I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Jeff Rowland's products. Going back to the Model 7 monoblock power amplifier and the Model 5 stereo amplifier of nearly 20 years ago, Rowland's designs always sounded essentially musical to me, and quite forgiving and non-fatiguing.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Jeff Rowland's products. Going back to the Model 7 monoblock power amplifier and the Model 5 stereo amplifier of nearly 20 years ago, Rowland's designs always sounded essentially musical to me, and quite forgiving and non-fatiguing.

We've all got our pet peeves, and one of mine is stiff, unwieldy audio cables that simply refuse to bend to my will—or to bend at all. Instructions like "carefully bend to final configuration, ensuring that no bend is sharper than a 36" radius" make my blood boil. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Audience's willowy Au24 cable and wonderfully flexible powerChord positively warmed my heart when I encountered them at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

We've all got our pet peeves, and one of mine is stiff, unwieldy audio cables that simply refuse to bend to my will—or to bend at all. Instructions like "carefully bend to final configuration, ensuring that no bend is sharper than a 36" radius" make my blood boil. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Audience's willowy Au24 cable and wonderfully flexible powerChord positively warmed my heart when I encountered them at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

We've all got our pet peeves, and one of mine is stiff, unwieldy audio cables that simply refuse to bend to my will—or to bend at all. Instructions like "carefully bend to final configuration, ensuring that no bend is sharper than a 36" radius" make my blood boil. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Audience's willowy Au24 cable and wonderfully flexible powerChord positively warmed my heart when I encountered them at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

For me, the iconic Adcom power amplifier was the GFA-555. As an aspiring audiophile, I was deeply impressed with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/678">Tony Cordesman's review</A> in <I>Stereophile</I> in 1985 (Vol.8 No.4). That did it! After years of kit-building and doing it myself, the '555 was the first factory-built amp that I wanted and could afford. Over the years, I changed speakers several times, and even added a fully regulated power supply to the '555, but it never balked. At the end of its tenure at my house, it had been demoted to my third-string backup; today it's making someone else tap his toes.

For me, the iconic Adcom power amplifier was the GFA-555. As an aspiring audiophile, I was deeply impressed with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/678">Tony Cordesman's review</A> in <I>Stereophile</I> in 1985 (Vol.8 No.4). That did it! After years of kit-building and doing it myself, the '555 was the first factory-built amp that I wanted and could afford. Over the years, I changed speakers several times, and even added a fully regulated power supply to the '555, but it never balked. At the end of its tenure at my house, it had been demoted to my third-string backup; today it's making someone else tap his toes.

For me, the iconic Adcom power amplifier was the GFA-555. As an aspiring audiophile, I was deeply impressed with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/678">Tony Cordesman's review</A> in <I>Stereophile</I> in 1985 (Vol.8 No.4). That did it! After years of kit-building and doing it myself, the '555 was the first factory-built amp that I wanted and could afford. Over the years, I changed speakers several times, and even added a fully regulated power supply to the '555, but it never balked. At the end of its tenure at my house, it had been demoted to my third-string backup; today it's making someone else tap his toes.

For me, the iconic Adcom power amplifier was the GFA-555. As an aspiring audiophile, I was deeply impressed with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/678">Tony Cordesman's review</A> in <I>Stereophile</I> in 1985 (Vol.8 No.4). That did it! After years of kit-building and doing it myself, the '555 was the first factory-built amp that I wanted and could afford. Over the years, I changed speakers several times, and even added a fully regulated power supply to the '555, but it never balked. At the end of its tenure at my house, it had been demoted to my third-string backup; today it's making someone else tap his toes.

For me, the iconic Adcom power amplifier was the GFA-555. As an aspiring audiophile, I was deeply impressed with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/678">Tony Cordesman's review</A> in <I>Stereophile</I> in 1985 (Vol.8 No.4). That did it! After years of kit-building and doing it myself, the '555 was the first factory-built amp that I wanted and could afford. Over the years, I changed speakers several times, and even added a fully regulated power supply to the '555, but it never balked. At the end of its tenure at my house, it had been demoted to my third-string backup; today it's making someone else tap his toes.