Poll: Does anyone have a reliable 1098?

[sridhar mahadevan]

As I contemplate whether to try a new 1098, or simply
returning my existing (defective) one, it would be useful to get
some (unscientific) feedback on the reliability of the 1098.

From my search of this forum, I see far more postings on problems
with the 1098, mostly relating to its extreme sensitivity to RFI
interference, but some also relating to its video problems and
volume control flaws.

So, does anyone have a 1098 that a) does not produce any popping noises or glitches in response to RF interference in a normal household (e.g, refrigerator or heater turning on) b) no glitching on layer changes
in DVD or HDTV d) video upsampling without glitches.

Regarding part d), what I noticed in upsamping a laser disc player
composite output to component video is dropped frames (the picture
suddenly goes black for a second or two and then recovers). The picture also shows mild inference in comparision to a straight hookup.

Thanks for the feedback!

- Sridhar

P.S. There are still some inherent design flaws that leave me scratching my head. Why, oh, why design a volume control that needs to go up to
70% to produce moderate volume. This is a bug that I noticed affects
everyone, and I was able to reproduce it in my dealer's sample as well.
What were they thinking?

[Kevin D]

Unfortunately, most people don't post when their products are working fine, so it only seems that they all have problems because that's the only posts you get. The only problem I've had is that my dishplayer doesn't like to go through the video conversion. Colors are off and it puts in interference. That said, my dishplayer didn't like going through a $1000 scaler either so I'm leaning towards a funky output on the satellite. Everything else through the the converter does fine.

Otherwise it is going fine and I couldn't be happier.

Regarding your P.S., this always comes up and I'm always reminded of Spinal Tap. Maybe if your amps went to 11 you wouldn't have this problem.. With everything that effects loudness, (room, speakers, amplifiers, cables, etc), it's just a number. How is it a bug because Rotel decided to make 70 moderately loud? If they were still using a -db scale I could see a complaint, but they're not. Is it really that hard to just adjust your perceived scale? Even my wife understands "Ok, we just turn it up to 60 normally now, I got it" Unless 95 isn't loud enough what's the problem??

Kevin D.

[Kevin D]

Damn double posts..

[mazuly]

Hi,

I own a 1098 and to answer your questions:

1) I do not have any RF issues with it. I did have the center channel whine but that was fixed by adding the shield to the board.

2) As for the video, I have connected all video sources directly to my TV set bypassing 1098. I did test to see if there were any problems with the video inputs and could not find any, but I prefer to go directly to my TV set.

Thanks,
Maziar

[Andrew Pratt]

Mines been rock solid since the day I got it. Like the others said you typically only hear about people asking about problems...its seldom that you see people posting about how good a product is...well unless its an SVS subwoofer :roll:

[Jason Brown]

I've had no problems with my 1098, although I don't utilize as many of its features (component upconversion, 7.1) as some people. I freaking love it!

While I'm here, I've also had no issues with my RMB-1095. Reading about them on the internet led me to believe I probably would, but that isn't the case.

[Azeke]

I consider my 1098 very reliable at least at this point. I don't utilize progessive scan/HD as others may here (next upgrade). I had actually exchanged my RSP-1098 (I received one of the first versions). This is a beautiful machine and I enjoy it tremendously and haven't experienced any issues at this time.

Hope this helps,

Azeke

[jimmyp58]

Is the RSP-1098 a perfect machine? No, but show me a pre-pro that is! From a viewer's perspective that either doesn't own the unit or is simply a casual guest, it could be construed that some/many comments are "negative" or that this unit has more problems than things it does well. Quite the contrary and you have to put things into context. A lot of the comments involve "tweaks" or things people wished it did not that it doesn't do enough. Heck, there are so many features most folks rarely if ever use them all. Lets face it, most of us are searching for listening nirvana so we find little things we wish it did. I would bet some serious monies that regardless of what pre-pro we owned, we'd do the exact same thing.

As for my unit, I couldn't be happier. Have I had some struggles with it? A little, but certainly I have had the opportunity or the means to replace it and I haven't. This was the first serious pre-pro I owned and my initial struggles, I believe, had to do with my dealer not explaining more about the features, setup, etc. which caused some heartburn for me. Once I got over this hump, and rather quickly if I may add, I have been nothing but pleased. My firmware upgrade in early November went flawlessly and actually made my system sound a lot better on the whole and not just for the things they "fixed". I had the center channel whine but Tim sent me the RF shield and it was an easy install and solved the problem. It does an awesome job on 2-channel music, multi-channel music, and movies --- how could I ask for more?

I was helping a friend of mine setup his HT this past weekend. He's got a great system. While he's not a Rotel fan, not sure why, he has some awesome components --- Bryston 1.7 pre-pro, Earthquake CineNova Grande 5 amp, Denon DVD-5900, B&W Nautilus speakers, two cd carousels, etc. Here's my point though. While the Bryston pre-pro is an awesome device sonically, it has very few inputs (by design). Advantage Rotel RSP-1098. It's OSD menu is horrible. Advantage 1098. The sonic tweaking lacks flexibility. Advantage 1098. No video inputs. Advantage 1098. No software upgrades available. Major advantage 1098 (well, you could send the unit in for a major software enhancement as I understand). And the unit has a MSRP that is ~ $1,300 more (U.S.) than the 1098.

So, there is my comments on the original post. Hope this helps....

Jim

[jimmyp58]

Is the RSP-1098 a perfect machine? No, but show me a pre-pro that is! From a viewer's perspective that either doesn't own the unit or is simply a casual guest, it could be construed that some/many comments are "negative" or that this unit has more problems than things it does well. Quite the contrary and you have to put things into context. A lot of the comments involve "tweaks" or things people wished it did not that it doesn't do enough. Heck, there are so many features most folks rarely if ever use them all. Lets face it, most of us are searching for listening nirvana so we find little things we wish it did. I would bet some serious monies that regardless of what pre-pro we owned, we'd do the exact same thing.

As for my unit, I couldn't be happier. Have I had some struggles with it? A little, but certainly I have had the opportunity or the means to replace it and I haven't. This was the first serious pre-pro I owned and my initial struggles, I believe, had to do with my dealer not explaining more about the features, setup, etc. which caused some heartburn for me. Once I got over this hump, and rather quickly if I may add, I have been nothing but pleased. My firmware upgrade in early November went flawlessly and actually made my system sound a lot better on the whole and not just for the things they "fixed". I had the center channel whine but Tim sent me the RF shield and it was an easy install and solved the problem. It does an awesome job on 2-channel music, multi-channel music, and movies --- how could I ask for more?

I was helping a friend of mine setup his HT this past weekend. He's got a great system. While he's not a Rotel fan, not sure why, he has some awesome components --- Bryston 1.7 pre-pro, Earthquake CineNova Grande 5 amp, Denon DVD-5900, B&W Nautilus speakers, two cd carousels, etc. Here's my point though. While the Bryston pre-pro is an awesome device sonically, it has very few inputs (by design). Advantage Rotel RSP-1098. It's OSD menu is horrible. Advantage 1098. The sonic tweaking lacks flexibility. Advantage 1098. No video inputs. Advantage 1098. No software upgrades available. Major advantage 1098 (well, you could send the unit in for a major software enhancement as I understand). And the unit has a MSRP that is ~ $1,300 more (U.S.) than the 1098.

So, there is my comments on the original post. Hope this helps....

Jim

[Aussie Geoff]

Sridhar,

So, does anyone have a 1098 that a) does not produce any popping noises or glitches in response to RF interference in a normal household (e.g, refrigerator or heater turning on) b) no glitches on layer changes in DVD or HDTV d) video up sampling without glitches.

Absolutely - I have:

• No popping noises
• No glitches with RF interference (& I have satellite boxed and digital TV boxes one shelf above the RSP-1098
• Layer change is perfect with no loss of sound even with the delay from my Sony Progressive DVD
• Good quality up sampling from S-Video to Component.

Try a new one - they’re worth it.

Geoff

[apotts]

I have the problem, BUT:

I have tamed it, but not eliminated it by using good IC's.

No amount of scientific elimination can remove it, from my home. Cables, mains, amps, sources, whatever, it's always there (and I'm afraid it has to be the 1098). Anyone who suggests that it is the fault of my mains supply should address the issue that my Denon 3803 and my AX5i did not suffer this fault, plugged into the same mains, same system. If Denon can manage it, so should Rotel.

A replacement 1098 did not fix it, just reduce it. The first one suffered so badly that the interference cut the digital signal.

However,

The glitches are minor and the SQ is stunning. Good enough for me to keep the product and ignore the "click" that I get every 5-10 minutes.

Andrew

[gostan]

So, does anyone have a 1098 that a) does not produce any popping noises or glitches in response to RF interference in a normal household (e.g, refrigerator or heater turning on) b) no glitching on layer changes
in DVD or HDTV d) video upsampling without glitches.

1.No popping noises.
2.No layer changes on my Denon 2900 or Sony HD300.
3.Video upsampling is a-ok for now.

[Zzap]

My 1098 is flawless!

[TonyL]

*No popping noises
*No interference from RF
*No video problems (no visible layer change from Denon 2900

I have experienced the center channel noise and am awaiting the fix.

Also have experienced problem with 1098 "remembering" Dynamic compression setting. Tried to use the user default setting but when I activate it, the 1098 shuts down. This, according to Tim Wyatt at Rotel, is not suppose to happen. He suggested contacting my dealer and getting the problem resolved. My dealer, fortunately, is very easy to deal with.

It has also been a little disconcerting getting used to the volume setting. Seems like turning up the volume does not produce an immediate increase in the sound level, but rather a slooow increase.

These quirks aside, I love my 1098 (and 1095) and would not consider anything else.

[Aussie Geoff]

TonyL,

Re your volume control not being responsive - you may wish to try the Volume Speed = FAST setting in the OTHER OPTIONS set-up menu. It moves the volume in 3 dB increments and is 3 times "faster" than the default setting of SLOW which I use.

FYI the VARIABLE option in the RSP-1098 Wish List is designed to automatically move from SLOW to FAST the longer you press, as with some other processors etc. to deal with your concern while still allowing fine volume adjustments.

Geoff