Rowlands vs. Levinson Amps.

levinson's sound crude?! a pioneer receiver might sound "crude", altho' some would argue over that too....
ANYWAY, years ago, there was a difference between the two manufacturers-levinson was crisp and revealing/rowland was "softer". but now, i feel that rowlands are more dynamic than ever and levinsons are more musical than ever. that for me means- which amp do you think looks better/runs cooler/costs less/is a better match for your speakers, etc. either way they're about as transparent as it gets. or you could get a good tube amp and give it the tlc it needs, if that issue should arise, which it might not for 3-5 yrs. i heard a vtl amp recently with careful matching of everything, and it really made me want to get, at the very least, a good tube amp to experiment with.

Muralman1, you state:

"Having a digital switching power supply ... is the wrong way to go about it, IMHO"

What are the technical and performance reasons for your belief?

Man this thread has gotten way off the track! I've heard both Rowland and Levinson amps. You don't have a bad choice here. A freind owned an all Rowland system (pre w/monoamps) and his system was easily one of the best I've heard. The looks of the front panal are killer too. I own Levinson 436s and they sound exceptional also. I never brought my amps over to my friends house buy I did bring my #32 to place in his system when I was thinking of buying it, and there were differences, but more like your favorite flavor of ice cream.
As for solid state vs. tube, I do like the sound of the many tube amps and preamps I've heard, (mostly CJ and Audio Research) but I've witnessed first hand several tube amps self destruct: (tubes arcing, capacitors blowing) and be away for service for months . . . besides the fact that one never knows if those tubes functioning properly or slowly fading away. For these reasons, I give solid state the nod!

I demoed the 201s a few days ago, and again today, since I desperately wanted to like them- their small size and weight are a HUGE plus factor for me. I guess I'm becoming a tube fan, and I enjoyed listening to music much more from the Quad II-45s that the dealer put on afterwards. The Rowlands seemed cold and clinical, not life-like and moving.

I heard a pair of Mark Levinson no.20 monoblock power amplifiers recently, and loved the authority, dynamics and bass resolution which they brought to Norah Jones and Alicia Keys (I didn't like these discs with the Rowlands at all). The used pair was already sold, so I'm still looking for the SS amp for me...

No-slouch - Try a Gryphon amp.