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I'm going to write a little bit about these 2 Rotel amps from my experience with both in my system at the same time.
Setup:
SqueezeBox3 -> Rotel RC1070 preamp -> Rotel RB1070/Rotel RB1090 -> Martin Logan Summits -> Joey's ears
Build:
The 1070 is svelte and rather small compared to the much larger 1090. The 1090 is not only taller, but also deeper in overall size compared to the 1070. The overall look and design is the same - chassis is of the same build quality.
Prologue:
When I first got my Martin Logan Summits, I ran it with the RB1070 amp. As much as the combo sounded good, I knew there was some work ahead of me with regards to moving up in amplification. The vocal image didnt have the focus that I wanted, nor did the instruments draw me to them as much as I'd like them to, not to mention that the stage was a little shallow in depth.
When I got the opportunity to get the 1090, I jumped on the offer. A local audiophile had upgraded to the Classe CA400 and sold me his RB1090. When I picked up the 1090 from his place, I played it in A/B comparison with his Classe and to tell you the truth, I couldnt hear too big a difference.
So, let's get to meat of this review.
Sound:
In my experience with the 2 amps, there were 4 aspects of the sonic reproduction that were substantially altered.
1. Stage - With the 1090, I felt that the singer was pulled forward a bit more. Now, the singer was more consistently infront of the speaker baffle plane, whereas with the 1070, I felt that the singer fell back a little bit behind the speaker baffle plane and was "smudged" with the rest of the soundstage. The 1090, by moving the singer forward, freed up the remainder of the soundstage and allowed for better examination of the rest of the stage - thereby improving perceivable soundstage depth!
2. Transients and Dynamics - Transients were improved with the 1090. I could tell with my A/B comparisons, that the 1090 had more power/current running through the electrostats and was better able to respond to various current draws as was evident during several acoustic guitar tracks. The 1090 never sounded compressed while the 1070 seemed to have a bit of a ceiling whereby the "plucks" seemed to prematurely die out.
3. Vocal Image/Focus - The 1090 was able to remove quite a bit of the "FUZZ" around a singer's voice relative to the 1070. This was very clear when playing a song that consisted mostly of vocals - such as James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover" track. With the 1070, there was a lot of unneccessary glare and grit around the vocalist's image, while the 1090 was able to remove quite a bit of the "FUZZ" and left me with a cleaner vocal image and an enhanced vocal focus, if you will. Definitely sounded a lot more realistic in my ears.
4. Bass - Although my Summits are powered with 4 ICE-Power 200 watt amps into each of the FOUR 10" woofers, I felt that the 1090 had a very slight improvement in the bass regions. Perhaps this was because the 1090 improved panel response in the upper bass regions, I dont know. But this improvement was very minor, although in conventional, non-powered speakers, I am sure the 1090 would flex its muscle over the 1070 when it comes to moving those woofers.
Where do we go from here?
Well, I just upgraded to the Plinius SA102 125w Pure Class A amplifier and I will tell you that the jump from the 1090 to the Plinius is larger than the jump from the 1070 to the 1090! Interesting, huh? I will tell you this, although the 1090 is a very very very good amp at the $2K mark, things still get better (and still worth the extra money) at the $5-6K mark. Beyond this, I have no in-home experience... sorry. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that as good as the 1090 sounds, there's still better and it's not for that much more. The beauty about this realization is that you dont have to spend $10K to hear an audible difference over the $2K 1090, you only have to spend a few $K more and the difference that awaits you is still pretty astonishing.
I guess to put it in perspective... I was worried that the 1090 was hitting the 90% mark of audio reproduction, because from what I heard, I still wanted more. However, with the recent upgrade to the Plinius, I would put the 1090 at about 50% of audio reproduction potential (at the amplification level)... so there's some room to improve on here! And the beauty is, you dont have to mortgage your house to get to that next level if you so desire.
Conclusion:
IMO, the 1090 is as good as Rotel gets, as I've heard the 1091 and 1092 amps side/side. There is a difference in sonic reproduction if you focus on the 4 areas I listed above when you audition. IMO, once you hear the difference, you'll want to jump to the 1090... the 1070 wont give you the same experience, nor will it satisfy you IF you've heard what the 1090 can do in your particular audio system. There is no question that even under the same volume setting, the 1090 is exactly HOW Rotel wanted sound to be reproduced (at the amplification level) and there is no question that it is worth the $2K it retailed for, given that the 1070 retails for $700.
I liked the 1090 a lot, and if it wasnt for a great opportunity that opened itself to me to acquire a Plinius, I'd be in the 1090 camp indefinitely.
:T
Setup:
SqueezeBox3 -> Rotel RC1070 preamp -> Rotel RB1070/Rotel RB1090 -> Martin Logan Summits -> Joey's ears
Build:
The 1070 is svelte and rather small compared to the much larger 1090. The 1090 is not only taller, but also deeper in overall size compared to the 1070. The overall look and design is the same - chassis is of the same build quality.
Prologue:
When I first got my Martin Logan Summits, I ran it with the RB1070 amp. As much as the combo sounded good, I knew there was some work ahead of me with regards to moving up in amplification. The vocal image didnt have the focus that I wanted, nor did the instruments draw me to them as much as I'd like them to, not to mention that the stage was a little shallow in depth.
When I got the opportunity to get the 1090, I jumped on the offer. A local audiophile had upgraded to the Classe CA400 and sold me his RB1090. When I picked up the 1090 from his place, I played it in A/B comparison with his Classe and to tell you the truth, I couldnt hear too big a difference.
So, let's get to meat of this review.
Sound:
In my experience with the 2 amps, there were 4 aspects of the sonic reproduction that were substantially altered.
1. Stage - With the 1090, I felt that the singer was pulled forward a bit more. Now, the singer was more consistently infront of the speaker baffle plane, whereas with the 1070, I felt that the singer fell back a little bit behind the speaker baffle plane and was "smudged" with the rest of the soundstage. The 1090, by moving the singer forward, freed up the remainder of the soundstage and allowed for better examination of the rest of the stage - thereby improving perceivable soundstage depth!
2. Transients and Dynamics - Transients were improved with the 1090. I could tell with my A/B comparisons, that the 1090 had more power/current running through the electrostats and was better able to respond to various current draws as was evident during several acoustic guitar tracks. The 1090 never sounded compressed while the 1070 seemed to have a bit of a ceiling whereby the "plucks" seemed to prematurely die out.
3. Vocal Image/Focus - The 1090 was able to remove quite a bit of the "FUZZ" around a singer's voice relative to the 1070. This was very clear when playing a song that consisted mostly of vocals - such as James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover" track. With the 1070, there was a lot of unneccessary glare and grit around the vocalist's image, while the 1090 was able to remove quite a bit of the "FUZZ" and left me with a cleaner vocal image and an enhanced vocal focus, if you will. Definitely sounded a lot more realistic in my ears.
4. Bass - Although my Summits are powered with 4 ICE-Power 200 watt amps into each of the FOUR 10" woofers, I felt that the 1090 had a very slight improvement in the bass regions. Perhaps this was because the 1090 improved panel response in the upper bass regions, I dont know. But this improvement was very minor, although in conventional, non-powered speakers, I am sure the 1090 would flex its muscle over the 1070 when it comes to moving those woofers.
Where do we go from here?
Well, I just upgraded to the Plinius SA102 125w Pure Class A amplifier and I will tell you that the jump from the 1090 to the Plinius is larger than the jump from the 1070 to the 1090! Interesting, huh? I will tell you this, although the 1090 is a very very very good amp at the $2K mark, things still get better (and still worth the extra money) at the $5-6K mark. Beyond this, I have no in-home experience... sorry. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that as good as the 1090 sounds, there's still better and it's not for that much more. The beauty about this realization is that you dont have to spend $10K to hear an audible difference over the $2K 1090, you only have to spend a few $K more and the difference that awaits you is still pretty astonishing.
I guess to put it in perspective... I was worried that the 1090 was hitting the 90% mark of audio reproduction, because from what I heard, I still wanted more. However, with the recent upgrade to the Plinius, I would put the 1090 at about 50% of audio reproduction potential (at the amplification level)... so there's some room to improve on here! And the beauty is, you dont have to mortgage your house to get to that next level if you so desire.
Conclusion:
IMO, the 1090 is as good as Rotel gets, as I've heard the 1091 and 1092 amps side/side. There is a difference in sonic reproduction if you focus on the 4 areas I listed above when you audition. IMO, once you hear the difference, you'll want to jump to the 1090... the 1070 wont give you the same experience, nor will it satisfy you IF you've heard what the 1090 can do in your particular audio system. There is no question that even under the same volume setting, the 1090 is exactly HOW Rotel wanted sound to be reproduced (at the amplification level) and there is no question that it is worth the $2K it retailed for, given that the 1070 retails for $700.
I liked the 1090 a lot, and if it wasnt for a great opportunity that opened itself to me to acquire a Plinius, I'd be in the 1090 camp indefinitely.
:T
; the problem is that the price jump is HUGE.....out of my league at the moment... :roll: 
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