Description: Two-way loudspeaker with 6" woofer and 1" titanium-coated dome tweeter. Bass alignment: sealed-box. Frequency response: 63–20kHz ±3dB. Maximum continuous power: 60W. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Crossover frequency: 3150Hz. Crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Terminals: five-way binding posts. Dimensions: 8¾" W by 15" H by 7½" D. Weight: 11 lbs each. Price: $179/pair (1990); no longer available (2016). Approximate number of dealers: factory-direct. Manufacturer: Dana Audio, Austin, TX 78767 (1990); company no longer in…
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As I write these words in January 1991, we're right in the midst of an annual media feeding frenzy: the "Best of the Year" follies. This usually takes the form of lists compiled in groups of ten for reasons that must hearken back to some obscure Druidic practice. You know the routine: "Ten Best Books of the Year," "Ten Best Films of the Year," "Ten Top Personalities of the Year," "Ten Best Sports Plays of the Year." Every corner of the media seems eager to get into the act. Special-interest magazines are hardly immune. Car enthusiasts can get their fill of "Cars of the Year." Computer…
The line stage of the Consonance accepts the single-ended output of the attenuator stage (which follows the phono stage), provides the appropriate gain, and also performs the conversion to differential (balanced) mode by means of a differential FET amplifier. No negative feedback is employed in this stage. There are several ways of converting a single-ended signal to balanced operation. Rowland claims that their (proprietary) method of conversion is superior to other implementations, providing increased loading flexibility, reducing time and phase anomalies, and maximizing the Common Mode…
Sidebar 1: A Matter of Volume
While there are 200 available level settings, the readouts are simply 0–200; they do not directly relate to decibels. That's a bit of a handicap for the reviewer and the audiophile who does a lot of comparison listening, but not much. To relate level settings to decibels, I simply fed a 1kHz test signal into the Consonance and measured the output of each channel for each of the 200 steps. While this was a bit tedious, it gave me a chart showing the relative level change from one step to the next. It also indicated very precise channel-to-channel tracking.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The frequency response of the Consonance is shown in fig.1, which speaks for itself, as does the THD+noise curve shown in fig.2, except to note that the latter reading was almost entirely noise. The line stage was non-inverting from the "Normal" main and tape outputs with the "Phase" indicator extinguished, though the balanced XLR outputs were wired with pin 3 "hot," conforming to the older US usage rather than the IEC standard, which means that connecting it to an amplifier wired with pin 2 "hot" will invert signal polarity. The phono stage was a mystery: while…
Michael, who might be termed our typical audiophile (if anything in Santa Fe can be termed "typical"), may have found his digital processor, but he's still in a quandary about choosing the right power amp to drive his new loudspeakers. He has listened to a number of them over the past few months, and has been unable to find one which satisfies him in every way. I suspect he has a lot of company. The thorny problems of room acoustics and placement aside, loudspeakers are easier. Their signatures are pronounced and generate strong feelings one way or another; it's usually no problem to narrow…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Decription: Remote-controled preamplifier. Frequency response: 0.08Hz–600kHz, –3dB (line), 0.15Hz–220kHz, –3dB (phono). Input impedances: user-selectable (see text). Output impedance: user selectable (see text). Gain: 16dB (line), 60dB (phono). Input sensitivity (for 500mV output): phono: 0.5mV, line: 78mV. RIAA accuracy: 20Hz–50kHz ±0.20dB. S/N ratio, A-weighted (ref. 500mV): 77dB (phono), 87dB (line). THD (ref. 2.5V rms): ¢0.04% (phono), ¢0.012% (line). Maximum output level: 10V rms (phono), 7.5V rms (line).
Dimensions: 13.75" W by 2.65" H by 15" D. Weight…
I was not in a position to disagree at the time—my listening seat that night was on the floor, stage left, about 5' in front of and just to the outside of the left loudspeaker. But I will observe that a dozen or so "6', biological Tube Traps" (listeners) in an already moderately well damped, 15' by 20' listening room, will do a number on high-frequency detail and "air," as well as significantly increase the required power output. As a frequent solo listener in that room to the Rowland Model 1–driven Stages in the month prior to the writer's conference, I had been struck by the Rowland…
Sidebar 1: System
The reference-system equipment used with both amplifiers included the Rowland Consonance preamp and the Apogee Stage loudspeakers. Program sources were the Oracle Delphi Mk.IV turntable and Oracle 345 tonearm with the Dynavector XX-1L cartridge and the Sony CDP-X77ES CD player. Other equipment used included the Mirage M-3 loudspeakers and (briefly) the Coda Technologies FET Preamplifier 01. The Threshold SA/12es and Muse 100 amplifiers were pressed into service where needed.
Loudspeaker cables were Symo (for the Stages) and AudioQuest Clear (for the M-3s).…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
As can be seen from fig.1, the Rowland exhibits a virtually ruler-flat frequency-response curve. The 10kHz squarewave (fig.2) indicates a fast rise-time, with no significant rounding of the leading edges. Polarity of the Rowland was non-inverting, and input impedance at 1kHz was 20.8k ohms, 95k ohms, and 750 ohms at the 20k ohm, 100k ohm, and 600 ohm input settings respectively. It required 142.4mV to give an output of 1W into 8 ohms, a gain of 26dB. Unweighted noise was 75.3dB below 1W into 8 ohms. Channel separation was better than 105dB below 1.5kHz (actually…