[ez-v]

Thinking about picking up a pair of Dynaudio Audience (or possibly some Dynaudio Acoustics BM pro monitors) and am somewhat unsure as to how to drive them.


When I auditioned the Dynaudio Audiences, the demo setup at the store was with a Rotel RSP1066 Pre/Pro and a Rotel 1095 5-ch. amp. While the combined $3200 MSRP for the combo isn't outlandishly high, I am looking at some less expensive alternatives.


How much would the sound degrade (especially worrisome given the Dynaudio being 4ohm loudspeakers) if I opted instead for Rotel's RSX-1055 or 1065 receivers or maybe even an H/K AVR8000 or NADT762?


Is the musical fidelity for a Pre/Pro-Amp combo such as the Rotel's (or comparable setups from Outlaw or Sherbourn) so much better than that from a Rotel, H/K, or NAD receiver?


Thanks in advance for any advice you can give on the matter.

 

[HTMAN21]

Is the musical fidelity for a Pre/Pro-Amp combo such as the Rotel's (or comparable setups from Outlaw or Sherbourn) so much better than that from a Rotel, H/K, or NAD receiver?

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Yes, Yes, Yes. Seperates will sound better, especially with music. I would be concerned with any receiver if I were using 4 ohm speakers.

Go back to the Rotel dealer and have him/her switch out a receiver with the seperates using the same speakers then decide.

You should be able to buy a Sherbourn 5 channel amp for about $1400 since they are introducing a 7 channel amp. This is an excellent match with the Rotel 1066 and will save about $600 for the combo.

I believe that the 1065 receiver is $2000. I think that the extra $1200 will be money well spent.

 

[khans]

g/./bhh/

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[Kendrid]

It has been often noted over at hometheaterforum that the RSX-1055 receiver is a RSP1066 preamp with a Rotel amp in 1 box. People did comparisons and could find no difference is sound quality between them. As a bonus, the 1055 is cheaper than the 1066, and it has amps.


If you want to be a 'purist' separates are the way to go. I'd save my money and buy the receiver.


Rotel amps will have no problems driving a 4 ohm speaker. Even Denon receivers can drive 4 ohm speakers - just not to reference levels.


That dealer should have the Rotel receivers. Hook them up and see if you hear a difference.

 

[kaanage]

Plus with the 1055, you have the option of getting a good 2ch poweramp for the front channels and then reassigning the receiver amps for the rear surrounds.

 

[SayersWeb]

Quote:

Originally posted by HTMAN21 You should be able to buy a Sherbourn 5 channel amp for about $1400 since they are introducing a 7 channel amp. This is an excellent match with the Rotel 1066 and will save about $600 for the combo. I believe that the 1065 receiver is $2000. I think that the extra $1200 will be money well spent.

I looked closely into the Sherbourn amps... They are nice sounding units for sure, but many online sellers have stopped carrying them because of the high return rate due to problems. If you do buy Sherbourn, get it locally and do not buy it used.


Several other makes of 5-channel amps can be a good deal. I just bought an ATI 2505 for $1200. It lists at $2700. A used B&K is another that would be worth looking into.


I've mated the ATI with a Rotel RSP-1066 and find it to be an excellent combination.

 

[SayersWeb]

Quote:

Originally posted by kaanage Plus with the 1055, you have the option of getting a good 2ch poweramp for the front channels and then reassigning the receiver amps for the rear surrounds.

I used a setup like this for years. The problem is that the level of the 2 front channels tends to vary from the levels of the center and rears depending on how the source level changes. This is especially true with movies. I found upgrading to an amp that runs all channels equally can make a very big difference in dynamically changing sound sources.

 

[Tom_Bombadil]

Sayer,


The issue you raise would be a real one if one is using amps/receivers with different gain slopes. Some amplifiers reach full output power at 1V, others 1.5V, 2V, and even 3V. If you level match your channels at a particular volume level when using two amps of significantly different gains, then it is possible that they will not be perfectly balanced at other volume levels.


In general this doesn't tend to be a big problem because a lot of amps are very closely matched on gain, tending to reach full power at 1.0-1.2V . And some of the imbalance is corrected by your channel level settings (i.e. say a 2V amp's gain slope is the same as a 1V amp excepting that it is -3dB quieter across all input voltages, so setting those channels at +3 relative to the other amp solves the problem). So in most cases, they will stay very close (