RB 1050 or 1070?

[Jeffo19]

My first question is, will small speakers benefit with more power. I am currently using an Rotel Ra-02(40W), and was thinking if there would be any sound improvment if I used the Ra-02 as my preamp, and got a seperate power amp? I can understand large speakers needing more power, but small monitors.
Second, has anyone heard these 2 amps, and is there any sound difference between the 2? I would imagine the 1070 would have more bass output. Thanks..Jeff

[chrispy35]

The 1070 will go louder without distortion. If it has more bass than the 1050 at a matched volume level (without distortion) I would say something is wrong with one or the other.

Chris P.

[hifiguymi]

Second, has anyone heard these 2 amps, and is there any sound difference between the 2? I would imagine the 1070 would have more bass output. Thanks..Jeff

The RB-1070 won't have more bass, but it will have better control of the bass. Some people think it sounds like more but it's not. The RB-1070 is better is all areas IMO. Having a bigger power supply, and more output in this case, it controls speakers better.

Eric

[Jeffo19]

Yeah. It always seemed to me that anytime I would go with a higher powered amp,(lets say 70W-200W), it always sounded like more bass was coming from the speakers. From what I have read, the higher current pushes the drivers harder, thus producing a stronger bass response. Sometimes, I would prefer a lower wattage amp, just because the higher powered amp made my speakers sound too bass heavy. Perhaps I'm wrong, but this was always my observations when changing power amps.

[Redhawk]

When listening at normal volumes, something that you can still talk over comfortably, is there more details with more watts in the mids and highs?

[hifiguymi]

When listening at normal volumes, something that you can still talk over comfortably, is there more details with more watts in the mids and highs?

If you are comparing two similar amps like the RB-1050 and the RB-1070 that is usually the case, but not always.

I have also compared plenty of amps with smaller outputs (like a Classe CA2100 at 100 watts per channel) to bigger amps (like the Rotel RB-1080 at 200 watts per channel) and the smaller output amp sounds better. It comes down to quality of design, parts, etc.

Eric