I have a pair of the magnum upgraded M-120's that have given me goosebumps going on ten years now. I had to switch them into triode mode the first month of owning them to protect my hearing. I have never had any problems with these amps and still using the original tubes. If you never experienced the warmth of tube audio, these will make you a believer.

These had excellent reviews from both Stereophile and Audiophile Sound magazines.

Troy

Used price is low and you get a case that can be used in the uprade process.

Hot running, unreliable, eats tubes like candy. Also, see above rant.

I mistakenly bought these from a less than honest retailer as demoes. Not his fault, tho. I had to have them no matter what.

When I got them set up one blew a tube and resistor. Back to the shop it went. After that they blew an output tube a month for 5-6 months. Not because they were defective. I sent them from Calif to Pennsylvania and Rogue said they were fine. Turns out that the M-120 circuit runs it's output tubes HOT & HARD, making them prone to failure. Plus, not being able to bias the tubes didn't help matters any.

Rogue advises using matched quads because of the bias issue. Well, a quad of KT88s every month wasn't in my budget...When I talked to designer Mark O'Brien at Rogue he said that due to widespread unhappiness with the M-120 Rogue considered actually closing their doors! Sounds crazy but that's what he said. I'm sure he was speaking figuatively to make his point but I could tell he was weary of hearing people complain about this amp.

The good news is when I ponied up $2000 for the upgrade to M-150 status! They did a tremendous job. Stripped it down, repainted the steel case, replaced the faceplate with the nice engraved version,

They replaced EVERYTHING inside. New transformers, circuit board for M-150, new top cover with holes for M-150 tube arrangement. New brass binding posts. The Triode/Ultra switch was moved to rear of amp (it was inside on the 120}. It has a meter to bias each tube. And it runs cool, now. I've had SED 6550s in it for a year and have yet to lose one. And tubes need not be matched because of the bias scheme. Magor savings if you lose one.

So, what comes back is a NEW amp, not something they replaced some parts in.
Was it worth it? You bet. They sound great, hold their bias for months and run really cool. Mark said they should last 3 years as they aren't run nearly as hard as the 120s. Plus, you can use different power tubes as the bias can be adjusted to compensate. More power and longer tube life. Works for me.

Some people say the 120s sounded better. I wouldn't know because when I didn't turn them on because the anxiety over their unreliability was so intense that I don't remember what they sounded like. The 150s sound spectaular, in my opinion.

If any M-120 owners are on fence regarding the upgrade, don't be. Especially if you bought used at a low price. (Ever wonder why M-120s are so cheap compared to their big brothers? See comments above.) You'll get back a pair of NEW M-150s. Mark O'Brien said the upgrade would cure all my amp troubles and he was right.

Worth every cent!

Customer Service

Excellent! The two Marks are first class people. You don't get the brush-off at Rogue Audio.

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This is my first tube amp.

warm sonics
not a lot of money to buy them

build quality
parts quality
longevity suspect

I am writing this after the fact. I owned these units for a little more than a year. I found the sonics great when the amps tended to work. I wonder how many of the reviews were given prior to the problems arising with them.

Parts failures were constant. Resistors blowing. caps blowing. Causing tubes to get fried. You name it. The tech who has been in the business 35 years indicated the design was not too good. The parts were too close to some of the tubes causing them to get fried by the heat. Some of the parts were poor quality. He was not too fond of the amps. These were the MAGNUM's. NOT the standard amps.

I sold them. Was fond of the sound (and price) and found another and a Magnum 99 preamp. Had the same problems with the amps and sold them as fast as I could. I sold the 99 as well and you would have to really pay me a lot to get another Rogue product. I only hope the 150 has better parts/ design. The 120's were a disaster.

I hope these two sets of monoblocks and preamp were the exception rather than the rule. However, I have read elsewhere regarding parts quality and I second that note.

As far as sound. Very good for the money. However, the intangibles with having them being repaired constantly might make you wish spending a little more from other manufacturers and getting better parts/ designs so you can use them more.

Customer Service

fine
had to get parts and information for the repair tech a number of times and they were very good in providing information

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ARC, VAC, VTL, BAT,CJ

warm sonics
not a lot of money to buy them

build quality
parts quality
longevity suspect

I am writing this after the fact. I owned these units for a little more than a year. I found the sonics great when the amps tended to work. I wonder how many of the reviews were given prior to the problems arising with them.

Parts failures were constant. Resistors blowing. caps blowing. Causing tubes to get fried. You name it. The tech who has been in the business 35 years indicated the design was not too good. The parts were too close to some of the tubes causing them to get fried by the heat. Some of the parts were poor quality. He was not too fond of the amps. These were the MAGNUM's. NOT the standard amps.

I sold them. Was fond of the sound (and price) and found another and a Magnum 99 preamp. Had the same problems with the amps and sold them as fast as I could. I sold the 99 as well and you would have to really pay me a lot to get another Rogue product. I only hope the 150 has better parts/ design. The 120's were a disaster.

I hope these two sets of monoblocks and preamp were the exception rather than the rule. However, I have read elsewhere regarding parts quality and I second that note.

As far as sound. Very good for the money. However, the intangibles with having them being repaired constantly might make you wish spending a little more from other manufacturers and getting better parts/ designs so you can use them more.

Customer Service

fine
had to get parts and information for the repair tech a number of times and they were very good in providing information

Similar Products Used:

ARC, VAC, VTL, BAT,CJ

This review is for the 120 magnum version.Just another vote that these tube monoblocks are an audiophile bargain! Rogue does not manufacture this particular model anymore,but they are occaisionally sold used or demo in the $2000-$2500 range.Tonally smooth top to bottom,liquid and extremely musical yet with the slam and power you would expect from a ss amp.Good highs,excellent mids,and deep,tight and fast bass.Large yet realistic soundstage with satisfying amount of air and detail when paired with the equally impressive Rogue Magnum 99 preamp.Absolutely NON-Fatigueing. Notes and voices hang in the air.Many recordings have a true live in the room quality.Equally adept with sparse accoustical and vocals thru classical and rock and roll.They do run warm and are heavy but self biasing so there is no maintenence.Using Audio Metallurgy GA-0 interconnects between preamp and monoblocks has allowed my system to totally blossom,but I've also had good results with Audience and RSA cables.I've had great sucess with Sovtek KT88 and Electro-Harmonix KT90eh power tubes.I've talked with both Marks at Rogue,great guys who will answer any question.Quality people,quality audio ,bargain prices.Highly Recommended! My System: Rogue Auio Magnum 120 monoblocks Rogue Audio Magnum 99 preamp Sony SCD333es cdp Von Schweikert VR4jr speakers Happy Listening

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Jolida ,McIntish

Powerful Extended Deep Smooth

Non Yet

This is for the standard 120 monos. Wow! Driving Von schweikert Vr-4 in the triode mode. Its amazing the lowend control these have. Every recording I have these amps bring out something intresting. If your a solid state person It might be time to check out tubes. Im never going back. Try Jimmy Henrdix Voddoo Chile with these.

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Krell Ksa250.Ksa300S Audio research Classic 60. Threshold statis, Aragon 4004II. Audible illusions ect.

Power to handle difficult speakers. Smooth, huge, and pin-point soundstage.

Tube are not visible from the front.

I own the standard M-120 amps. They are used to power a pair of Hales Revelation 3 speakers which are <86db efficient and put a 2.3 ohm load on the amps. They handle these speakers very well. Recently I have been tempted to upgrade to the new M-150s but now I am not sure. These amps are so very good that I can not believe that an upgrade would make enough of a difference to justify sending these beutiful amps off to be handled by the brutes at UPS and Fed Ex. The sound: these amps create a smooth, huge soundstage. The sound is detailed more than other tube amps I have heard while maintaining the width and depth of a great tube amp.

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Amps compared: Classe CA-300 I owned this amp for three years. It had incredible control and power. It's weakness was that it could not present the tube soundstage that I wanted. It came closer than any solid state that I heard. Audio Research 100 watt tube amp. Great amp but not priced as well for the value as the Rogues. Old Dyne Audio 35 watt amps. These amps are the amps that convinced me to get rid of the Classe CA-300 and go back to tubes. JoLida 302a. My first love. I still use it in my main system. The JoLida powers a pair of Klipsch RB3s that are placed in the back of the room for a soft quad stereo effect. My system: Hales Revelation 3, BAT VK-3i, Wadia 830 CDP, ProJect 6.1/Grado Sonata, all Harmonic Tech cables, Legacy Audio Thumper Subwoofer.

They run quite warm and help to heat my otherwise chilly basement rec room/listening area. Very musical, rhythmic, muscular, and sweet sounding. Excellent soundstaging abilities, lots of detail. Unbelievable bargain for a large, powerful tube amp.

None, really

This is a review for the Magnum version of the M-120 monoblocks. There has been a lot posted about these amps already so I won’t restate much of what has been said. What I will say is that these amps are everything that the other people here on Audioreview say they are. I took a chance and purchased a used pair of M-120 Magnum monoblocks about 2 months ago based in part on the incredibly positive reviews that I read here on Audioreview and also on the recent Stereophile review. I have not been disappointed in the least. I will comment on something that makes these amps truly outstanding to me. These amps add a striking degree of rhythmic drive that makes the music just sort of “come alive”. Part of this is due to the surprisingly punchy, powerful, deep bass produced by these amps. For tube amps, these things have incredible bass! The bass actually goes a full octave lower than the 200wpc solid-state amp that I had used for many years. The M-120 Magnums sound much more powerful and muscular than their power rating would suggest. It’s also worth mentioning that the folks at Rogue are tremendously supportive of their products and their customers. I needed some help and had some questions when my amps first arrived. I spoke with Mark O’Brien on several occasions and learned a tremendous amount about my new amps and about tubes in general. To me, great customer service like this is priceless and it says a lot about the company. Kudos to Mark and company. I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to a lot of tube amps, and those that I have listened to have been at audio shops and not in my own system. The few that I have listened to were very expensive ($5000 to $10,000) and were part of very expensive “ultimate” systems. My experience in this area is admittedly limited but I’m going to make a leap here and say that I would be surprised if the ultra-expensive amps have much more to offer than what you get from the Rogue Magnum M-120 amps. In my opinion, these Rogue amps are a tremendous bargain and it would cost a ton of money to do much better. I would suggest to anyone who is considering one of the highly expensive “ultimate” tube amps that they make it a point to audition a pair M-120 Magnum monoblocks. If money means anything to them at all, they would be doing themselves a real disservice by not auditioning these amps. The money saved by buying these amps would buy an awful lot of music. Oh, one more thing - they do take some time to truly warm in before they sound their best. The sound is good after 10 minutes but it’s great after about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Similar Products Used:

Belles, Classe

Everything. except the heat in the Summer

Cant Think of any at the Moment. Except I dont like the Tube Cages They look better without them

What can I say except Its about time. A Tube amp with all the Slam that I would ever need and the Midrange I expect from a Great Tube Amp. It really Draws me into the Music. I have the Magnum Version. Why Throw away good Money Buy These amps Get a Great bottle of Silver Oaks Cabernet and a bunch of CDs and Enjoy. And the Guys at Rogue are Great.

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sonic Frontiers

Detail Imaging Focus Subtle w/Slam Great flexibility to customize the sound via different tubes.

These babies run hot......saved money this year with my PG&E Heating Bill. The switches for triode to ultra is internal to the amp, it would be nice if they were on the back panel

This review is for the Magnum 120's I purchased the amp's used, I had heard them at a friend's and was very impressed. Detail is excellent, imaging is first rate. Some of my CD's have become a new experience. Ex: Rolling Stones "Stripped"....At the beginning of Track 12 I never could make out what Keith Richards is saying, the m-120's make it crystal. My latest BB King album is now a live concert in my living room thanks to the M-120's. I plan on experimenting with different tubes and the folks at Rogue were very helpfu and arranged for me to acquire to boxes and packing material even though I have purchased their amps used. Really great product support

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Dynaco Model 70 Audio Research McIntosh