New Toys - Rogue Audio Apollo Monoblocks

[toucanet]

My craving for tubes was too great to ignore. These are Rogue Audio Apollo tube monoblocks. With the assistance of beemers417 and Nick (at Rogue Audio), we realized that no AI-1 Interface was needed, nor the need to connect the negatives in order to connect my 1.2TLs. I've been listening to them most of the day. I have only had to bias the tubes twice since unpacking them from their box.

I am currently using a Carver Lightstar preamp, as I wait for my tube preamp to arrive.

I now know why people enjoy the sound of tubes.

At 250 watts per block, they make the Polks come alive. Very nice detailed music at a low volume. I thought Diana Krall was actually playing live in my home.

[inspiredsports]

Very nice, in fact, awesome! I'm curious as to how you are able to skip AI-1.

(Maybe the blue line in your first photo is acting as a common ground :D :D)

[toucanet]

"Thou shall not tell a lie," I do not know how to explain the common ground (or non) details.

[Ern Dog]

Nice grab. 250 watts is a sh!t load of tube love

I had a Rogue 90 tube amp and loved it.

Congrats!

[nooshinjohn]

:DThe first picture clearly shows a wireless AI-1 connection... Tesla would be proud!:D

Awesome amps my friend. Congrats.


I look forward to a full and complete review.


John

[inspiredsports]

"Thou shall not tell a lie," I do not know how to explain the common ground (or non) details.

Those amps are in a different league. I was curious and found their website and the specs are absolutely superlative. Let us know how it goes when the new preamp arrives and everything gets to season a bit.

[Face]

Nice toasters. Enjoy!

[toucanet]

Here is a photo of the switches that are used to bias the six KT-90 tubes. I am new to tubes, however, they did a good job with the simplicity of biasing the tubes.

I thought the bass was going to be relatively soft coming from tubes. I was dead wrong, the bass is very tight.

So far, I'm loving the combination of the Rogue and Polks.

[Deathjester]

I am soooooo drooling over those.. Now if my Onkyo's could only make lightning!!!

[toucanet]

I am soooooo drooling over those.. Now if my Onkyo's could only make lightning!!!

I knew that 1st photo was going to be a hit:)

I used the night feature on my camera.

[zingo]

Nice amps!

[danz1906]

Congrats!

[Ern Dog]

I would get a bunch of extra fuses. For whatever reason I went through lots of fuses with my Rogue.

[Ricardo]

Common ground is a requirement for the speakers to work properly. There is no way out of it. Either a common ground amp, tying together the negative outputs of the amp, tying together the negative posts of the speakers, or using the special AI-1 interconnect. If you're not doing this (and you are using the normal inteconnect between the speakers), the speakers are not working propperly, you are not getting the SDA effect as it should be, and you might fry something.

Had to say it.

Very nice amps by the way.

[heiney9]

Common ground is a requirement for the speakers to work properly. There is no way out of it. Either a common ground amp, tying together the negative outputs of the amp, tying together the negative posts of the speakers, or using the special AI-1 interconnect. If you're not doing this (and you are using the normal inteconnect between the speakers), the speakers are not working propperly, you are not getting the SDA effect as it should be, and you might fry something.

Had to say it.

Very nice amps by the way.

Absolutely true...............I would be VERY interested to see how it was determined they didn't have to be common ground. You might not be doing damage instantly, but I bet some issues will crop up later with both the amps and/or speakers.

There really is no way around it.

H9

[beemers417]

Great amps, Chris!!!

[toucanet]

Thanks for the advice inspiredsports, Ricardo, heiney9 (and all others). You guys are a wealth of knowledge! I took my equipment to a service shop and had them to run diagnostics just to be safe. No damage to anything.

I've connected my RTi12s to these blocks while I await "written" correspondence from both manufacturers. They too, sound very nice with these blocks (much brighter than the 1.2TLs).

In the meantime, to err on the side of caution, I will get an AI-1 made and go from there.

Cheers

[heiney9]

Thanks for the advice inspiredsports, Ricardo, heiney9 (and all others). You guys are a wealth of knowledge! I took my equipment to a service shop and had them to run diagnostics just to be safe. No damage to anything.

I've connected my RTi12s to these blocks while I await "written" correspondence from both manufacturers. They too, sound very nice with these blocks (much brighter than the 1.2TLs).

In the meantime, to err on the side of caution, I will get an AI-1 made and go from there.

Cheers

Did you send the manufacturer's a FULL set of schematics both L and R channels so they understand what is going on? The term "common ground" can mean a few different things in the audio world. We are familiar with it in relation to SDA's, but many aren't.

The schematics can be found here:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55888

H9

[madmax]

Very nice!

[organ]

Awesome. Congrats on your new toys.

[schwarcw]

Get yourself a Rogue Model 99 Preamp with the Magnum upgrades. Then you'll really be cooking!