I did it: RB-1092 + B&W XT4

[Frankster72]

hi,

like some here in the forum said the B&W XT4 speakers need a very powerful amp. I didn't want to belive my 2x 125 watts in stereo class-D amp (rmb-1077) won't be sufficient.

so I organized an rb-1092 amp. when connected behind the preprocessor rsp-1069. the xt sound much fuller. sound stage was wider. voices had more volume...

but than I tried something strange:

I'm using a sonos digital music system as my sound source. I connected it to my cd player with uses a very good DA converter.
And finally I connected the cd-player outputs directly to the rb-1092!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

yes! this works - volume can be controlled digital by the sonos. I really didn't noticed any detail loss in sound while doing this..

and.........

wow!!! it seems the whole system now runs on steroids. dynamic range incredibly increased. guitars sound like the guitar amp is in the living room. the whole sound is much clearer, like a certain has been removed.

this is an very incredible little system. when you close your eyes you would guess there are way bigger speakers playing. base sound like an extra pv1 was added :-)

but - this also means the rotel proprocessor the rsp-1069 is a real sound killer.

I might replace it by an Audionet Map V2, or what would you suggest. Another option would be staying the the sonos and the dac converter. for surround I could use some kind of a cheap japan receiver connected to the analog inputs of the sonos....

br,
frank

[MacUser]

Sonos? CD-player? DAC? I'm a little confused about what was connected to ... what again?

;-)

Seriously - the RSPs are well known sound-killers when playing analog sources through AD/DA converters (PCM stereo) - in fact every digital prepro is, because the signal has to be converted and processed DA-AD-DSP-DA.
The best option to take advantage of an external DAC is to use "Bypass Stereo". Of course you'd lose bass management completely ...

Another option: Bypass the external DAC with connecting the CD-player via SPDIF to the RSP ... so you'll have just DSP-DA conversion. The DAC in the RSP might not be as good as a CD-player internal DAC, though - especially for stereo signals when it comes to high end audio ...

[MacUser]

The RSP-1098 does a better job on DA and AD conversions - give it a try.

I've had my RDC-991 modified by Stefan Horwege (www.hoer-wege.de) - he can modify prepros as well and I know he has some experience with the 1098 ...

[Frankster72]

ok, i'll give it a try :-)

first I just use digital sources. the sonos is one of those with a s/p-dif out.

when I bought the rsp-1069 my intention was to also by a good build in DAC. But thats not the case. So I used an external DAC:

For testing I chosse my 2000,- EUR valve unison CD player from my other stereo that can be switched to DAC mode. I'll call this thing from now on external DAC to not confuse anyone :-)

ok, when the external DAC was connected to the RSP-1069 at the analog inputs, and stereo mode set to bypass. the sound was slighly better when the internal RSP DAC's but no big step!

When I did another test. I disconnected the RSP-1069 completely. connected the external DAC directly to my power amp (rb-1092).

...and.... sound quality increased dramatically...

although I took the handicap of volume control. my digital source - the sonos - can ajust the volume. but this reduces the digital resolution at lower levels. also volume mathematics reduce the sound quality also. but I coul'd notice a detail loss for lower levels...

hey, and thanks for the link of stefan horwege. sounds very interesting. maybe I'll give it a try and contact him...

btw. the 1098 uses the same DAC then the 1068. some ppl in the forum say that the 1069 and 1068 are almost equal by sound quality. I'm not sure if the 1098 really beats the 1069.

[MacUser]

Even if the DAC in the 1068 and 1098 are equal there are "some" more components involved that can make a huge difference ... (capacitors, OPAs, power supply etc.) ... you won't know for sure unless you've tried.

Ooh - a quick look at Stefan's page showed the RSP-1068 in his list of well known and modifyable prepros ... guess I'm having a cup of coffee with him soon!

[Mig17]

1068 at 1700 $ and 1069 at 2200$
I think 500$ is for the Video scaler section and not enough money for 1069 to sound better than 1068
i think 1098 at 3k is still the best of Rotel

[Frankster72]

my dealer here in germany offers the 1068 for 899,- EUR. thats quite cheap. maybe it is worth the money investing for modifications...

[Mig17]

In singapore the 1098 is around 3300 singapore dollar
i think the new 1069 need some more time to clear out of the mentioned issues
I really want to go for 1098 to replace the crappy Denon AVR processor