RMB-1075 less bright than my Acurus amp?

[markusp]

Hi Guys. Still tinkering with my system and am contemplating replacing my Acurus amp. Some of you have suggested that it is a "bright" amp matched up to my brighter sounding Def Techs and as such I am wondering if I should jump to the Rotel 1075? I think my Acurus may distort during louder playing levels and I definately want better control over bass while taming some of my treble. How good is the 1075 and is it an improvement over my Acurus (125 x 5)?

Before anyone suggests it, my rack can't physically accomodate a 1095 - its just too tall.

I should also mention that my listening room is very open concept and has 20 ft. ceilings so I want to make sure that the 1075 is powerful enough to fill this space.

Happy Holidays,
Markus

[will1066]

With all due respect to this forum, I do not think the 1075 will improve over the Acurus.

[markusp]

Will - would you mind being more specific? Since I haven't had a chance to directly compare the two, any ifo you can provide me with would be most helpful.

Thanks

[PewterTA]

I believe will is saying that there won't be a big improvement (night and day type of difference).

I think the rotel might have a little bit less in the high range, but still very accurate...

I know one guy that has the 1095 with his Def. Techs. and loves the setup...

[DrJRapp]

Sounds very much like a horizontal move to me. Since the power of the two are very similar what you would achive is a very small change in the "character" of the sound. A very small change indeed, unless there is something wrong with your Acurus.

[ds22030]

Dont know how big your DTs are or what ohms they run but my prior 1075 could not control my 4 ohm floorstander polks very well in terms of the bass output...even when biamped. I would look at 1080....that was my cure...controls bass way better than 1075.

[mitch57]

What Def Techs do you have? I have the Def Tech BP 7002s and the RMB-1095. I consider the Def Techs to be more warm then bright. Maybe it's just me. Before I got the 1095 I used the Denon 3805 and noticed the same thing with the Def Techs. More warm then bright.

I would be interested to know what other Def Tech owners think of their speakers. Warm or bright?

[mars]

Consider this:
The perfect amp would not color or distort the signal at all. Since there is no perfect, it amounts to finding coloration and or distortion you like. The Acurus is a good piece, pretty musical from what I recall from my demo. It was less effortless, amlost "constrained" next to my anchient SUMO polarisIII. The Rotel had the edge in bass extension over the ACURUS but I am splitting hairs.
That's in my system, in my room, with my cables, with my speakers. Each amp changes its character as a function of impedence variations in cabling and speakers (never mind the source side of the equation). Some speakers are downright difficult to drive, requiring a very stable amp able to keep its internal impedence in check. Others are more forgiving.
I've even had amps change their sound when plugged into power conditioners.
I'm being long-winded in getting to my point... you have to demo the gear. Beg, borrow, steal a 1075 for a tryout. Only then will you know. I know you wouldn't buy a car without driving it. No one can predict what the amp will do in your system or whether it suits your taste.
Wont stop us from trying though;-).

[markusp]

Thanks for all the replies! I just finished demoing an Audio Refinement Multi 5 that Plurison (the distributor) had as a show demo. It retails for $3200 CDN and is one of Sound & Vision's favorite amps. I have to say that it was better than my Acurus in some ways and worse in others. It provided about 10% more "detail" than my Acurus and didn't get as muddy in the bass during complex movie scenes. It also sounded a touch "softer" for music. With all this said, it seemed that the Multi 5 was less airy than the Acurus and produced a smaller soundstage - marginally per say but I did notice it. Overall - I liked the Multi 5 quite a bit but since I am really only getting what I feel to be a 10 - 15% improvement in sound over my Acurus, I've decided to return the Multi 5 and either just keep the Acurus or try out something with some more power (200 watts per channel).

Its a shame I can't demo Sunfire or Sherbourn products here in Canada (there are dealers but they don't carry the products in stock for you to listen to - atleast not in and around Toronto). I've read great things about both these amps. Anyone have any experience with these?

Mitch - I have BP2006TL's and the CLR2300. Given their smaller woofers (4"), I wonder if this is why they sound brighter than your 7002s? Maybe bright is the wrong word, FORWARD may be a better description.

Thanks guys.

[cadman]

Bryston

I would try thr Bryston if I where you if you can demo it