After an opportunistic burglary which saw a Classe' pre/power (CP-50/CA-100)combo "affirmatively shopped", I was back in the market for amplification.
The CA-100 was a well-made Class AB design but just could not make a pair of Tannoy D700s sing the way I wanted - particularly in the lower registers where drums and other low register instruments all tended to sound a bit "waffle-ish".
The pre-amp was no-brainer - a Classe' Delta CP-500 with factory fitted phono stage, but the power amps aspect was a bit of a quandary. Fortunately, an audio expo was just around the corner, so nipped off when it opened to audition some amps.
The first stand I visited was a Jeff Rowland distributor showing off the then current offerings from JRDG - an integrated (not what I was looking for), a stereo power amp (don't recall the model) and two monoblocks (Model 201 and Model 501). These monoblocks intrigued me and I spend 3-4 hours listening to different permutations (speakers available were Spendors, Martin Logan and Focal).
At the end of this session, I talked the distributor into a home trial of the 250 watt Model 201s (the Model 501s, at 500 watts, were more than I needed given listening room and relatively high sensitivity of D700s).
After a few days of playing my favourite albums (LPs and CDs), I paid the distributor and - 12 years later - am still enjoying the Model 201s (despite having sold off the D700s after a home down-size).
The combination of CP-500 / Model 201 / D700s was a marriage made in heaven.
The Rowlands had the control needed to tighten up the D700s lower registers so that drums sounded like drums and not flapping sheets of corrugated iron and those evil Telarc recordings with extended LF sound awesome (1812, Saint-Saens 'Organ' symphony, Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man', etc).
Joe Morello's drum solo on 'Take Five' and Charly Antolini's 'Knockout' (both on decent vinyl) were ear-openers.
Female vocals (Renata Tebaldi, Basia, Holly Cole, Diana Krall, et al) were the best I'd heard in years.
New Age (acoustic and electronic) also benefitted from the combination of control and a lack of any harshness in the middle and upper registers.
In the 12 years since purchase, I've never had any cause to regret the purchase - the only regret being the sale of my beloved D700s (which space constraints made necessary).
Right now, 'Getz/Gilberto' is playing (CD via Bryston BCD-1/BDA-1 to Classe' CP-500 / JRDG Model 201s to Chario Syntar 516 bookshelf speakers). Room is smallish with listening distance ~2m and this is musical bliss.
The Model 201s make use of the ICEpower 500ASP Class D amplifier module with some proprietary JRDG elements and deliver 250w into 8 ohms and 500w into 4 ohms and, in idle mode, only draw 9 watts each and full power (500w in 4 ohms) draw 650 watts (giving an efficiency of almost 80%).
Here in Jhbg, we have severe summer thunderstorms and the discipline calls for unplugging all audio gear and these Model 201s don't take forever to reach their usual room-temperature +3 degree operating temperature. In winter they remain on continuously (and don't break the bank in the process).
Last November we had a heat wave with outside temperatures in the 40s (Celsius) and listening room temperatures of 38 deg (Celsius) - the Model 201s were still 3-5 degrees above room temperature (well within their operating range). A mate with a pair of Pass Labs Class A amps had to shut them down for a few days...
Finally, JRDG's build quality is right up there with the best - the Model 201s are things of beauty and a joy to behold: solid, well-crafted, compact and with sound to match.
If they have a weekness, it lies in the upper treble - which, in our last place, was more obvious as the listening room permitted very high listening levels and the D700s tweeters compounded the problem. Since the move into a complex, listening levels have, perforce, had to be lowered and this was less of a problem. Since the sale of the D700s and the switch to a pair Italian bookshelf speakers (Chario) which have a more delicate treble response, the problem has disappeared.
Personally, my 12 years of living with these Class D amplifiers has been a pleasure and one I'd not swap for any other. All I can think of to explain the rhetoric against Class D is that the technology may be more sensitive to component matching and Class D's lack of any obvious "harmonic character" could render it unattractive to those who like "characterful amplification".
To each, their own!
Dave
