Hey all,

Looking for a little amp advice.

I need a new 5 channel to power my front height and wides I am just picking up.

I am on the fence between grabbing a used RMB1095 or a new Marantz 7055.

The speakers it will be powering are 2 - Definitive Tech Sm55's and 2 - Sm65's.

I currently have a RMB10-95 and a RMB-1090 hence wanting to stick to the brand.

Budget is around the 1k mark.

Thoughts?

Anyone?!?! Buhler? Buhler?

If you can get a 1095 in your price range then that's the one I'd get.

B.

The 1095 is an excellent amp. Just remember the amp is almost 9.4 inches high so you'll need a rack that will give your amp proper circulation. If that's not the case you could spring for an inexpensive amp stand.

I own a 1095 also and have been very pleased with it. It is huge and heavy ( love the rear casters). I only had tight space in my cabinet so I added two fans to keep it cool, works great never gets more than slightly warm to the touch. The front of the cabinet is closed with glass doors so you never hear the fans.

I think I should have enough rack space, going to be grabbing a Omnimount 42U for the new media closet, should accommodate this plus all the other gear. I still need to do the hard measurements just to be sure.

I was also looking at the Emotiva XPA-5 But I guess for the price difference if may just be better to stick with matching amps.

Thanks for the advice guys

I looked at the Emotiva XPA-5 and was concerned about the gain being 32 dB and introducing noise into my system. The Rotel RMB-1095 is totally quiet!

The gain between the two might not be noticeable but the Emotiva has half the transformer power and capacitors. If the Rotel can be had for under $1000, then that is what I'd go with.

So how does the Marantz 7055 measure up in all this?

I missed out on the 1095 for the $1k mark sadly, but I do have a bead on a 7055 for around the same price.

Thoughts?

Also would going slightly lower power be an issue? I have seen some decent RMB-1075's lately, but they are only 120 per channel instead of the 200 that the 1095 delivers or 175 that the 7055 has.

I know that I'm reviving an old post but I kind of have the same questions cofn42 had. And I am wondering what he ended up doing. Is there anything better sounding than the RMB1095 anywhere near the same price point? someone mentioned that the RMB 1095 had rear casters. Is this true?
200 watts per channel, All channels driven is allot of headroom I think for an HT amp. And I just love my headroom!! Any other five channel amps that I should look into?
The Amp set-up that I'm angling towards currently is;
2 X Onkyo 2 channel, M-504's to bi-amp my main left and right speakers.
1 X Rotel 2 channel RB1085 to power my surrounds. "For listening to music in 5.1". But I may upgrade to another Onkyo M-504.
1 X Rotel RMB1095 to power my rear surrounds and center channel speakers and "maybe" 2 ceiling speakers.
1 X "As yet unspecified amp". For the two or four ceiling speakers for a finished 9.4.2 surround system!
Basically I'm wiring my HT with the versatility to have up to an 11.4.2 surround system that will play music well, "I love concerts". In stereo or 5.1/5.2 .
Any advice or thoughts? Help with my sanity?
Thanks,
Scott

Some reasonably priced amps that reviewed well, they both come in multiple channel configurations.
https://emotiva.com/products/amplifiers/xpa-gen3

https://www.monoprice.com/category/a...lith-amplifier

Hey Scott,

So what I ended up with was another 1095 off of Audiogon. I used it for about 3 years and sadly, the damn thing just gave up the ghost on me a couple months back. Have not had it looked at, but what was happening is it just keeps tripping the protection sensor on 3 of the channels, they click on and off randomly so I am thinking something must be shorting out.

I just happened to be in Bestbuy for a new phone and while I waited for my screen protector top be installed I was trolling the A/V isle. Well low and behold they had a floor model Marantz 7055 on for a stupid cheap deal, and my wife urged me to snag it as I have had my dead 1095 collecting dust for a while now.

Figured worse case if it is not up to snuff then I could just return it, nothing lost.

The amp that dies was powering my highs and wides so it was too terrible being without.

I hooked the 7055 up and swapped all the connection from my rears, surrounds and center as it would be a much better test.

Well I will tell you this, I do not even notice the missing 60w per channel. And this thing sounds crystal clear in here. Honestly find the center channel to be a bit clearer personally. Could be all in my head, but dialog seems to sound a little crisper.

I love it so much I am considering maybe grabbing a Marantz 8077 down the line. But not sure I am ready to commit to giving up my 1090 for my mains.

And yes, the 1095 does have rear casters, it makes them SOOO much easier to rack, especially considering it weights nearly 100lbs.

Can't speak to the other things you are looking at, not really been following the A/V side of things since I got set up. But I am sure others can chime in.

Cheers
Cofn

Sadly no one near me has Marantz amps to demo. That's kind of odd because so many people here sell them "Md.". Maybe I'll look around for a deal on one of those. I "AM" currently using a Marantz 6011 for all but my mains amplification. But really bought it to be my preamp for awhile. Yeah, there's a reason Marantz costs a bit more than some others but has a huge following. I've just never ponied up the money for one of their amps though.
Thanks for replying,
Scott