal" will not be transmitted by your golden ref ??

good luck

ciao