RCD-1072 and RA-1062 with RB-1080

[Jamil]

Rotel fans,

I recently purchased RA-1062 to power my 2 channel setup consisting of Era Design 5 speakers. The audio source is RCD-1072. Although the setup is quite pleasing to the ears I get the feeling that having a little more oomph in the watt/channel section will really help the speakers show their true potential. The RA-1062 has pre-outs and I was wondering if adding an RB-1080 via those will assist in getting the desired results. Has anyone tried using the pre-outs on the RA-1062 in this fashion to feed their power hungry speakers? If yes, did you notice any difference? Any thoughts will be appreciated.
Thanks.

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Nasser

[hifiguymi]

The RB-1080 will sound better than the amps in the RA-1062. The preamp section of the RA-1062 is pretty good, very much like the one in the RC-1070. I don't know those speakers so I'm not sure if it would be a big improvement but it would be better. It would also allow you to upgrade to a better preamp later on.

Eric

[linuxtx]

After doing a good bit of research on this (particularly with the Era speakers), You can get reasonable sound from them with a smaller amp, but the RB-1080 has been noted as an excellent match with these speakers. They are fairly inefficient speakers, and they do not hide this fact. It was required to get the smaller cabinet. Some people have been happy with the RB-1070, but noted strain at high listening levels. The RB-1080 should be plenty of power and mate well.

[Jamil]

Thank you for the responses. I actually wanted to get the RC-1070/RB-1080 to begin with but had a deal on RA-1062 which was too good to pass up on. IMHO, it is still one of the better integrated amps in its price range out there but can have its challenges if you have inefficient speakers like the Era D5's. Now I go hunt for a used RB-1080.

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Nasser