Jeff Rowland Pre-Amps: The Corus & The Capri

Stephen, I do not have any experience with the Capri; only the Consummate; Synergy IIi and the Coherence II; Mk1. The Coherence was the best. It is so hard to know where most of the credit lies in the all Rowland systems I listened to; is it the Corus, the M625 stereo amp or a combination of both. I would say both and also say I have never heard such an easy flow and pace to the sound from any other solid state system. The noise floor is so low and the notes have bloom like a good tube pre amp. I think more and more will be written about this and his top Criterion over time. You have a very nice system; I like Tyler speakers.

Hi, the Corus replaced a treasured Synergy IIi. It provides more musical insight through lower noise level, extended bandwidth (an obviously deeper and cleaner bass) and fluidity (something highlighted by Roy Gregory in his recent HiFi+ review). Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the Capri. But one definite advantage of the Corus will be the transformer coupling used for inputs and outputs that minimizes earth loops and removes a layer of grit – something I experienced with both the Synergy and Corus. The improvement of the Corus over the Synergy is obvious through my relatively modest (if over achieving) Cambridge Audio 840W amplifiers. But do factor in a long run in time. Mark

Thanks for all the comments. I wish I had a dealer near me so I could go back and forth and hear the differences in my system between the Capri and the Corus.

I have the Capri in my system ... it's just incredibly good
I know quite well Corus and Criterion but I never compared them directly to my Capri in my system ...

that being said in my opinion before upgrading to Corus at your place I would start upgrading the Cardas Golden Ref ... if you like Cardas the Clear is much better ... you loose a lot of information and definition with the Golden Ref and if you want to hear all the improvement the Corus may bring upon the Capri I would start there

congrat. nice system!

Hifimaniac,

Thanks for your responses concerning the possible move from the Capri to the Corus. I wanted to throw out my thought process and ask for your thoughts on it. One way to go would be to go from the Capri to Corus as we discussed. Another would be to upgrade my monoblock amps from the Pass XA60.5 to the Pass XA100.5 which would give me more headroom and control of the loudspeakers. These speakers have all SEAS drivers and that includes 2 ten inch woofers, 2 seven inch miss and the tweeter. I really like the Pass XA line and that is another choice. A third approach would be to think about something like the Rowland 625 instead of my Pass mono blocks. That would seem more of a risk . I love the Rowland sound from the Capri but I am not sure I want to give up the Pass sound on the Amp Side. Do you have any thoughts on this. One person said to me that if I upgrade the pre amp, I will effect the transparency and the smoothness of the sound and the lack of background noise. The amp move would effect the headroom and all the tis associated with a power increase. The Pass XA line is outstanding to my ears. I appreciate any thoughts