Heresy III and Rogue Cronus?

[ibanezhater]

My search for the right integrated amp continues.

I like the idea of buying USA made goods, and the Rogues are supposedly made in Pennsylvania.

I have issues about supporting the Chinese economy - anyone remember Tiennamen Square? That's why Cayin and Prima Luna are off my list, even though the Prima Lunas are self-biasing, and ideal for tube newbies.

Any Rogue Cronus owners out there? If so, is it easy to set the bias for these amps? Is the phono stage decent?

Are these a good match with the Heresy IIIs?

Mike in NEPA

[fromwm]

Hi Mike!

Did you get the Rogue for the Heresy III's, or something else? I'm considering the same, so please let me know.

Thanks,

Larry

[EL34]

Hi Mike,

I am a dealer for Rogue Audio and I can say that not only are the amps made in PA, but they are all made by hand and to order. They have wonderful quality and customer service. They are located in Brodheadsville PA, which is probably only like 30-45 minutes from your house. You have no excuse not to visit! ;-).

The MM phono stage is excellent, not merely good. Mark O'Brien is the head of the company and is a vinyl fan. The unit also features a headphone amp and remote volume control. It weighs 55 lbs and sports output transformers capable of 90wpc. The amp can come configured with KT77 or EL34 output tubes. The phono section and headphone amp are solid state and offer very low noise and excellent linearity. The preamp and power amp sections are pure tube with solid state regulation. It has a very dynamic and clean sound for a tubed amplifier, with very good frequency extension and bass control. It gets those things right that many tubed amplifiers cannot, yet it still has the soundstage and flow of a tube amp. It is one of my favorite amps and offers a tremendous value. Definitely worth checking out.

The bias is easy to set. The amp has a built-in meter that is very attractive and is of good quality. It has the switches to select which tube that you are seeing the reading of and the adjustment pots under a metal hood in the top of the chassis. They even include an insulated tool for the purpose. Parts quality throughout is amazing. Most amazing is that you get all of this for not too much more than a Chinese made unit with similar power!

-Bill

www.rogueaudio.com

[philtubes]

If the Chronus phono stage is the same as the Rogue Stealth phono stage you should be very happy with the phono section performance. I had a Graham Slee ERA Gold MK V which I liked very much, then I talked to a dealer that I know and he liked the Stealth better than the Slee so I found a used one for a good price and compared the two, it took all of about 30 seconds to hear that I liked the Stealth better and sold the Slee. The Stealth is dead quiet and is very adjustable, you can use LO MC's and MM's. I don't think the Stealth gets the buildup some other phono stages receive, for the money it's built well and sounds great. Some people have complained about hum with some of Rogues preamps, it may be true with some of their older pre's but I have no complaints. Good luck.

Phill

[EL34]

The Rogue Audio preamps have phono stages that are based on the Stealth and which are scaled down for their application. The Metis preamp and Cronus integrated amp have a MM only version with a fixed 47k load. The Perseus has a fully adjustable MM/MC stage which most resembles the Stealths flexibility. All of the preamps have a pure tube line stage and excellent sound and build quality. The latest versions of the Rogue Audio preamps are very quiet, despite being pure tube designs.
-Bill

[TommyK]

The Rouges look very interesting. It is just that the whole Whiskey Rebellion thing.

Peace, and meant in good humor,

TommyK