Decent pre-amp for 2 channel use with RSX1055???

[OakIris]

I have heard good things about the RMB1075, but I can't find one on the used market, and I can't afford to pay $1000+. Just wondered it there is a cheaper Rotel model that would work, or another brand that would pair well with the Rotel RSX1055.

My mains are B&W CM4s. I do have the Rotel in use for my HDTV system so have a center (B&W CMC) and rears (not B&W!) but I am primarily interested in improving/optimizing the sound for my CD player (the Rotel 1072) and my future turntable.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

[OakIris]

No opinions at all?

[scient]

But the 1075 is a 5 channel amp. Though you said you wanted an amp for stereo? For that there is the R-1070($700) and RB-1080($1000).

[basementjack]

OakIris,

Your posting is a little unclear.

You're title says you are looking for preamp, your description talks about a power amp.

since you mentioned the 1055 receiver, I'll assume you want the amp.

There is probably not a better amp than the 1075 anywhere near it's price range. The 1075 has been a best buy component in Perfect Vision magazine for a few years now - the next step up was the $1500 anthem, which wasn't as powerful.

I have noticed lots of 1075's on ebay from time to time, they hold a very high percentage of list price, with some selling for over $800 used.

if you do a search on ebay, you can save it, and then in your preferences, you can have them email you whenever a new item meets the search criteria.

You can also do an advanced search on completed items to see if any sold in the past month and at what price.

You might also call Rotel and ask what list price is for your state. Many of us here have paid less than $1000 for our 1075's

- Jack

[OakIris]

You folks are absolutely right - I obviously was confused when I first posted! ops: No wonder people didn't want to respond - sorry.

I am looking for a pre-amplifier for use with my 2-channel audio equipment - the Rotel RCD1072 and my Teres turntable. I have a separate phono stage, a Holfi Battriaa Signature. I use my RSX1055 for my modest HT system as well as for music, and, though I may be wrong, I thought that a pre-amp would optimize my music experience. Please let me know if I am way off base here and should just stick with the RSX1055.

Of course, if I do get a pre-amp, I'm sure I'll be back here asking how in the world do I hook this thing up! :roll:

[soundhound]

To optimize your'e sound, even if you add a seperate pre amp, you would want to purchase a seperate power amp. Running a sperate pre into the 1055 would be moog point. You may want to consider Rotels sperates, RSP-1066, RSP-1068. I have the 1068 which has state of the art ht capabilities as well as exceptional 2 channel capabilities, basically the best of both worlds. You again would need an external power amp.

[OakIris]

I was afraid of that. I don't imagine I can afford to change to all separates at this time, but I'll look into any way - I'm sure to have upgraditis again in the future.

Edit: I forgot to ask. Which amp are you using with the RSP1068?

[Andrew Pratt]

I'd suggest you start saving up for a seperate power amp to use in conjunction with your receiver. The 1075 would be ideal so keep an eye on www.audiogon.com or even our for sale area for a used one to pop up...or smooth talk your dealer as many members have bought new ones for under $1K.

[OakIris]

Andrew - are you saying a power amplifier would give me the better sound I am looking for? If so, does the power amplifier plug into the "pre-amp" inputs on the RSX1055?

[soundhound]

The RMB-1075 that Andrew mentions is what I currently use with my RSP-1068, and up until 3 mos. ago my RSX-1055 "pre-outs" was my preamp. For me the extra punch the RMB-1075 added was considerable over the RSX-1055 internal amps. It is a very logical, safe way to begin ones journey into this addiction, begining with you're existing reciever, add an RMB-1075, and down the road see where it all takes you.

[OakIris]

Thank you for your responses. I will consider the RMB1075 seriously - beginning my journey into the world of separates!

Any thoughts about adding an integrated amp, like the RA1062/1070? That was suggested by someone, too. Or would this not have enough power to drive my speakers?

[Andrew Pratt]

Integrated amps would work as well but would be a little more complex to run as you'd have two volume controls to deal with. The 1075 would be easier to use and set you up for full seperates later on. There's a 1075 for sale in our "Pawn shop" area if you're interested.

[OakIris]

Thanks Andrew - I saw that one in the Pawn Shop forum, but figured it would have been sold by now. I'll send the seller an email, though.

[OakIris]

The RMB1075 in the Pawn Shop area has indeed been sold. I'll keep looking for a used one, but I have a feeling I'll end up buying new!

[hery]

OakIris, I started with a RSX-1055 powering my CM4's, CMC and CM2 rears and sounded great, then I added a 1075, connected 2 channels per CM4's and 1 for CMC and the 1055 powering the rears. I'm very happy thanks to the advice of the great members here :T The next step would be to upgrade the 1055 and move into separates, later down the road. The 1075 works great in 2 channels for music with the CM4's. Hope this helps.

[hery]

OakIris, I started with a RSX-1055 powering my CM4's, CMC and CM2 rears and sounded great, then I added a 1075, connected 2 channels per CM4's and 1 for CMC and the 1055 powering the rears. I'm very happy thanks to the advice of the great members here :T The next step would be to upgrade the 1055 and move into separates, later down the road. The 1075 works great in 2 channels for music with the CM4's.

[OakIris]

Thank you for the recommendation, hery. I am definitely leaning towards the RMB1075. Then again, I have also had the Naim Nait 5i highly recommended. I wish I had a money tree!! :roll:

[eelco74]

Hi Okiris,

I have swapped from an RC-972 and RB-981 to a rsp-1068+rb-981+rb-985MKII. I can say that the 1068 does sound as good as the 972 in stereo. The 1068 is a bit more noisy, but very close. So I no longer own a dedicated stereo pre-amp. So if you want something more, try a RC-990 or RC-995 or even an RC-1090. All other per-amps will sound simular to your 1055.

If Stereo is important to you, and you want to use you 1055 as well, I would recommend add a RB1070 or Rb1080 in stead of a 1075. You can use the 1080/70 for the front channels and thus offload the internal amps in the 1055.

In stereo you will gain more (but also depening on your front speakers) adding a 1080 than a 1075.

I tried the 985MKII for Stereo, but eventually liked the 981 quite a lot more.

[OakIris]

I think I'm getting more confused than getting closer to a decision! Some knowledgeable people are saying get a pre-amp, it will do more for your system than a power amp will, others equally knowledgeable, are saying the power amp is my best bet. I realize it is all subjective and that the very best way of making my decision is to hear each piece of equipment here in my house with the rest of my rig, but, I don't think that is possible.

So, please keep the suggestions coming; if nothing else, I can always do a coin toss to decide. :

[Dmantis]

No problem allow me to clear all this up for you

Are you using the main speaker meaning the fronts as 2 channel music?
If so then you shouldn't add a preamp.You should start by adding a amp.
If not and you have another pair of speakers then yes buy a preamp and amp or a intergraded PrePro.

Taking 2 much advice when your not sure what the advice means will do what it is doing to you.

This is how it's done.

When owning a home theater system you have a receiver and speakers. Fronts center and rears. The receiver powers the speakers with it's internal amps. The receiver can also be a preamp if one wants to improve on the sound quality of the built in amps. You cannot add a pre amp into this mix. You must replace the receiver with a home theater preamp like the rsp1068. I don't think this is the way you should go.

So lets clear up all the confusion and just do this and forget all the madness.

Buy the RMB1075. Buy 5 interconnects of high quality to connect the amp to your receivers preouts. Now your rsx1055 is now a preamp.The amps inside the rsx1055 are not being used and the RMB1075 amp is powering all speakers in the theater. This will Improve not only your 2 channel experience but you theater experience as well.

Before you can do any of the following , you must take the time to learn "what a preamp is" "what a amp is" and what they do. Whoever told you to add a preamp into a receiver for better 2 channel sound is incorrect.

On Rotels website , they have some useful learning sections. I suggest you get your read on and learn.

I can go over anything you wish and help you first to understand what you already own , which is nessary if you want to improve on it.

In my opnion , there are many ways to improve your 2 channel sound quality. Adding amps isn't the only way. But thats for another story.

Dan

[OakIris]

I think I'm finally getting it, Dan! All the speakers will attach directly to the power amp, and the power amp connects to the pre-outs on the RSX1055 via interconnects. Everything else - subwoofer, video connections, CD player, phono stage, etc., still goes to the receiver. The amp will give plenty of power to the speakers - more than they're getting from the receiver right now. I'll be getting the RMB1075 after all! Thanks for the thorough explanation - I'm sure I'll need more help down the road and appreciate your offer to help me out. Thank you for your patience!

I do have a lot to learn; I will check out the resources on the Rotel website.

By the way, what do you consider "high quality" interconnects? I can't afford to spend a whole lot of money on them, as I am already spending more than I should on my new turntable set up :roll: - so what brand/s would make decent interconnects...?

Holly

[Dmantis]

Wires companies I find to be personal. There are so many different brands to experience.

You could start by checking out this web sites cables in cat cables. I have no experience with them but have read alot of good things about them.

I have tried many different brands and found that some work in some systems and some works better in others. I also usggest checking out what the store you deal with carries and see if you can try some out.

Good luck,

Dan

[basementjack]

OakIris,

I myself have a 1056 (the newer model of your receiver) and a 1075 amp and I love the combination. When I purchased it, the dealer threw in 3 pairs of cables to connect them. Told me to use them for a while, get used to it, and later he'd loan me some better cables so I could see if I could hear a difference.

I agree with Dan on his reccomendation, and applaud him for helping explain things - too often we (myself included) assume that if someone has made it to this forum, they understand all the buzzwords.

Anyhow, you are well on your way to a better sound. Music will sound better, and when you watch movies, you'll notice you can turn it up louder without effecting the sound.

Plus the 1075 looks pretty cool - My original plan was to put mine behind a wall by the furnace - but Now that I have it - it's proudly displayed in the room!

- Jack

[OakIris]

I think I'm going to like the RMB1075, too.

[hery]

OakIris
Dmantis gave you a great explanation. Also keep in mind that once you have the 1075, you also can take advantage of the RSX-1055's own amplification to drive your rear speakers giving you more power since you are only using 2 channels, something like 100 watts per channel instead of 75 per 5 channels. Then you can drive your 2 front CM4's and the CMC center with the 1075's 5 channels. I currently have my system set-up that same way and it sounds great :T

[OakIris]

hery, what would be the advantages of using the RSX1055 to drive the rear speakers at 100 watts? According the to the specs, the RMB1075 drives all 5 channels at 120 watts, or did I read the specs wrong?

[Andrew Pratt]

The advantage would be that you'd then have 5 channels to use from the 1075 to power only three speakers (your front three). What you'd then do is use one channel to power the center speaker and then use two channels each for the front two speakers. This is called passive bi-amping as you're using two channels from the 1075 to power each speaker. This sends more power to each speaker and typically improves the sound quality a bit (how much depends largely on your speakers). Note for this to be a viable option your speakers need to have two binding posts with a metal plate connecting them...you'd remove the metal plate so that each binding post is indepantant of the other otherwise you'd short the amp!

[OakIris]

I didn't think about the bi-amping posibilities with the RMB1075. I seem to be going about this upgrading all wrong. Before I decided to start looking for a pre-amp, I first decided to get new speaker cables so I could try bi-wiring my speakers. With the RSX1055, of course, I could not bi-amp. So, I purchased cables that have 4 connectors at the speaker end, but only 2 at the receiver/amp end - URL removed by mod. I haven't even installed them as yet as I am waiting to get all my other "stuff" before redoing my whole set up. I can't bi-amp with these cables, and I can't afford to buy new speaker cables. Oh well....maybe new cables for bi-amping will be my upgrade for next year. :roll:

[hery]

OakIris, I believe Andrew answered your question about the advantages of using the RSX-1055 for your rears and upcoming 1075 to drive your B&W CM4's and CMC. I got that great idea of bi-amping from Club Rotel's knowledgeable members and Andrew Pratt was a strong advocate of this set-up and I am grateful for it. Try it, you will enjoy your music as well as home theater. :T

[OakIris]

(Well, sorry mod, didn't mean to offend by putting in a link to the picture of my speaker cables. Guess I needed to read the posting rules more carefully!)

Whenever I can afford to buy different cables, I guess I'll try the bi-amping of my Rotel RMB1075. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting my power amp. I'm sure I'll be back here with more questions once I receive it! First I'll take time to read the info on the Rotel site, though.

Thank you all for your help.

Holly

[Dmantis]

Why was the link to the picture of the guys speaker cables??????

I really would like to know

[OakIris]

Hi Dmantis - I think the link was removed because I got the picture directly from the website of the manufacturer, and the rules, which I didn't read until last night after the url had been removed, state that you can't link to other cable manufacturers. I haven't belonged to a forum so tightly controlled by the sponser before so didn't consider it a sin, but now I know and will abide by the rule.

[OakIris]

Just brought my RMB1075 (silver) home. I haven't even taken it out of the box yet, but :T

One more quick, probably foolish, question. I have decided to bi-amp my front speakers with the 1075, and leave the rear speakers on my RSX1055, as was suggested by Andrew & hery. So, I only need 3 interconnects from the RSX1055 to the RMB1075 now, instead of 5, as was listed in Dmantis' post - right?? ops:

[soundhound]

No, you will need 2 "Y" connectors as well as 5 interconnects. It can get a bit wordy to describe so it may be easiest to do a "biwire illustration" search or find a manual, a picture is worth a thousand words. And congrats on the new amp, they are sweet.........

[OakIris]

I haven't found much with a search on "biwire illustration" but I am still looking. I have also tried finding info on bi-amping; some of it is rather discouraging, saying that "passive biamping," which I gather is what I am trying to do, really provides no sonic improvements.

No, you will need 2 "Y" connectors as well as 5 interconnects.

So you still need to feed the surround channels from the receiver to the amp, even though you are using the amp surround outputs for the mains. But what are the Y cables for - ??

[soundhound]

You will notice your'e speakers have jumpers between the 2 sets of binding posts on them. These take 1 channel, full frequency, and let the internal passive crossovers in the speakers send lower frequencies to the "woofer", and higher frequencies to the midrange and tweeter respectively. When you bi-wire you will remove the jumpers, have 1 of the 1075 channels drive the woofer, and another channel of the 1075 drive the mid-high frequencies. That is where the "y" connector comes in. You take one channel of the RSX-1055 output, split it with a "Y" connector, and go in to 2 seperate channels of the 1075. Somewhere in the chain the low frequencies need to be seperated from the high frequenciess, as woofers can only respond to low frequency, and tweeters respond to high frequency. Without getting into the science of it better quality speakers are highly "engineered" as far as crossover points, drivers, construction wich all lend them selves to the way the speakers sound. By using passive "bi-wire" you may or may not notice sonic gains. If you want an absolute gain, try an active crossover as I am sure this is what manufacturers had intended when they put dual binding posts on their speakers. I will round up an illustration or 2 of the different options a little later and either post or send to you. By the way, have you tried your'e amp yet? What do ya think?

[basementjack]

Hey, I think Soundhound's last post is referring to bi-amping not bi-wiring.
BiWiring would be running two sets of wire from the same terminals on your amp/receiver.

Using the Y adapter like Soundhound mentioned, would be "passive bi-amping"

I too have a purchased a set of Y adapters for my 1075, but I haven't had time to make up the needed speaker cables - I am really curious of the outcome.

As far as a manufacturers intentions - I suspect many speaker makers include the dual binding posts for marketing reasons...

[soundhound]

Heya basementjack, your'e assumption is correct about passive bi-amping. Bi -wiring is a complete waste of money, period. I would argue the point with anyone who claims they get sonic benefit from paralleling wires from 1 amp channel to 2 points on a speaker. If they do it is time for money spent on a better speaker cable to begin with.

[basementjack]

Soundhound -

I totally agree!

- Jack

[OakIris]

Thank you for your help. Another kind HTGuide member sent me a picture of the set up, so now I finally understand! Splitting the signal for the mains at the pre-amp with the "Y" cable is what I was missing - I was just going to run an interconnect from each of the speaker outputs on the RSX1055 (mains and surrounds) to the RCA inputs on the RMB1075....ops: Obviously, I didn't understand what I was doing. Thanks for your patience!

Even though bi-wiring doesn't have any proven benefits, I guess I am going to both bi-wire and bi-amp. Everyone needs cables snaking all over their house, don't they?!?

I still haven't taken the RMB1075 out of its box. I'll be doing that today, but don't yet have all of the speaker cables I need to actually implement my plan. At least I'll be able to admire my new power amp.

[8thDwarf]

How about a Rotel RA-1062 integrated for flexibility.It has pre-out,a MM phono on board(coupled w/your phono gives you a 2 Table option)and more importantly in 2-3 reviews it was mentioned the RA-1062 was voiced with the RCD-1072 (and successfully takes it performance up).You could run it as a stand alone 2 channel rig... or grab 2 channels off yor RMB-1075 and bi-amp(if your speaks can do so).Or using its pre-out,insert it as your 2 channel pre(but you would have all those extra links).
Just an extra thought.

[OakIris]

That is indeed an idea to add flexibilty to my rig - but my audio budget for the entire year has now been spent. 8O I will have to make do with what I have - and I think I'll do very well indeed.

[soundhound]

Here is an illustration for anyone who may need, I also searched and found nothing on the web OakIris

[gd]

I still haven't taken the RMB1075 out of its box.

If that's still the case, and before you start throwing money at cables, I suggest hooking up the 1075 to all 5 speakers, single-wired, if only to experience the difference between that and your previous setup... I'm guessing it will be discernible, if not substantial.

Then you can make a well-informed move to bi-amping and determine those differences... active bi-amping can get a little unwieldy, and it would help to have a solid mental reference of your system's sound characteristics as you modify it... plus, it's entirely possible you might even prefer the single-wiring setup.

[OakIris]

plus, it's entirely possible you might even prefer the single-wiring setup.

Good idea gd. I may indeed give this a try when I get home tonight. I still have to set up my subwoofer, too - I am actually going to try doing it properly, with an SPL meter, etc. :roll: Might as well get it right for once!