Sound of Music Man

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 27, 2005 by JIM BAINBRIDGE THE GAZETTE

To appreciate Jeff Rowland's story, it doesn't hurt to have a finely tuned sense of irony.

Talk to anybody who knows high-end audio equipment, in New York, Paris or Tokyo, and they'll tell you he's a giant in his field, an Old World craftsman whose mtier is 21st century sound technology.

In Colorado Springs, where he grew up and has lived most of his life, he's virtually unknown, uncelebrated, a mystery, a 6-foot-8 willo'-the-wisp.

The Jeff Rowland Design Group is not in the Colorado Springs phone book. Jeff Rowland is not in the phone book. The company Web site doesn't show a street address. The only hint that he lives here is a 719 area code and a picture of Rowland at Garden of the Gods.

The only four references to him in The Gazette archives came when one of his employees either married or became engaged, the last one in 1999.

So when Rowland says "I like to keep a low profile" he's not kidding around. Some of it can be attributed to having a lot of state-of-the-art power amplifiers waiting for shipment to Europe, Asia and Africa with a Colorado Springs postmark.

Some of it's just a matter of personal style.

Rowland doesn't need a lot of validation, or attention for himself or his company brand. That's not what he's about.

By definition an amplifier is an electronic device used to increase an electrical signal, not just to raise the volume, but also to give the sound power and precision. Rowland is working to advance the standard, the quality of the sound, while also making amplifiers smaller, lighter and cheaper.

"The benchmark, what we are trying to achieve is absolute sound," Rowland said. "We are trying to recreate the sound of music in a living space, just as you would hear it in a live music venue. We're very close. It can be very convincing.

"We can bring a singer, a chamber orchestra, a jazz trio, a piano... into a living space in a holographic format. In other words, if you were to close your eyes, you would believe they were there in the room. We are also trying to convey the subtlety, the feeling of what that composer is trying to project with the music. That's the goal... to reproduce the performance such that you not only hear the sound but feel the presence of the performer."

The components Rowland uses make these audio amplifier units last a lifetime, and their graceful curved design is such that you wouldn't want to part with it in this lifetime or the next. The front molding is sculpted by locally-based Vertec Tools from solid blocks of aluminum, what Rowland terms "industrial art."

"We use technology," he said, "but we are producing a unique work of art, which is treasured by its owners. There is a pride of ownership. It's beyond functionality."

This absolute commitment to craftsmanship has earned Rowland countless awards, including nine Stereo Sound Components of the Year certificates, rave reviews from trade journals and mentions in Rolling Stone, Business Week and the Wall Street Journal, not to mention customers all over the world. Seventy percent of his business is overseas.

The thing is, this absolute commitment to craftsmanship limits Rowland's distribution to about 2,000 units per year, what he reckons is a total of 25,000 of his amplifiers out there in the world.

"The business goals are different," Rowland said. "We don't have a business model that always looks at the bottom line, that we need to have 30 percent growth. Our philosophy is based on doing the best that can be done. If I wanted to be a successful business in the traditional view of business, I would have outsourced into China. That would bring a lower cost to the consumer, but there would be compromises."

Rowland prefers to outsource whatever work is not done by his seven full-time employees to Pikes Peak-region companies, some of which have been working with him almost since his first amplifier was released in 1984, the mono Model 7. Final assembly is done on- site in a process that takes anywhere from 5 to 36 hours, depending on the model.

"Colorado Springs has one of the best, if not the best, designers in the world in its midst," said Rod Tomson, owner of Soundings in Denver, which sells the Rowland line. "He's pretty much rewritten the book on amps in the last few years. It's as good an amp as I've ever heard. They rate amps as Class A, Class B and on down. The newer Rowland units can't even be classified.

"They are unique to the industry in terms of power and control. He's created an amp that has no tonal agenda. It's just pure re- creation of sound. That's something designers have been trying to do for 30 years. And it's pretty much bulletproof. You could play one of them for five years at top volume, and they wouldn't get above room temperature."

Although prices range from $4,000 to $35,000 for a pair of Rowland's top-of-the-line amps, Tomson said Rowland's units are not only better than what's out there ("it's like comparing a 4- cylinder engine to an 8-cylinder diesel"), but also cheaper. You can get a Rowland power amp for $4,900 that would cost $12,000 from one of its top competitors such as Krell or Marantz, he said.