rogers audionote integrated tube amplifier

But since there are plenty of line inputs, this can be replaced by a good phono stage, like EAR's 834P or the CLEAR phono amp. Whatever Audio Note's militant allegiance to vinyl replay, the phono stage is below average, thin-sounding and of limited dynamic capability. The latter feeds the signal to a 47kohm input with 2.5mV sensitivity, with passive RIAA equalisation, fine for moving-magnets and just about adequate for high-output moving-coil pick-ups. The socketry itself consists of enough speaker binding posts to provide separate terminals for 4-6ohm speakers or 8-16ohm designs, while gold-plated RCA sockets accept tape in/out, CD, a couple of line sources and phono. Because of this convenient map, you can lean over the unit without having to see the back. I would advise Rogers to fit a larger volume control knob.Ĭlever thinking applies to the rear, the designers having etched the socketry legends onto the amp's cover. This uncluttered layout makes the unit easy to use, with only one ergonomic faux pas: because the volume control is exactly the same size as the others, and because the on/off is to the extreme right, it's all too easy to switch off the amplifier when all you wanted to do was lower the volume. The review samples were already showing signs of stress.Īcross the front are rotaries choosing between source and tape, source select, balance, volume and power on/off. I would anticipate a proliferation of small dents, no matter how careful the owners might be. The curved valve cover, necessary to protect us from the rules according to EC directives, is a sheet of metal held in place at one end by slots and screwed down at the other. I am at a loss to recall any piece of hi-fi so grotesque.

What's so blissfully, mirthmakingly ironic is that Peter has bored me many times with tales of what's wrong with LS3/5as (lack of bass, low sensitivity, low power handling), all the while trying to convince me that my privates will fall off if I continue to use speakers of less than 94dB sensitivity instead of politically-correct horns, aged Snells or his own similar concoctions.Įxternally identical, the E-20a and E-40a each occupy a square of 430x430mm, while the height at the peak of that curved cover is 175mm. I, for one, am ecstatic that there now exists a pair of amps which are dedicated to my favourite speaker of all time. And stone me if they didn't force Peter to make the new amplifiers work with the LS3/5a.

Rogers commissioned Peter Qvortrup and his crew to fashion and construct two all-new integrated amplifiers, 'voiced' to complement Rogers loudspeakers, of course. Indeed, they have little to do with Rogers.īoth are designed and built by Audio Note and they say as much on the valve cover and the back. But the Rogers beancounters felt that an all-new product was a more sensible proposition, which is why the E-20a and E-40a all-valve integrated amps have nothing whatsoever to do with the preceding models. A nice Cadet III, or maybe an HG88 visually unchanged but suitably modernised. When the grapevine alerted the world's tube crazies to the return of Rogers amplification, visions of two-tone faceplates danced before our eyes. The loudspeaker firm, famed for its late-1950s amps, makes a late-1990s return to tube electronics with two new integrateds.

Rogers audionote integrated tube amplifier