[JorgeLopez11]

Hi everybody,


Two weeks ago I invited some friends home to audition my Denon 3803 paired up to the Rotel RMB-1075 power amp (120 Watt x 5), against Pioneer 55TX Receiver. My brother managed to convince the dealer to lend us the Rotel, and we got the Pioneer and two B&W 604s3 from a friend of mine.


As I finally liked the combo much more than the Pio, I will only describe 3803+1075 results:


The equipment:


Marantz 3100 DVD.

Yamaha 575 CD Changer.

Mains: B&W604s3

Center: B&W LCR60

Surrounds: B&W 602s3

Back Surrouds: B&W 601s3 (powered by my 3803)

Sub: B&W AWS600


For two channel auditioning I used some CDs I think are good for testing provided music complexity, super high trebles or low bass content:


Ultravox. The Collection. Specially "The voice" and "One small day".

Creed. Humam Clay. Specially "Perfect man".

Black Sabbath. The Ozzy Osbourne Years. Specially "N.I.B" and "A National Acrobat".

Miguel Bernal Jimenez, "Concertino for Organ and Orchestra".

José Pablo Moncayo, "Huapango".

Rimsky-Korsakkof, "Capriccio Espagnol".


We spent some good two hours changing these discs, and then we tried the combo's multichannel performance:


The Mummy DVD.

Black Howk Down DVD.

Queens Best Vol 2 (DTS 96/24 DVD)


Another two hours. Then came Roy Orbison's "Black and White Night" DVD´s turn. An incredible session ending


The results:


A lot of air in my HT room. So good soundstage! So many friends with mouth wide open


From my point of view, the 3803 preamp section performed pretty good with the Rotel in multichannel modes (though I have never liked DTS-Neo 6 very much), but I particularly liked two channel performance in Pure Direct and Direct modes. I don't know what the 604 added to the awesome sounds we heard, because I myself just have the 602s3 for mains


The point is that this combo performed incredibly well.


I think the Rotel added warmth to the 3803 sonic characteristics (OK, I am aware of the subjectivity of this affirmation) and IMO I got a very musical performance. Of course, the 3803 resolution helped a lot in difficult music passages.


I like loud music, so the Rotel did not dissapoint me (I estimate the 3803 just can do some 75 Watt x 5 and 55 Watt x 7). This Rotel beast uses 20 output stage transistors (120 Watt, 15 Ampere each) and ten 10,000 uF caps. (much better than 2 x 40,000). Nevertheless I could not cranked the volume knob all the way up because I blew my Tripp Lite 1200VA power regulator's fuse


Final note: I am seriously considering buying this Rotel power amp, but in such case I will have to buy the 604s and a new LCR600 as well. Anyway, I think I am going to wait to the H/K 7300 arrival to make one more comparison. Don't you think?

 

[cpu8088]

b&w speakers comparatively consider hard load to amplifiers


so a good separate power amp normally helps

 

[JorgeLopez11]

May be.... The sensitivity of my B&Ws is 88-89 and I like loud sound. That's why I am considering buying the Rotel.

 

[d.mcnutt]

I see no point in comparing a Pioneer receiver with a receiver/amp combo. Did you listen with the Pioneer acting as a preamp driving the Rotel?

 

[mazuly]

If possible, have listen to Rotel's RSP-1066, RSP-1098 or the new RSP-1068 as a pre-pro. I assure you that there will be more jaw dropping factor there . I have the RSP-1098 and it sounds absolutely wonderful in every aspect.


Thanks,

Maziar

 

[JorgeLopez11]

Quote:

I see no point in comparing a Pioneer receiver with a receiver/amp combo. Did you listen with the Pioneer acting as a preamp driving the Rotel?

Well, from Gordon McGregor I read so man good thinks about Pioneer receivers that I thought it would be a good idea to make the comparison, due to the fact that a friend of mine has one 55TX he imported directly from USA and that Elite Series receivers are not sold in Mexico by any dealer


As the 55TX is much more powerful than my 3803, we didn´t even think of doing the Pio/processor role, at least not after more than four hours auditioning. But I will try this combination for sure


It wouldn´t be fair failing to say that Pioneer performance was really remarkable, but we didn´t have the time to set the Pio up properly and the MCACC is not that easy.


So I finally liked the combo better.

Quote:

If possible, have listen to Rotel's RSP-1066, RSP-1098 or the new RSP-1068 as a pre-pro. I assure you that there will be more jaw dropping factor there . I have the RSP-1098 and it sounds absolutely wonderful in every aspect.

Maziar,

Thanks for the recommendation, but I´m not sure if the 1098 has already hit the shelves in Mexico. I´ll see to it for sure, specially now that I know how good is Rotel equipment


BTW, the RMB-1075 is $1,600 here in Mexico!!