Prepared for HT without Compromise in Stereo-sound?

[austriacus]

I recently was listening to the DENON 3805 (...having good test reports on surround sound) but disappointing :cry: me a lot in stereo.

I feel that either you pay for dozens of buttons, plugs and effects OR for pure sound quality in stereo. I am looking for something with only a few buttons but not for a very pure "extremist".

Of course in the ROTEL-Club there will be the fans of the Rotel-Brand but can you give me a recommendation for ROTEL or comparable components if the profile is 40% stereo-listening :roll: , 30% self-made stereo-video and 30% DVD or (in future) HDTV? My main speakers are the French TRIANGLE Altinis.

a) Is Rotel at least "half-way" between DENON 3805 and THETHYS Casablanca in terms of sound for Jazz, "natural" sound of reeds and voices? My favourite instrument is double bass. Any resonably priced alternatives?

b) Shall I take a surround-sound processor with one dedicated stereo amplifyer ( RSP 1068 and RB1070 or RB1080 + RMB 1066 for surround) or shall I decide for a multi-channel amp ( RSP 1068 + RMB 1075 OR all in one RSX 1056) ?

Thanks for your help!

[audiofan]

a lot of people said rsx-1056 has better stereo sound. I personally have never tried to compared side by side between rotel rsx-1056 and denon 3805. However, i have denon 3805 + rotel rmb-1080 and i'm quite happy with the sound for now until i have money for a separate stereo only.

[Andrew Pratt]

The early denon's used to sound ok with music but over the last few years (starting with the 3801) their musical abilities have declined a great deal. For home theatre while there are differences they aren't as easily noticed given that your attention should be fixed on the screen but in audio reproduction subtle differences are far more important. Virtually everyone that's auditioned the Rotel's claims that music is where they shine so yes it would be a big step up from the 3805. As for the 1056 vs 1068 it depends on your budget...you might want to think about the 1056 and 1080 combo given your listening habits as the 1080 will be significantly better then the 1075 amp. If you have the funds then go for the 1068,1080 and 1075 but that's significantly more expensive...though way less then that Casablanca processor :T

[ds22030]

Andrew givs you great advice.....check out 1056 + 1080....

[rhoffman000]

For stereo sound, don't most 'good' AVRs have a pure analog mode where the stereo signal shouldn't even be subject to processing?

[KEF]

rhoffman000 - yes, they do - but that does not mean that they do not color / muddle the music. I have a Yamaha RXV-1400 as my AVR and spent some time listening (in my own home) to several dedicated pre-amps trying to see what the difference was.

Night and Day is all I can say - even in Bypass on the Yammy.

I ended up adding a Krell unit to my system last Friday, and the difference between the AVR and the Krell is night and day - even my wife noticed!

Cheers,
Keith

[austriacus]

Interesting to hear that superior Stereo is (still) quite different to surround...

Thank you all for your advise, esp. to Andrew!
Curious on some more reports...

F. Primetzhofer / austriacus

[Bob Knarly]

I have the 3802 in a second system,had the 03 and 05,great for HT w/lotsa features and LOW noise floor.From the starter 1056 up the 2ch performance is much better on Rotel,just more musical.The 1068 does 2ch very well even for critical listening.

[Jason R]

Seperates are definitely the way to go, the 1080 will be the leaps and bounds ahead when used with a processor. My favorite music i jazz and for the bass extension the 1080 would be the only way to go to really enjoy it.

[austriacus]

As I never had the chance to compare directly: How about the Processing / Pre-Amp?

There seems to be common understanding that the 1080 will be the right choice for superb stereo.

What about the role of the pre-amp: How the RSP 1056 receiver has to be rated in the role as pre-amp in comparison to a dedicated pre-amp such as the RSP 1068?

[srb]

I have an RSX-1056 and RB-1080. Listening is 80% Stereo (mostly jazz)/20% HT. I am very pleased with the HT sound. The stereo sound is very good, but not as good as a dedicated stereo setup.

I find the preamp section of the RSX-1056 is just a little noisy, and there is some hiss through the center and surround speakers, even when in stereo bypass mode.

Instead of adding a stereo preamp (and yet another component), I am thinking of replacing the RB-1080 power amp with an audiophile integrated amplifier that has a theatre pass-through input, such as the Classe CAP-101-151 or Simaudio Moon I-3/I-5.

[austriacus]

Steve, thanks for your opinion!
The theatre pass-through input: What's exactly the function?
Felix P.

[sarsi]

Sorry if the question is out of turn here... so is 1095 as a av power amp comparable to using 1080 for stereo duty? is there a mark different?

[srb]

A theatre pass-through or HT input is a unity gain input that bypasses the volume control on the integrated amp. Connecting the L & R pre outs from the surround processor to this input is like connecting to a power amp - the volume control is bypassed, and the levels are adjusted with the surround level setup. If the integrated amp did not have this input, you would have to adjust the volume control to a pre-determined position for home theatre use.

A CD/DVD player would be connected to the processor via a digital interconnect, and also to the integrated amplifier via an analog interconnect.

You can then listen to CDs without even powering up the surround processor or receiver.

The integrated amplifiers that have this input include Classe, Simaudio, Arcam, Krell. I may be wrong, but I don't believe the Rotel integrated amps offer this type of input.

[sarsi]

Well i did tried to hook up my MF A3.2 int amp with HT direct/Aux 2 to my RSP1098 and have the stereo output of Marantz DV8400 to the int amp, the musical really improve. i decided decomissioning this set up because as a ht arrangement the timbre matching of the 5 discrete channels driven by the same sounding amp is very important. that is why i thought of adding a 1080 stereo amp to improve the music but retain the timbre matching of amp characteristic.