Questions and Answer's from Rotel

[Andrew Pratt]

I've been approached with an interesting idea. Rotel would be interested in answering questions from its user community and so has asked me to gather up some questions for them to answer. In my talks with Rotel I've come to learn a great deal about the industry in general and the going on's with many of the major labels out there so don't feel you have to limit questions just to Rotel. For example if you've got quesitons on who makes DVD transports or why most people are using this DAC or that "?" I'm sure they'd be happy to answer (when they can). For example here's a couple they thought we might be curious about..

"How has Kenwood managed to post a profit having lost so much money and having a negative net worth six months ago?"

"Why has Toshiba posted a huge loss as of July 30, 2003"

Other questions might be something like..."Will Rotel ever allow mail order?"

Anyway you get the idea. Once we get a list complied I will email it to them and they can answer as many as they can...we might not get answers for a few weeks while this particular individual travels but they will come.

[Danbry39]

Here are three:

1. Is there any possibility that they will open a plant on the West Coast, like they have in Massachusetts? In a way, that would make sense as their manufacturing facilities are in Asia.

2. Why is the pricing of Rotel products so varied in different parts of the world? People have posted here that the 1066 is less expensive than the 1055 in Europe, whereas in North America, the opposite seems true.

3. Is there the possibility that Rotel would institute a trade-up policy similar to those offered by Lexicon and certain other manufacturers?

Andrew, thanks for doing this. Can we also ask product-line questions like what types of products might be in the pipeline for the future?




Keith

[Scarp]

A couple of questions:

Regarding the bass-management on the RSP1066:
Is there ever going to be a software fix for the multi-channel input problem? If not, why isn't the resistor cut fix better communicated to the international distributors? Especially the dutch one, who advises against doing the fix (and also doesn't want to do it for me).

Regarding the RSP1098:
The RSP1098 was created as being modular, but when I look at the back, its already fully filled with boards. So are there ever going to be "upgrade" boards for the 1098? Will that upgrade entail that an existing board has to be removed? If there are plans for boards, is it known what kind of boards are planned? Is it that modular that the whole processing board can be exchanged (like the flagship Denon model can)?

Regarding cd players:
Is there going to be a high-end cd player? More or less a replacement for the RCD991, but with the looks of the current series (and in silver!)

Finally:
Are you worried about announcements like TagMcLaren gave this week (i.e., stop development since the economy is bad), or does your focus on the "lower end" of the "high end" market make your business still profitable?

[Bill Blank]

I'll just echo one that's already been asked on this forum:

Does Rotel have any plans on putting out a universal player that will handle SACD, DVD-A, and DVD-V??

If not, what are the reasons?

Bill




Rotel RSP-1066
Rotel RMB-1075
Rega Planet 2000
Denon DVD-2900
Mitsubishi WS-55411
Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v3
Paradigm Reference Studio CC-470 v3
Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v3
Velodyne CT-120

[Andrew Pratt]

Andrew, thanks for doing this. Can we also ask product-line questions like what types of products might be in the pipeline for the future?

Sure fire away!

[greggz]

1. Ditto the question on the 1098 (if its supposed to be expandable with add in cards, why is it delivered full to the gills)

2. Ditto on the "how's the financial health of the company." Recent events with companies like Dunlavy, Madrigal, and TAG are worrisome. I'd hate to buy a 1098 based on its expandability/upgradability only to see development halted... or worse!

3. Ditto, any trade-up policy under consideration?

4. Any plans for a 6 or 7 channel amp on par with the 1095? Perhaps a "5x200w plus 2x100w" or maybe a "3x200 plus 4x100".

5. When will we see the newer digital interfaces show up in Rotel products? (i.e. DVI, FireWire, HDMI, etc...)

6. Any more "non-bug fix" enhancements planned for the 1066's firmware? I'd like to see some of those per channel bass mgmt/time delay features in the 1098 trickle down. (I think we would all agree that it would be fair to charge a nominal fee for new functionality for our 1066's)

7. Any chance we'll see some fully balanced HT pre/pro's and amps in the future?

8. There are a variety of stories/speculations regarding a level of R&B collaboration or interaction between Rotel and B&W. Aside from using a common distributor, what synergies, if any, are there between the two companies?




Gregg

[rmassey]

... dittos from above

1) Why did the design of the new 1098 not include balanced outputs

2) Any near plans for a 7 ch amp (7x200) or receiver (7x100)

[Energeezer]

Will or has Rotel upraded the video switching on the 1098. For example can I now assign a video source to "CD." This would be vert handy for us using HTPCs and projectors as well as high end CDPs.

And lastly. CAN I HAVE SOME FREE STUFF?. RMB 1090 comes to mind. LOL

I would like to say I think (from what I have seen and read) that Rotels Custo Service Kicks ***. After the trouble I went through with Marantz this is grrreat. According to them (Marantz Canada) a product defect in the USA that warrents replacemnet does not neccessarily warrent replacement of the same product in Canada with the same defect. Needless to say I lost some money and Marantz as well as the local LITTLE Marantz dealer here lost a repeat customer.
Steve




The Future of HT lies in FP SPREAD THE WORD

[Andrew Pratt]

Here's the first reply to your questions.


1. Is there any possibility that they will open a plant on the West Coast, like they have in Massachusetts? In a way, that would make sense as their manufacturing facilities are in Asia.

Rotel had a west coast office and warehouse from the late sixty's thru to 1979 but it's a remote chance we would move from the East coast. The warehouse is located in Buffalo and it's not long by train only a few days really for the goods to arrive from the West coast. Logan airport works well for those of us who have to travel overseas and we do connect with the UK/European department often. We have two sales staff who live on the West coast so from a business point of view we feel covered.

It's unlikely manufacturing will ever be done anywhere other than Asia because that's where our info-structure is based. The managers, the parts people and the main engineering group all reside outside of the USA and cannot easily transfer here.


2. Why is the pricing of Rotel products so varied in different parts of the world? People have posted here that the 1066 is less expensive than the 1055 in Europe, whereas in North America, the opposite seems true.


Pricing should not be as varied as you suggest although it is a fact that European prices do include their local tax when quoted at retail. And yes the RSX 1055 is much more expensive in Europe than here the USA because of local import duty. In Europe items with tuners carry more import duty than products without. Further more Rotel USA has taken a strategic decision to sell the receiver as competitively as the manufacturing cost will allow. For those in Canada we've tried to keep the pricing in line with the USA and absorb some of those extra taxes that you like paying.

3. Is there the possibility that Rotel would institute a trade-up policy similar to those offered by Lexicon and certain other manufacturers?

I've looked at the Lexicon trade up policy and know more about it than I can write. If the policy works for them that's good but it's not really an apples to apples comparison Lexicon to Rotel. Their pricing is way more expensive than Rotel but then they have to cover their policy. Let's see where that policy leads in a few more years.

Andrew, thanks for doing this. Can we also ask product-line questions like what types of products might be in the pipeline for the future?

What is in the pipeline now that's a good question and one I'm reluctant to answer fully or openly. I don't mind speculating and again answering specific questions but I don't feel comfortable mapping out the next 12 to 24 months product plans for everyone to see.



Does Rotel have any plans on putting out a universal player that will handle SACD, DVD-A, and DVD-V??

The universal player providers are limited to only three main companies marketing products/chip sets that play SACD and DVD-A. I presume you mean MVD when you say DVD-V or simply video?

Pioneer Electronics make available to the majority of Asian brands models for them to rebadge and sell. In Europe Linn has a kit that it is offering to a number of the more upmaket companies in USA and Europe. Apex of China is reported to have produced a unit able to play all formats. Coming to the market soon will be two other rather expensive multiplayer options from OEM's and we have to see how well they work.

Rotel is not large enough nor does it have a sales base that can sustain the necessary investment to do original development of a multi-format player. Rotel is studying some of the alternatives for multiplayer but any unit is more than a year away from when we begin and presume Rotel has not begun.

I wonder what impact BluRay will have on this business when it begins to roll out in another year or so. A disc that can hold 27 gigs will be an attractive storage medium for music companies to begin re-releasing all their old back catalog. Oh it might not be BluRay that survives but the DVD Forum has already said No to AOD so we shall have to wait and see what other systems come forward as high density storage systems.

From where I sit I can't see the critical mass of either DVD-A or SACD being there for music companies to support. The CEA reports in this the 3rd years of shipments 148,000 sales of DVD-A machines and 100,000 SACD units have reached the market. This is in line with the historical sales curve of CD and they go onto say "that if DVD-A and SACD are to mimic history then by 2015 the majority of customers will be enjoying high resolution audio."

By 2015 it is very likely that we will not have anything CD/DVD based so I don't believe the prediction and feel that SACD and DVD-A will be intermediary systems. If I was the owner of the patents for one of these systems and only had to share with one other party I would think sales are very good.

1. Ditto the question on the 1098 (if its supposed to be expandable with add in cards, why is it delivered full to the gills)

The RSP 1098 was not conceived to be expandable nor is it designed to be upgradeable..... at least not at the user level. We chose this method of assembly because it worked fairly well in the RSX 965 although I admit the execution in that unit was not very good. Making the boards the way we do does help if there are circuit changes but the majority of alterations come through software.

If you are thinking we have a plan to change some of the inputs or outputs it would be true but the more I look out at the future it looks more like a new set of boards including the back plane that would have to be changed. Either we are moving too slowly or the industry is moving too quickly. If there are changes that can be effected then this card system has advantages. Maybe there are some smart third party guys who will come with some ideas to expand the RSP 1098?

2. Ditto on the "how's the financial health of the company." Recent events with companies like Dunlavy, Madrigal, and TAG are worrisome. I'd hate to buy a 1098 based on its expandability/upgradability only to see development halted... or worse!

Rotel does not market the RSP 1098 "based on its expandability/upgradability" it may be possible but this not the primary reason to buy this unit. It is not our sales pitch to say the plug in cards provide for expandability or upgradability. I must bite my tongue and not respond to the brands mentioned above because it will get me in trouble. Let me say that Rotel has been around for 42 years with the same family owners and the B&W Group our distribution partner for nearly as long. Neither company is underfunded nor belongs to an obese conglomerate or thinks that the audio business runs like a Swatch.

More brands are going to go away while their names may remain in the market place we call these "Walking Zombies" who are trading off their past associations and are shadows of their former selves.


3. Ditto, any trade-up policy under consideration?

Trade up is a dealer function in our opinion please see note above. If the dealers will handel it they are best placed for trade-ups. Some trade up schemes have a the cost of the trade-in built into the selling price and therefore require the next model to be that much more expensive to cover the trade-in. Of course in theory the speed of technology can out date a unit before it's released but in most cases products can have a much longer life than people realize.
A few years ago Rotel made the RSP 985 and apart from the fact it didn't have dts or component video it's still a brilliant performer. I would argue that the world can now live without dts it's just another complication and a royalty that must be paid whether it's used or not. Products like the RSP 985 may have looked out of date but in reality now the unit is as viable today if you can live without dts and component video.

4. Any plans for a 6 or 7 channel amp on par with the 1095? Perhaps a "5x200w plus 2x100w" or maybe a "3x200 plus 4x100".

Good question and we have been discussing something along these lines. One of the considerations has been size and how do we power it. Plugging a RB 1090 or RMB 1095 in the wall really requires a dedicated 20 amp line to get the most out of it and any seven channel unit will want evenmore current. The real answer is new technology that will make the amplifiers much more efficient and that's something Rotel is working on. It's a away away and won't be out for a while.

5. When will we see the newer digital interfaces show up in Rotel products? (i.e. DVI, FireWire, HDMI, etc...)

More royalty payments for little benefit for most customers. To add any or all of these digital video connections requires a fundamental redesign of the receiver or processor. We would all hope for a simple "upgrade" but it looks hardly likely but never say never. This is an area we are working on but it's not simply adding a few sockets on the back of the box. One question is what sockets can we drop off and another is what will the user want to interface with the unit.

I strongly suggest looking at the websites of DVI, HDMI and 1394 to see what they are saying and how it relates to you the user. Most of these connections earn good royalties for the owners and prevent you from using the audio & video signals how you may wish. Convince me it's for a better picture or better sound please? Of course Rotel will have to adopt some or all but timming is not known.

6. Any more "non-bug fix" enhancements planned for the 1066's firmware? I'd like to see some of those per channel bass mgmt/time delay features in the 1098 trickle down. (I think we would all agree that it would be fair to charge a nominal fee for new functionality for our 1066's)

The only problem with trickling down features from the 1098 is that the 1066 doesn't have enough processing power. The SP 1098 uses a much bigger processor therefore can offer more features. It's completely new software in the SP 1098 so it's very hard to bring it down without changing the main cpu.....a major change not an upgrade.

7. Any chance we'll see some fully balanced HT pre/pro's and amps in the future?

Ah the balanced line question; Balanced line in our opinion is of little benifit unless it's properly executed with full complementary circuitry. Rotel is presently not considering balanced line because of the additional cost and minimum performance gain. Rotel has a great deal of experience in the design of balanced line models and in our opinion.....also shared with Stereophile we feel the benefits are too small for the huge cost up.

Balanced: Benefit or Bluff by Martin Colloms, which appeared in Stereophile:

http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?335

8. There are a variety of stories/speculations regarding a level of R&B collaboration or interaction between Rotel and B&W. Aside from using a common distributor, what synergies, if any, are there between the two companies?


In 1984 I approached the then distributor of B&W to sell Rotel in North America believing then as I do now that a strong speaker company can be a benefit to a good electronics brand. The rest is history in that today the B&W Group is responsible for the distribution of Rotel almost world-wide. RSA and Australia are markets where there are separate distributors for the two brands and that's because they are respectively the oldest handling the lines.

There are common goals for both brands to create and design good audio products. I know first hand that a new B&W speaker demo room was used by the Rotel guys to audition the RCD 1072 and RA 1062 during the evelopement. I also know that the R&D division of B&W likes very much the RA 02 amplifier for some of their listening.

The commonality is really in marketing and distribution of the brands and it here where a common warehouse and spares department make sense. Do the engineers collaborate.... absolutely not! There are different disciplines involved and the two production units don't intermix unless we bump into each other.

Regarding the bass-management on the RSP1066:
Is there ever going to be a software fix for the multi-channel input problem? If not, why isn't the resistor cut fix better communicated to the international distributors? Especially the dutch one, who advises against doing the fix (and also doesn't want to do it for me).

The only way to address the bass redirection in the RSP 1066 is to clip the two resistors. I cannot offer an opinion about B&W Netherlands and their policy. Where we have more processing power in the SP 1098 this action is now in the software I'm sorry that it was not thought about several years ago when we designed the SP 1066.

Regarding the RSP1098:
The RSP1098 was created as being modular, but when I look at the back, its already fully filled with boards. So are there ever going to be "upgrade" boards for the 1098? Will that upgrade entail that an existing board has to be removed? If there are plans for boards, is it known what kind of boards are planned? Is it that modular that the whole processing board can be exchanged (like the flagship Denon model can)?

I've already made a lot of comments about the SP 1098 so please see those replies.

Regarding cd players:
Is there going to be a high-end cd player? More or less a replacement for the RCD991, but with the looks of the current series (and in silver!)

I've had many requests from Europe for a higher end CD player but it's very unlikely. The RCD 990 had the best mechanism but they deleted it after shipping less than a 1000 units to us. Rotel swapped to another mech that performed very well and then Pacific Microsonics HDCD sold out to Microsoft and the PMD 100 chip was terminated. It's been a bad history with higher end CD players. The new RCD 1072 is excellent but you maybe wanting something even better. Before you pay three times the price to buy another brand do a back to back comparison with the CD 1072 it is in my opinion amazing.

Finally:
Are you worried about announcements like TagMcLaren gave this week (i.e., stop development since the economy is bad), or does your focus on the "lower end" of the "high end" market make your business still profitable?

I think most of us in the industry felt it was only a matter of time before this had to stop. Tag had an approach that seemed to many alien in the audio business and the only question really is why did they keep pumping in money after year one without making changes? I wonder how many millions were wasted?

This business is getting much tougher and it's going to take a lot more effort for all brands to continue. Rotel is well positioned having it's own manufacturing factory and it's own R&D teams. Rotel has good distribution through the B&W group and it has a finite business plan. It's about staying financially healthy, not over reaching and making good things people want to play with.

General disclaimer that these are my opions and may not reflect the opions of others within the group.

[Danbry39]

Wow!!! That's pretty impressive Andrew. Please thank the Rotel rep for his or her honest and straightforward responses. In my opinion, quite a gesture on the part of Rotel. :T




Keith

[Arnold van Oostrum]

Indeed, very open and informative answers. Perfect!

As for the last line, could you reveal the identy and function of this mystery representative from Rotel?

My question: why does Rotel not make the firmware updates for the RSP1066/RSX1055/RSX1065 available on their website for download?

[lhl12]

Andrew -

I would be interested to know the answers to the three questions in the post of yours that started this thread (about Kenwood, Toshiba and mail order).

[rmassey]

Andrew, Thanks for the great wealth of information from Rotel. Although I can now better understand the thinking going on within Rotel from this reply, I do have to make one comment/observation that I disagree with.

A few years ago Rotel made the RSP 985 and apart from the fact it didn't have dts or component video it's still a brilliant performer. I would argue that the world can now live without dts it's just another complication and a royalty that must be paid whether it's used or not.

I think DTS is and has become a very necessary part of HT audio products. It appears that Rotel does too, since it is now included in all of their current products.

just a thought....

[Andrew Pratt]

My question: why does Rotel not make the firmware updates for the RSP1066/RSX1055/RSX1065 available on their website for download?

The world may be a small place today however it still built up around many markets. I see this question comes from Holland so for marketing purposes your country comes under Rotel Europe and they wish to retain the right/responsibility to put out code that is "suitable for their customers". Sure we could have two download sites etc. but at the end of the day we have chosen the clunky "call us approach and we will send it to you". I'm not defending the idea I'm probably agreeing with you but when you have different divisions it's not quite that simple to make it work. I know that two upgrades have been different in Europe to the USA where there has been to fix language errors and the like. So for the time being we shall keep the present way of working.

I would be interested to know the answers to the three questions in the post of yours that started this thread (about Kenwood, Toshiba and mail order).

Toshiba posted a group net loss of Y36.8 billion for the three months ended June 30, far worse than a loss of Y18.8 billion in the same period last year.

"The fall in personal computer prices was far steeper than we had expected," said Sadazumi Ryu, corporate senior vice president of Toshiba. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (HPQ) huge discounts on notebook computers in North America to gain more market share there hit Toshiba's computer profit margin hard from May, he added.

Its earnings also suffered due to the firm's lack of a range of flat-screen TV products in Japan, such as those equipped with plasma display panels or liquid crystal displays. The fall in prices for projection TVs in the United States also contributed to its poor quarterly earnings, Toshiba said.

Audio equipment maker Kenwood Corp posted a pretax
profit of 2.40 billion yen and operating profit of 2.95 billion yen on a
consolidated basis on sales of 45.45 billion yen in the April-June period. Kenwood, which reported unaudited financial statements for the quarter, did not report net-balance results or provide year-earlier figures for year-on-year comparisons. As for group sales this fiscal year, Kenwood forecasts an 11% decline. They have withdrawn from unprofitable product categories, have had significant staff reductions together with inventory cuts and the sale of assets to get them this profit!

Mail order..... highly unlikely. There would need to be a radical shift in the marketing paradigm for Rotel to ever become a mail order line again. I say again because it's a process we have suffered through and won't quickly forget the anxiety it caused. Rotel is simply a product that needs to be demonstrated and presented in a store environment. No one is going to convince us that shipping a product by mail without the support of an organization behind it is a good idea, especially when there are good local specialists who are around to look after the consumer.

I think DTS is and has become a very necessary part of HT audio products. It appears that Rotel does too, since it is now included in all of their current products.

My comments regarding dts are my own there is absolutely no intention of backing away from dts. In the beginning dts was a product that promised so much it had good reasons to be supported. Rotel was one of the first with a dts decoder in the market and it sounded great. Years on and dts is not now what we hoped it might be and all along Dolby Digital goes on providing an excellent unified standard product that is reliable and repeatable. Purely from the selfish aspect of trying to provide the consumer with a long term repeatable experience with minimal problems Dolby Digital has proved it's self a stable platform. Rotel will continue to support dts because it's there and we can. .

[chachi]

What about the RSP-976 and its occasional optical dropouts?

Is there any sort of physical mod to resolve this given that firmware/chip replacement has already been mooted?




Audio: Rotel RSP-976, RT-955, RCD-955, 2x RB-971mkII's (Fronts), RB-956AX (Rears/Centre)
Spkrs: 2x Wharfedale Pi-30s, 2x Wharfedale Pi-10s, Wharfedale Pi-Centre
Video: Hitachi C36WF810 36" WSTV, Panasonic DMR-E50, Sky+PVR, Hyundai CI/PVR
HTPC: Radeon 8500DV, dual 160gb HDs, Panasonic LF-D311 and NEC 1100A

[george king]

Well, this has been great, and highly informative. I do have a question.

If the individual does not see a critical mass for DVD-A or SACD, where does Rotel see high res audio going? Or do they think it is going no where. The answer would be interesting especially since the person said (i think) that they were not going to make a High End CD player. Or maybe they are considering a CD player with upsampling, etc.?

[stjoenewt]

Very impressive. If this person represents Rotel, then it speaks volumes for the company's commitment to their customers. Not often have I seen this type of open communication from a manufacturer. If I had any reservations about the ethics or mission of Rotel, when they claim to deliver quality products that consumers want, they are now dispelled. It makes me feel very comfortable doing business with a company of this ilk.

I also completely understand Rotel's position on eMarketting. The company I work for also insists on a strong dealer base to support their connection to their customers. While it isn't as convenient for me, it serves Rotel's strategy well.

While I know this thread was started to discuss products in general, I would like to know if there are any objective measures of quality, such as service incident rates, that could be shared with the public and how do they compare with Rotel's competition?




Mike

[stjoenewt]

Deleted duplicate post




Mike

[I'mListening]

Being a new owner of Rotel equipment and a new member of this forum I find security in knowing that Rotel is committed to addressing the needs and questions of it's consumers.

I have fired a few questions to the Rotel technicians in the past before and after I purchased my equipment. Response was always quick and usually informative.

Glad now to know I can see other's questions to Rotel and learn even more about a fine product based company.

Great idea!




Thanks for reading!

Enter The Cyberdyne Cinema

Darren

[Scarp]

I've got another question:
You mentioned the RCD1072 before, but there is no information about it on the Rotel website. Could you tell a bit more about it? When is will it be released and when is there info on the website?

Another question:
Its generally known that the RDV1080 is based on a JVC dvd player. But what about the new RDV1060? Is this primarily based on one distinct player or more own development of Rotel? I heard rumors about partly Philips.

Another on the high-end cd player:
The RCD991 is still in the pricelists, but from what you said, the ones sold now are only stock models and none are made anymore? If there where others made, why not just slap a new RCD1070 like box around it (I would be very happy, since I love the Rotel looks).

Still another question on future development:
Now that the RSP1098 is released in the USA (soon in Europe), what will be focus of new Rotel development be? If you can't be specific (which I understand), could you point a bit in the direction? Maybe completely new line? Or just replacements/improvement for the current models?

To come back TagMclaren:
De boss of Tag said on its forum that part of the reason of their announcement was that there was nothing more to improve on their existing models. What do yourself see as things that Rotel can improve on their equipment?

Also some thanks for the time you put into answering our questions.

[danam]

Now that the RSP1098 is released in the USA (soon in Europe) -> the 1098 is already available in europe, first pieces arrived this week


To come back TagMclaren:
De boss of Tag said on its forum that part of the reason of their announcement was that there was nothing more to improve on their existing models. LOL really he said that ?

[Scarp]

Now that the RSP1098 is released in the USA (soon in Europe) -> the 1098 is already available in europe, first pieces arrived this week

To come back TagMclaren:
De boss of Tag said on its forum that part of the reason of their announcement was that there was nothing more to improve on their existing models. LOL really he said that ?

Yes, the 1098 should have arrived in europe. Mine should be in my house before the end of august.

I know its offtopic, but here is the text of Udo Zucker from TagMcLaren.

Be objective and you will see that all our existing product range has little potential left for further improvement. Therefore the only way of making the next step would be the development of completely new things, be it a blue laser DVD player, a sat box, a multi room server or, or or. Whatever we choose, these projects are complex and hence of high cost.

Now back to Q&A with Rotel

[Ninipc]

Don't forget to see 1066 wishlist it's more specific but
I'm sure some of the features asked could be added in 1066/1055/1065 (and now present on 1098), like defaut volume, max volume, speakers distance in meters/inch instead of ms...and more
I've these features on my old Onkyo 595 so the 1066 must have enough cpu to do it 8)




---------------------------
Sorry for my English h:

[eelco74]

First of all I would like to say that this is an excellent idea. The answers are very good and informative. I have been a Rotel customer even since I got my first Rotel amp (a Ra-840bx4 way back in '88).

I might be wrong, but you mention the rsp-985. As far as I know it has always had DTS. You are right that it still is a very good amp, but then it was almost 2300 Euro's.

Rotel has always had very good power supply's. My rcd-975 has a toroidal transformer. If I buy a more expensive rdv-1060 I do not get one. Why has Rotel abandoned this ?

You mention the devolpment of the rsp-1066 and the fact that you missed out on the BM issue. I think it still is great that Rotel has found a way to fix it. But your answer suggests that develoment of the 1066 took several years. Can you give an indication about the timespan of develoment. From idea to the first models of the factory.

Why is it that some models are very early on the website, even before production (rdv-1060). And some models so late like the rcd-1072 ?

I am curious about the dvd-a and SACD thing. I must say that both markets, like stated in your answers are almost equal. It must have costed Rotel money to develop a dvd/dvd-a player. Wat makes SACD so different in terms of development cost ?

Now that multichannel music is generally accepted, will Rotel reduce the models and development in straditional stereo. Personally I would not mind, as long as the HT-pre-amps supply me with good stereo performance.

Why does none of the HT gear have a headphone socket. My rc-972 pre-amp has one. If I replace it by a rsp-1066 It will lose it. Rotel has never had a headphone socket on any of its cd-players. So the need for one on the pre-amp is obvious.
Thanks again for answering our questions

[Andrew Pratt]

I think that's all the questions we'll be allowed to ask for now given the person answering will be traveling shortly. Thanks for the great questions guys and for Rotel's informative answers:T

[Andrew Pratt]

I might be wrong, but you mention the RSP-985. As far as I know it has always had DTS. You are right that it still is a very good amp, but then it was almost 2300 Euro's.

Most humble apologies RSP985 does have dts, however some of the newer dts disks don't play well due to differences between dts today and then.

Rotel has always had very good power supply's. My rcd-975 has a toroidal transformer. If I buy a more expensive rdv-1060 I do not get one. Why has Rotel abandoned this ?

Rotel makes their own power transformers and these work very well for analog designs. The RDV 995 was the first CD/DVD crossover product, I know RDV 985 went before it but the 995 was almost all Rotel and it used a toroidal transformer. In today's DVD's we prefer a switching power supply and so the RDV 1060 has a psu that works from 100 volts to 250 volts.

You mention the development of the rsp-1066 and the fact that you missed out on the BM issue. I think it still is great that Rotel has found a way to fix it. But your answer suggests that development of the 1066 took several years. Can you give an indication about the timespan of develoment. From idea to the first models of the factory.

Development time is very flexible and a year plus or slightly minus is normally the time frame. RSP 976 was out before the RSP 1066 and we learnt a lot from that model so it was much easier...no it was not easy but at least we had experience to build upon so it seemed less complicated. No one ever commented to my knowledge about the bass management of the RSP 976.......

Why is it that some models are very early on the website, even before production (rdv-1060). And some models so late like the rcd-1072 ?

I think you are from Europe and the roll out times are slightly different between the markets. USA receives the surround models first while Europe take the two channel units ahead of us. The schism is caused by USA being responsible for the digital surround models while UK continues to champion the stereo units. We like to play with our own toys as quickly as possible.

I am curious about the dvd-a and SACD thing. I must say that both markets, like stated in your answers are almost equal. It must have costed Rotel money to develop a dvd/dvd-a player. Wat makes SACD so different in terms of development cost ?

Good question and if you look at what you have written you will see the answer. DVD-A and SACD are quite different in technology and really mean you have to develop two completely different machines......ergo twice the cost of development. We are in the DVD-A club because we rely a lot today on JVC for primary chip and transport technology. The CD 975 and going back to the CD 855 where Rotel relied on Sony and Philips but we had to change horses when Philips and Sony were unable to offer Rotel the technology needed for DVD.

As I've noted before the only real combination player technology that's affordable is from Pioneer and to use their 'technology' would be another change for the Rotel engineers. I'm suggesting that by the time we made a combination player that the industry may be trying to market another system completely.

Now that multichannel music is generally accepted, will Rotel reduce the models and development in straditional stereo. Personally I would not mind, as long as the HT-pre-amps supply me with good stereo performance.

Rotel used to make turntables and as people moved to CD we slowly reduced the number of decks we made so it's really a function the market place. We like stereo and we think we can make products that sound really very good and it would be a shame to see it fade away to nothing. My guess is that Rotel will be one of the last brands offering stereo for the listener who cares.

Why does none of the HT gear have a headphone socket. My rc-972 pre-amp has one. If I replace it by a rsp-1066 It will lose it. Rotel has never had a headphone socket on any of its cd-players. So the need for one on the pre-amp is obvious.


Rotel began taking off headphone sockets about 10 years ago when sales of headphones dived....we used to make and sell headphones. Another reason was that our UK tech guys could prove that including a headphone amp lessened the sound quality. It's interesting that today there is a small resurgence in headphone use however I don't think Rotel will support phones in the near future.

I've got another question:
You mentioned the RCD1072 before, but there is no information about it on the Rotel website. Could you tell a bit more about it? When is will it be released and when is there info on the website?

The information is not on the website and won't be posted until December when all markets have the RCD 1072 for sale. No technical reason just marketing politics that have to be worked out within the group.

Another question:
Its generally known that the RDV1080 is based on a JVC dvd player. But what about the new RDV1060? Is this primarily based on one distinct player or more own development of Rotel? I heard rumors about partly Philips.

RDV 1060 is based on the ESS 6038 video chip it has nothing to do with JVC or Philips. The design and development has all been coordinated through Rotel Japan and it is assembled by Rotel employees in the Rotel factory in Baoan China.

Another on the high-end cd player:
The RCD991 is still in the pricelists, but from what you said, the ones sold now are only stock models and none are made anymore? If there where others made, why not just slap a new RCD1070 like box around it (I would be very happy, since I love the Rotel looks).

Rotel cannot make anymore RCD 991's because the PMD 100 chip was discontinued when Microsoft bought out Pacific Microsonics.

Still another question on future development:
Now that the RSP1098 is released in the USA (soon in Europe), what will be focus of new Rotel development be? If you can't be specific (which I understand), could you point a bit in the direction? Maybe completely new line? Or just replacements/improvement for the current models?

Make the SP 1098 better of course...... listen to what people say to us and plan the next generation of surround sound units. Begin to move towards digital video input and output while trying to improve the audio performance. Some changes are being driven by the chip guys who discontinue one cpu to replace it with another more expensive one. Gone are the days when it was easy to evolve a product.

To come back TagMclaren:
De boss of Tag said on its forum that part of the reason of their announcement was that there was nothing more to improve on their existing models. What do yourself see as things that Rotel can improve on their equipment?

When checking companies house in UK the Tag business had a turnover of 3.5 million UKDP which is probably insufficient to sustain it, I believe their leader thought they could be a hundred million dollar business within five years.

This market is constantly evolving and it's impossible to sit still and say you can't improve something. Last year I would not have thought of looking at a media gateway or a video server for Rotel but it's something we must understand because otherwise how will we interface with these items? No there's lot's to do and it's getting more and more complicated but it's all fun.

[Scarp]

Many thanks to whomever is answering the questions. It gives us a great insight on Rotel. I'm happy to know that the 1098 will be improved even further, hopefully they do plan hardware upgrades in the future.

Thanks Andrew and Mr/Miss Mysterious.

(I'm out of questions now actually ).

[Andrew Pratt]

The Rotel rep we're talking to is a Mr. and someone that is about as high up as they get so yes we're very lucky to be able to chat this openly with him :T

[Mark_C.]

I, too, am grateful that Rotel thinks enough of its customers to interact with them directly. Not only am I a fan of Rotel, but so is my entire family. My wife especially pressured me to get the RSP 1066 and sell our RSP 976 because she liked the Dolby ProLogic II so much.
We will be looking for a new DVD player next year, and naturally we thought of Rotel. However, I'm disappointed with the plastic tray on such an expensive player. Which brings me to my point: with prices on DVD players dropping so dramatically, how can Rotel not go along with the wave and start dropping its player prices? What justifies such hefty pricetag for a DVD/DVD-A player.

Thanks in advance
My equipment
RSP 1066
RMB 1075
RB 1050

[Andrew Pratt]

Have you seen the price Denon's asking for their 1600 DVD-A player? Quality peices still command a higher price tag. The Denon 2900 is up there in price too.

[skipm]

Mark-

I saw the new Rotel DVD player yesterday when I picked up my 1098 and it looks really nice. The build quality looks alot better than 99% of the DVD players currently on the market. Seems like the current DVD player market has gone in two directions. You can buy a disposable player for less than $200 that weighs less than 8 ounces or you can buy one of the boutique units (which is probably based on one of the disposable units) for $4,000. Last month I purchased a Samsung DVD-HD1000 for $1,500 that weighs 38 pounds but guess what, it has a plastice tray!

I don't think you could go wrong with the Rotel unit but when you are auditioning new units, I would be more concerned with the video DACs and the overall build quality. You know if you go with the Rotel they will stand behind it.

Good luck with your search,

-Skip

[Mark_C.]

Andrew:
I'm aware of the Denon 1600. That's about the price range I'm hoping Rotel would enter. It doesn't have to be the sub-$200 markrt, but certainly Rotel can market a decent DVD player in the $500 range. The 1060 looks great, but I'm still not sure whether it has the chroma upsampling error. And that tray!

[Andrew Pratt]

The Denon 1600 is chroma bug free and I know what you mean about the tray...that said there's few few solid trays even on $$$ players

[mendes9]

I for one, being an owner of rotel gear for the past 6 years, are sick and tired of buggy pre-amp processors being put out by Rotel time and time again. I bet the 1098 will have software bugs just lie the 1066 you wait and see. My personal rtc965 (also hiss problems that never got fixed even after dealer applied the supposed fix, still hiss's) has a software issue regading bass output in DTS only. I can't wait to get rid of it. Rotel puts out good gear at good prices, I agree, it's just the bugs with the processors time and time again, that has led me to go somewhere else.

[Andrew Pratt]

Mendes I'm sorry you had problems with previous processors but what did you really hope to gain by posting that on an obviously pro Rotel forum? Yes the 1066 had some quirks that have been fixed and I'm sure the 1098 will have some bugs to address as well...but then I could give you a long list of other processors that have bugs as well. These are complex machines and given the pace of development in the industry manufacturers only have so long to test these units.

[Zzap]

(edit: bad post)

[greggz]

If memory serves from other posts, Mendes has a RSP-985. I believe that that processor was plagued with problems right from the start. I actually went into my dealer to buy one originally and he told me to either get the RSP-976 or wait for the next processor (which became the RSP-1066). He would not stock that particular processor because it was just going to end up getting returned and be a headache in the end.

So, sour grapes are understandable, but Rotel has learned from these problems and shows it in their new designs (software upgradeable, components on easily replaceable cards, etc..).

Mendes, I feel for ya, but there ain't no sainthood for martyrs in HT. Just put it on ebay and get a different processor that will make you happy.




Gregg

[DSGCobra]

Problems with the 985??? I have been using that processor for about 3 years now have never had a problem. I even bought it B stock for cheap money around $600. I have very reciently upgraded to the 1098 and have found the sound quality to NOT be all that much better. I have actually considered going back to the 985 but have really gotten used to some of the 1098 features, HD video switching is where its at. So I guess the moral to my post is that I'm not all that sure the 985 was plagued with problems.

[greggz]

Oops, my bad. I just looked. Mendes has a RB-985 not a RSP-985 (its a RTC-965 preamp, if I paid attention to the previous post). But my advice still holds, don’t martyr yourself if you are unhappy, just sell it and move on.


dsgcobra,

I never got to hear one since my dealer didn’t stock them, so what I posted about the RSP-985 was hearsay. The problem as it was described to me was something having to do with drop outs on Dolby Digital 5.1 material related to THX processing.




Gregg

[aud19]

Here's a link to another post regarding a "1098-A" that could be a suggestion... Then again if they actually make it and I've already bought my new equipment I'd be choked....lol

http://www.htguide.com/CFBoards/index.cfm?fuseaction=Threads.viewthread&Tid=81144&Forum=25&StartRow=1&CFB=1

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