RB-1090 Discontinued

[snowball]

I am wondering why is the rb-1090 beeing discontinued.

After all its the reference amp of rotel.Shouldnt dropping the price on it,produce more sales?

A lot of people will buy more rb-1090's,which before considered it out of their price range,while the rb-1092/1 will be the "high - end" amp !
IMO it would be a better marketing "trick" than discontinuing it completely.

If the price drops,people that allready own one,or that are planning to buy one,will be more eager to get a second one ,and will produce more income for rotel.

And even if the Rb-1090,sells better than the rb-1092/1 due to the price drop,there will be no loss for rotel,as the quantity of the units sold will equal the expected income from the rb-1092/1.

Also,a lot of people are sceptical about buying the new "digital" amps.If there is only the digital amps avalaible,some will buy from other manufacturers,just to be sure,while if both are available,possible lost customers will buy the rb-1090,and maybe after some time will trade in their amp for the rb-1092.

it just doesnt makes sense to me!

ps:i have allready posted this in another thread,but i found that it deserves one of its own!

[Kevin D]

Whatever the reason, I'm sure it makes sense to Rotel. There's a lot things you aren't considering if your theory.

The longer something is produced, the higher chance that the price of parts in it will go up. Rotel doesn't sell a whole bunch at $2000. If they had to raise the price do to a part increase or to re-tool the amp, they would sell even less.

Profit. The bottom line in every business. They easily make more money on the 1092 vs the 1090. Even the saving in shipping adds a lot. Whether the 1092 sounds better or not, consumer's always want 'new' stuff. Mitsubishi almost has no CRT models left, and will probably have none next year. It's well known that most CRT's look better then most DLP's, and when asked why they were getting out of the CRT business Mitsu said they make a ton more money on the DLP's and it's what the mass consumer wants to buy.

Very few people need 500 watts. There's no plans to discontinue the 1080 or 1070. Both of these offer plenty of power for 90% of the people out there.

In all honesty, we're really not talking about 'high-end' amps at all. I doubt that phasing out the 1090 is really going to drive people away to other brands when something equal would easily be 2-3 times the cost.

Bottom line is there was talk about phasing the 1090 out even before the 1092 was an option. It's a great amp at a great price, but it just doesn't sell that well. If it was profitable for Rotel to keep it, they would.

Kevin D.

[Kobus]

Their best amp will be the next Class D to be released. It should be the 108x. +- 250wpc. Best will be a 1083 for the front stage or a 1085.

I would love such a beast.

Kobus

[snowball]

Whatever the reason, I'm sure it makes sense to Rotel. There's a lot things you aren't considering if your theory.

The longer something is produced, the higher chance that the price of parts in it will go up. Rotel doesn't sell a whole bunch at $2000. If they had to raise the price do to a part increase or to re-tool the amp, they would sell even less.

Profit. The bottom line in every business. They easily make more money on the 1092 vs the 1090. Even the saving in shipping adds a lot. Whether the 1092 sounds better or not, consumer's always want 'new' stuff. Mitsubishi almost has no CRT models left, and will probably have none next year. It's well known that most CRT's look better then most DLP's, and when asked why they were getting out of the CRT business Mitsu said they make a ton more money on the DLP's and it's what the mass consumer wants to buy.

Very few people need 500 watts. There's no plans to discontinue the 1080 or 1070. Both of these offer plenty of power for 90% of the people out there.

In all honesty, we're really not talking about 'high-end' amps at all. I doubt that phasing out the 1090 is really going to drive people away to other brands when something equal would easily be 2-3 times the cost.

Bottom line is there was talk about phasing the 1090 out even before the 1092 was an option. It's a great amp at a great price, but it just doesn't sell that well. If it was profitable for Rotel to keep it, they would.

Kevin D.

Good points there Kevin. :T

Maybe my theory was a bit biased,because i am planning to buy the Rb-1090 come the end of summer!

When i said "high end" i meant the high end of the rotel line of products.

After all,Rotel has kept doing good sales for a long time,so they must know what they are doing!

Something that i had not considered earlier and that you pointed out,is that to get better or equal hardware of Rotel's quality you have to spend 3x.

But i am still going to do everything possible to get hold of the RB-1090! 8)