I am picking up my first rotel product tomorrow, a 1058 and am very excited but nervous. All of the HDMI business is aggravating right now with mid-fi (?) companies, but I don't really want to wait any longer to upgrade from my cheap yamaha receiver running my B&W 600 series 5.1 system.
It looks like the 1058 supports at a minimum the HDMI features I want and has a video scaler (more on that below) so I pulled the trigger on the purchase, valuing audio quality over features (a marantz, pio elite, etc would have cost a lot less, meaning I valued that perceived quality a lot). There seems to be discrepancies on the net about the 1058's multichannel audio processing capabilities (bass management and speaker settings being the ones I only really care about). So those are first things I want to test with the unit.
Which leads me to my problem: I am in the middle of an "extended move," and don't really have access to my 1080p sony sxrd tv. I will be testing the HDMI features at my friend's ht (same tv) this weekend. The tv has a weak analog scaler so that will be another feature of the 1058 I will be evaluating. My unit was sold (at the recommendation of a rotel rep talking to my dealer) with HDMI video bypass, meaning no processing of video on the hdmi inputs, so I will test this as well. (On a side note I felt like I was buying a car instead of a piece of electronics, from the choice in features (well 1 feature), finish and the final negotiation in the price).
Is there anything else you all are wondering about the 1058 that I can test? I will be using my friend's ps3 as a source, a cable box, my laptop (dvi>hdmi) and maybe an apple tv. I won't have access to my tv for a few months so must do this stuff this weekend.
Also, the lack of headphone output was a slight problem for me as I live with roommates and like to use them late at night to not disturb the others. I bought a cheap ($50) headphone distribution amp (4 outputs with independent controls) as I don't have expensive headphones and sometimes watch late at night with a friend or two. I will run this off the second zone (meaning RCAs connections all around in addition to digital). What do you all think about this solution?
Overall I am really excited about my purchase. I am hoping my B&W's really come alive with the rotel amps. Honestly I am afraid I might have over-purchased as I only have the 600 series 3 (602 mains, lcr600 center, 600 rears and the smaller sub). I also feel that buying Rotel might be a bit cliche with B&W, considering the ownership of the former by the latter.
Sorry for the long post!
It looks like the 1058 supports at a minimum the HDMI features I want and has a video scaler (more on that below) so I pulled the trigger on the purchase, valuing audio quality over features (a marantz, pio elite, etc would have cost a lot less, meaning I valued that perceived quality a lot). There seems to be discrepancies on the net about the 1058's multichannel audio processing capabilities (bass management and speaker settings being the ones I only really care about). So those are first things I want to test with the unit.
Which leads me to my problem: I am in the middle of an "extended move," and don't really have access to my 1080p sony sxrd tv. I will be testing the HDMI features at my friend's ht (same tv) this weekend. The tv has a weak analog scaler so that will be another feature of the 1058 I will be evaluating. My unit was sold (at the recommendation of a rotel rep talking to my dealer) with HDMI video bypass, meaning no processing of video on the hdmi inputs, so I will test this as well. (On a side note I felt like I was buying a car instead of a piece of electronics, from the choice in features (well 1 feature), finish and the final negotiation in the price).
Is there anything else you all are wondering about the 1058 that I can test? I will be using my friend's ps3 as a source, a cable box, my laptop (dvi>hdmi) and maybe an apple tv. I won't have access to my tv for a few months so must do this stuff this weekend.
Also, the lack of headphone output was a slight problem for me as I live with roommates and like to use them late at night to not disturb the others. I bought a cheap ($50) headphone distribution amp (4 outputs with independent controls) as I don't have expensive headphones and sometimes watch late at night with a friend or two. I will run this off the second zone (meaning RCAs connections all around in addition to digital). What do you all think about this solution?
Overall I am really excited about my purchase. I am hoping my B&W's really come alive with the rotel amps. Honestly I am afraid I might have over-purchased as I only have the 600 series 3 (602 mains, lcr600 center, 600 rears and the smaller sub). I also feel that buying Rotel might be a bit cliche with B&W, considering the ownership of the former by the latter.
Sorry for the long post!
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