Jeff Rowland Design Group Factory Tour
by Jeff Fritz and Marc Mickelson

Our tour of the Jeff Rowland Design Group facilities in Colorado Springs, CO began rather inauspiciously. We showed up at the scheduled time and discovered that the offices were closed. Lucky for us, Jeff Rowland himself was in that morning, as we found out after rapping on the door a few times. He was unaware that we were coming, but he was nonetheless a very courteous host. Actually, he was in professor mode -- he not only showed us the facility he’s been in since 1987 and explained to us the sorts of things he and his staff do there, he also took us to visit his high-tech partners located in Colorado Springs, both of which are at least partially responsible for the acclaimed products he markets and sells worldwide.

Crafting a product line

Jeff Rowland Design Group began producing high-end electronics in 1984. These days, whenever a discussion of build quality comes up amongst audiophiles, invariably JRDG products are given as examples of the very best electronics available. Terms such as "audio jewelry" and comparisons with exotic watches and cars seem fitting when you behold the finely crafted chassis and finishes exhibited by JRDG products. And when you consider that many audiophiles swear by their sound quality, you wonder just what goes on up in the Colorado altitude to make it all happen.

Our tour began in a room filled with various products in the final stages of assembly. Jeff Rowland has eschewed the temptation to expand his product line in many different directions, which means JRDG produces amps, preamps, and phono stages only. The company is a true specialist manufacturer, believing that what you do, you should do to the best of your abilities; but to do this, you can’t do everything. The current JRDG product lineup includes the Synergy IIi preamplifier ($5950 USD) and Cadence phono stage ($3600; matching power supply is $1250). The Concentra II integrated amplifier has been discontinued and will be replaced by the Concerto ($5900 plus $600 for phono option). There will also be an entry-level Concerto preamp ($3900 plus $600 for phono).

There is a host of new power amplifiers. In fact, the power amps turned out to be the focus of much of our discussion because lately they have been at the center of Jeff Rowland’s design resources. The Model 302 stereo amp ($15,200), Model 304 four-channel amplifier ($16,600 for the four-channel version), Model 301 mono amplifiers ($30,600 per pair), Model 501 mono amplifiers ($6700 per pair), and Model 201 mono amplifiers ($4700 per pair) round out an impressive lineup of products based on some cutting-edge technology that Jeff Rowland figures will anchor his offerings for some time to come. The technical aspects of these amps are forward-thinking if anything. They meet current CE specifications in Europe, and the Model 302 and 304 use a power-factor-corrected power supply specified to operate at 93% efficiency. This means that the amps draw less power from the wall than conventional amplifier designs and convert it to power for music with great efficiency.

While the newest amplifiers are the most technically advanced that Jeff Rowland Design Group has yet produced, the Model 10 and 12 used a switch-mode power supply way back in 1998. Advanced technology is something Rowland has embraced in the past and continues to research -- witness the ICE Power (Intelligent Compact Efficient Power) module developed in Denmark. Once Jeff Rowland explored the benefits of this power-output technology, he quickly adapted it for his own uses. The benefits are striking. The diminutive Model 201, for example, produces 250W into 8 ohms, 500W into 4 ohms, and allows for a much more compact chassis. Mono amps from Jeff Rowland for $4700 per pair? Yup. We commented to ourselves that if one product is sure to fly off the shelves in the coming year, it’s the Model 201.

JRDG faceplates are more than flat hunks of aluminum. The faceplate above shows the hinged buttons used for the Synergy IIi preamp...	...and here the circuit board for the Concentra II fits into the faceplate courtesy of some precise CNC routing.
Another fine manufacturing point -- the bar that clamps down the output devices in a Concentra II integrated amp. The heatsinks are also routed to hold each component.	QCMI's UNIX-based wave-solder machine used for stuffing JRDG circuit boards. After the board passes through the solder bath -- at a whopping 220 degrees -- the actual solder dries in a few seconds.
QCMI's incline cleaner, which utilizes ionized water heated to 140 degrees to clean the finished circuit boards before drying and storage.	Jeff Rowland inspects some circuit boards being populated with components.
A JRDG heatsink emerges from a block of aluminum at Vertec Tool.	Faceplates drying after a coat of protective lacquer.

But our tour only began at the JRDG facilities. Rowland does have a little help from his friends -- and we visited two of them. Our first stop was QCMI. This company specializes in several areas: engineering services, material control, through-hole circuit-board assembly, surface-mount circuit-board assembly, and electro-mechanical assembly. For Jeff Rowland, they manufacture circuit boards to extremely tight tolerances using Unix-based wave-solder machines and automatic cleaners that remove solder flux from boards. The surface-mount techniques that QCMI employs allow for shorter signal paths due to the use of smaller parts and tighter-stuffed boards. We saw a rack with a number of JRDG circuit boards -- some lucky customers’ new amps waiting to be assembled.

As neat and clean as the inside of Rowland components are, it’s the chassis that makes audiophiles swoon. Vertec Tool, another JRDG partner, is responsible for the machined-aluminum chassis and 3/1000th-of-an-inch-tolerance laser-engraved characters on the front and back panels of the components. The company sports 18 CNC routers, which were all busy the day we toured Vertec's 60,000-square-foot facility. J.R. Chambon, director of manufacturing, took us through the whole process of making the distinctive Jeff Rowland Design Group faceplate. We also saw chassis parts from other high-end companies -- like a Connecticut-based manufacturer of Full Power Balanced amplifiers and Lossless Acoustic Transducer speakers, to not quite name one.

But don’t think Jeff Rowland farms out anything he feels he can do better, or that the designs are not wholly his own. In fact, when a product is conceived inside the man himself, the circuit configuration and physical design are symbiotically developed. You’ll definitely get the feeling that a hands-on approach is the order of the day at Jeff Rowland Design Group. As an example, for years Jeff Rowland completed all of the repairs and updates himself; he only recently began handing some of this work off -- to someone he closely oversees. The fact that he doesn’t work himself crazy is testament to the reliability of his products -- some of which have been in the field for 20 years.

Getting what you pay for

The highest of high-end audio is tantalizing, mysterious, and sometimes deceiving. It’s just a fact that you don’t always get what you pay for. Jeff Rowland Design Group’s products are unquestionably expensive, but after spending a day with the man behind the company, we can say without hesitation that you do get your money's worth when you buy his gear. Sadly, we didn’t get to hear any Jeff Rowland equipment on the day of our visit, but we did see the listening room in which every component shipped gets a listening session from a trained professional, often Jeff Rowland himself. We have a feeling that they pass this final test with flying colors -- just before they land in some fortunate chap’s system.

Our tour of the Jeff Rowland Design Group facilities and those of its high-tech partners began with a dull thud, but ended up being a sustained high note. You just can't witness the ingenuity, commitment and skill that go into JRDG products and not experience at least a little awe.

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To find out more about Jeff Rowland Design Group, visit www.jeffrowland.com.