Rogue Audio RP-1v2 Preamplifier

Rogue Put the Whole Front End in the Cheapest Box They Make

The RP-1 v2 is Rogue Audio's entry preamplifier, and it arrives with the parts most makers charge extra for. A phono stage is inside. So is a one-watt headphone amplifier. So is a home theater bypass.

Two 12AU7/ECC802 tubes run in a mu-follower circuit. Four line inputs and a phono input handle sources. Two pairs of variable outputs and one fixed pair handle everything downstream, and an OLED display shows volume and input.

Set It Up for Your Cartridge and Forget It

The phono stage runs 44dB of gain for moving magnet cartridges and 56dB for medium and high output moving coils. Cartridge loading is user adjustable inside the chassis, so you set it once for the cartridge you own and leave it alone.

The v2 revision is more than a badge. Rogue fitted a 50 percent larger power supply for the tube stage. The phono section got better resistors and op-amps. The tubes are now JJ gold pin 12AU7s. The metal remote, once an extra, is now standard.

Where the Tubes Actually Do Something

Rogue hand-builds every RP-1 v2 and tests it before it ships. The chassis is 15.25 inches wide, 14.5 deep and 3.2 high, and weighs 16 pounds. Rogue covers it for three years, with six months on the tubes.

A mu-follower is a two-tube circuit. It does the amplifying and the buffering in one stage. Rogue uses it across the range, so the RP-1 v2 shares its topology with preamplifiers several times the price. It is not a cheaper design wearing the family badge.

The numbers are honest for the money. Frequency response runs 1Hz to 75kHz within 1dB, and the phono stage holds RIAA equalization within 0.1dB. Distortion stays below 0.1 percent. Line gain is 9dB, and output impedance is 750 ohms.

The Headphone Jack Is a Real Amplifier

One watt into 32 ohms is a headphone amplifier, not a resistor across the output. Plug in and the main outputs mute themselves, so you do not have to reach for the power amp. Unplug and the speakers come back.

The home theater bypass runs at unity gain, so a surround processor drives the front channels straight through and your two-channel volume setting is untouched when the film ends. The metal remote does volume, input and mute, and does not need aiming.

What Reviewers Are Saying

Steve Guttenberg reviewed the RP-1 v2 on his Audiophiliac channel. He reached for a word audio writers used in the 1970s and called the sound "grainless", placing its tonality "to the warm side of neutral" without being genuinely warm.

He was as taken with the handset as the sound, calling it "a perfect remote" — volume, input and mute, and no need to aim it. He summed the preamplifier up as "not fussy" and "not tweaky".

Who Is This Preamplifier Best For?

• You are building a first serious system — phono stage, headphone amplifier and home theater bypass are already inside, so the budget that would have gone on three outboard boxes goes into speakers instead.
• You play records on a moving magnet or a high-output moving coil — 44dB and 56dB gain settings with adjustable loading cover both, so the cartridge on your arm now is matched inside this box rather than by buying a second one.
• You listen on headphones as much as speakers — a full watt into 32 ohms drives real headphones, and the speakers mute the moment you plug in, so late-night listening needs no rewiring.
• Your stereo doubles as the front of a home theater — the unity-gain bypass hands the front channels to your processor and gives them back untouched, so one pair of speakers serves both systems without a compromise setting.
• You play a low-output moving coil cartridge — the phono stage is built for moving magnet and for medium to high output moving coils, so a low-output MC needs help ahead of it. Add a step-up transformer or one of our phono preamplifiers and the RP-1 v2 still does the switching, the headphone amp and the home theater bypass for the rest of the system.

How Does It Connect to Your System?

Your turntable goes to the phono input and its ground post, with gain and loading set inside for your cartridge. Four more line sources fill the remaining inputs, and a surround processor joins the unity-gain bypass.

A power amplifier takes either pair of variable outputs, leaving the second pair for a subwoofer or a second amplifier. The fixed pair feeds a recorder at full level. Headphones plug into the front panel.

Pairs Well With

Building a system around the RP-1 v2? Start here:

• Power Amplifier: The RP-1 v2 is a preamplifier and needs one — browse Amplifiers.
• Turntable: The MM and MC phono stage is already inside — browse Turntables.
• Headphones: A full watt is waiting on the front panel — see Headphones.
• Interconnects: Single-ended throughout, so the cable matters — see Interconnect Cables.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cartridges does the phono stage accept?

Moving magnet at 44dB and medium to high output moving coil at 56dB, with user-adjustable loading and RIAA equalization within 0.1dB. A low-output moving coil needs a step-up transformer ahead of it.

How many sources can I connect?

Five: four line-level inputs plus the phono input. A separate unity-gain bypass input handles a home theater processor without using one of them.

Will it drive my headphones?

One watt into 32 ohms, from a discrete amplifier rather than a shared output. Plugging in mutes the main outputs automatically.

Can I run a subwoofer and a power amplifier together?

Yes. There are two pairs of variable outputs, so one feeds the amplifier and the other feeds a powered subwoofer. A fixed pair is there for a recorder.

What tubes does it use?

Two JJ gold pin 12AU7 tubes in a mu-follower circuit, a common and affordable type. Rogue covers the preamplifier for three years and the tubes for six months.

Is every unit tested?

Yes. Rogue hand-assembles the RP-1 v2 and tests each one before it ships.

See It in Action

Steve Guttenberg reviews this exact revision, and walks the back panel input by input:

Analogholic covers the original RP-1, the platform the v2 refines:

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Learn More

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