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Review 4 of 24
Price Paid:
$2000.00
from Audio Gallery, Lake Summary:
Wow, where do I start? I have given myself a month to cool off before writing this review. I have nothing but problems with this amp and I have to say that the customer service from Rogue is not satisfactory either. I owned the Rogue Magnum 88 for almost 18 months. During that time it was in the shop for repair, in transit, or sitting on my shelf for about 10 weeks. The reason I purchased this unit was the very nice reviews about the product that I read on this board and also from various audio web zines. I had also listened to the unit at the Audio Gallery. When I was finally ready to purchase the amp, I went back to the Audio Gallery, but they no longer carried the line. The owner would only say that they didn't ship well. Anyway, he ordered me a unit and I paid extra to have it air freighted. I took it home and set it up. My system at the time was:
Hovland or Joule Electra preamp
Philips SACD 1000 (Modwright upgraded)
VPI Aries Scout
Merlin VSM-M w/B-BAM
The amp worked well for about 6-7 weeks when a capacitor exploded in a shower of sparks and smoke. I e-mailed Rogue about the problem and they said they would have it picked up by UPS. One day the UPS lady arrived with no warning. Lucky for me I was home that day. No one called or e-mailed from Rogue to tell me any details about the pick-up. Anway it was gone for awhile (about 2 weeks). In the interim, I purchased a Belles 150 A Hot Rod from Rich Brkich at Signature Sound (a great guy to work with!) and was using that as my amp when the Rogue showed up at my door one day (needless to say that once again I was not expecting it). They had replaced the "blown" capacitor plus about a dozen other parts. Herein begins part 2.
I unpack the unit and drag it over to my shelf. I replace the tubes and turn it on. I am greeted with a horrible screeching sound immediately when the unit energizes the circuit. I turn it off and contact Rogue. Well, I must have a bad tube. Gee whiz, you don't say. Send the tubes back and they will check them. No thanks, I retube the complete unit at my own expense so I have some control over the situation. Cost, another $100 or so. Put the new set of tubes in and it works fine. Nothing special, maybe about a 3 out of 5 for overall rating. What can I do? I decide it is time to roll some tubes so I begin asking around about alternatives that might give some punch to the system. I end up replacing the Russian KT88 with GE6550 NOS matched quad. I use RCA clear tops for the 12AU7's and Mullard's for the 12AX7's. Cost for these tubes was about $700. Now we are talking about some nice music especially when it was in triode mode. The bass was tight and deep, not sloppy (as with the Russian tubes). The midrange and treble were so sweet. I thought I was in heaven. In the year I ran the amp with these changes I was very happy. I would rate it after the tube changes a 4+ out of 5.
Part 3 of the story. New year (2004) and during the first week of January (I had now owned the unit for 16 months) whle listening to some sweet jazz, a loud popping sound started coming from the speakers, accompanied by the smell of burning circuit board and the excessive glowing of one of the power tubes. Again the amp goes off. The next day I check out the amp, dragging it once more out of the stand. Yup, another destroyed capacitor and now the power resistors are shot too. I write Rogue and we go through a series of e-mails where essentially they call me an idiot. Finally in the 3rd or 4th e-mail I ask if I can send the unit back for evaluation and repair. They say sure. So I do. I send it UPS and e-mail them the same day to say it is coming. Three weeks later I e-mail again asking if they got the unit. They say that they are glad I e-mailed since they didn't know where this amp came from. Really? So now begins the good stuff. Yes, they can fix it, but they have a new design and for $600 more I can have my amp retrofitted with this new design. Boy what a bargain. I can pay more to have an amp work that should have worked in the first place. So now, I am mad. I explain that it is under warranty and they should make it right because of their stated mission statement, etc. They say, they offered me a good deal for a new amp, but that is not what they offered. They offered a new circuit board with the new design, a new face plate, new tubes and some other cosmetic changes. I told them no thanks. They could keep it and put it somewhere unpleasant. That is the end of the story. They have the amp and I have a lesson learned.
My lesson learned is "Don't ever buy anothter product from Rogue Audio." I found the whole experience unpleasant. The original amp design was obviously not very good because as everyone has said here, this thing runs hot. What this means is that the passive parts will eventually fail. When they do, their warranty is not worth the paper it is written on. So all I can say is poor quality, poor customer service and an unpleasant lot to deal with. Strengths:
When it works, and if you are operating it in triode mode, the midrange and treble are very nice (if and only if you replace the stock 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes). For me, the price was "wrong". The base can be powerful and tight but again you must have the right tubes.
If as in my case, it is in the shop a lot, it does make a rather nice boat anchor or door stop. Weaknesses:
Runs hot, hot, hot! Poor quality circuit board, leading to passive parts failures during normal operation. I ran my unit on a shelf with open sides and nothing over the top for a foot. I also ran it with the top off to get even better air circulation. It didn't matter. It still failed twice.
Poor customer service. It is hard dealing with Rogue when things don't go well. They really don't want to hear or deal with design or quality control problems. In my dealings with them, I got the feeling that the customer was wrong and an idiot. Not a good policy to have.
The unit is very heavy and awkward to grip and handle when it must be moved about (as I have had to do on numeroous occasions).
Obviously the printed circuit board and amp topology was not optimally designed the first time around. Even though I might have purchased a "lemon" it seemed strange to me that the design was changed and this was offered as an option instead of just fixing the original unit. Of course if I had had them fix it, it would just fail again and again until the warranty expired.
Final analysis: For me, this was a disaster from beginning to end. However, the fault was entirely mine. All the signs were there when I was getting ready to buy the unit. I ignored them. But, I will never buy another product from Rogue. I thought about getting the unit repaired and then selling it on Audiogon. However, I have integrity and in good conscience could not do this to anyone. In the end I thought it best to end the aggravation. I told them to keep the unit, and THEY DID!!!! This should really tell you something about them as a audio manufacturer.
My advice is don't buy this product and if you have one, get rid of it right away. Similar Products Used:
Belles 150A Hot Rod, Dynaco ST70 (much better amp for 1/3 the cost and it has been around for 35 and there are people who can actually, and willingly, service it).
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