So how about a update on the new 15 series?

[Dmantis]

Hey people,

I was wondering about the current owners with the 15 series products. The Preamp , the receivers, the amps you know. Can you fill me in on a update?

How is the system running? What are the cool things you really like about them? How are they compared to Older Rotel gear if you owned any?

Is there anything you would change or would rather have?

Did you compare it to anything esle before you purchased?

What made you purchase Rotel over other brands?

Thanks upfront,

Dan

[Dmantis]

Is anyone happy with there new 15 series?? Maybe not enough people have them yet?

I was curious to hear some more positive things about the current releases from Rotel.

Someone talk to me....LOL

[Leef DaLucky]

Dan's chomping at the bit
I'm still on vacation so I spent this morning at the shop.
My plan today, was to audition:
1) Pioneer Sc-05
2) Pioneer Sc-07
3) Rotel Rsx-1550
4) Rotel Rsx-1560
5) Rotel Rsp-1570+RMB-1575

I only got the first 4 done. My local dealer in toronto always seems to have either the 1570 in, or the 1575 in. Never the 2 shall meet
He keeps on selling them.

I liked the 1550. Even despite it's somewhat lightweight 75w, it sounded pretty nice. This was on some on-wall Paradigm Cinemas. Heard the Sc-05 on the same system and there seemed to be a lot of snap, crackle pop. Have to mention this to my guy next time it really wasn't a fair comparison, the rotel stomped the sc-05.

In the next room, was where the fun started. They had the 1560 and the sc-07 hooked up to a P'digm100/690/ADP/Seismic12 combo. Nice stuff. The 1560 was on and I grabbed a seat for about 15 mintues with some Jazz. It was Quite nice. solid bass. extended highs. I was surprised that the 100w ClassD was driving that weight with such articulation. I also heard the Sc-07 on that system, and found that they were pretty close with the edge going to Rotel. Not sure why. the Pioneer has about 30 watts on the rotel's amp. This was at moderate/low listening levels.
When i go back on the weekend, i'll bring some of my own material and pump it up a notch. (maybe, then i'll see more of a difference).
They honestly were prepping the store (I think some new B&W's were coming in tommorrow?) and I didn't want to start fiddling with the volume too much without a rep there to help me.

If the 1560 sounds anything like the 1570/1565 combo, then I think i'd be a happy camper and quite content. I don't want to be happy though. I want to be ECSTATIC! That's why I'm waiting for the 1570/1575 combo before i make up my mind. Alex briefly said that they have it hooked up to the Krell for now and it's knocking their socks off! It's a serious beast of an amp. I'm going to wait until the weekend and he SHOULD be getting another rsp-1570 to hook up to it.

[Leef DaLucky]

P.S. I briefly talked to him about some of the new rotel issues and he agreed that he's seen a couple flaky things since he's already hooked up about 3-4 systems for his clients.
He knew about the DVI/HDCP handshake issue when using HDMI adapters.
He knew about the 2 second delay with CD's and the processor lock-on.
He also mentioned that he was seeing some abberations in 2 channel audio when HDMI was the connection. Now that I think about it, I'll bring this back up on the weekend.
One of my intentions was to use my BD-35 panny bluray player as my CD transport.

I suppose maybe i'll bring my little camera out too and try to get some shots.
They REALLY are nice looking units in person. Especially the black.
Awesome stuff.

Cheers,
L.
P.P.S. I almost forgot, Alex has been through these Rotels before and we both agreed that Rotel is probably working on fixes for these as we speak. They have a slow track record for getting FW revisions out. but they DO get released.
(i'm sure the RSP-1066 guys know all about doing a little freelance beta testing...that's what happens when you deal with a small company like Rotel)

[Dmantis]

Thank you very much for the update.

We carry Paradigm's and I'm loving the S 12 sub. Killer damn in 10 or 12. Load it up in a corner and man does it go.
Anyway, The Sc05 and 07 both use ICE amps so this is a really good compare. Pioneer Elite make very nice products and sound good with Paradigm.
Looking forward to more. And the pic's. yeah the black looks very good.

Dan

[Mark_C.]

I'd like to see a 1570 up close and personal, but the only Rotel dealer in town won't stock any until all the 10 series pre/pros are sold. They still have a 1068 on display for a whole 15 percent off list.

[Dmantis]

I'd like to see a 1570 up close and personal, but the only Rotel dealer in town won't stock any until all the 10 series pre/pros are sold. They still have a 1068 on display for a whole 15 percent off list.

Thats basically what I have run into. I have 2 Rotel dealers near by and both do not have 15 series on display, they both still have 10 series and I don't even remember seeing a discount.

[Pitou5]

From my own experience, the RSX-1550 is a bit bugged. Just hoping firmware updates will fix those issues.

I won't re-list the previous bugs from previous posts, so...

1- There is a video upscaling bug from 1080i component to 1080p HDMI. (Interference-like horizontal lines all across the screen)

2- When using HDMI audio along with my HD-DVD player, when I downmix to 2 channels (because I often watch movies using headphones, girlfriend sleeping!) and fast forward the movie then play again, I lose the "center channel", in fact I can't hear the dialog anymore. I have yet to test the player on another receiver.

3- The remote literally sucks in very dark room, like mine. It can take around 15 seconds to wake up when I press a button. Even the light button behaves the same. (Batteries are new). I still have my RR-969 from my old RSX-1055 and this one works like a charm with the RSX-1550. So for now I use my old remote. I'm thinking asking my dealer to order a RR-1050 maybe, instead...

4- Angle and distance for infrared on the RSX-1550 is not as good as my previous RSX-1055. The receiving IR is located in a little circle on the left side and it's not as efficient as it was before. I really have to point the receiver perfectly. A little bit annoying.

5- The display reflects the characters on the edge of the plastic, depending on where you sit. It can be distracting.

Apart from that, the sound quality is awesome! I think it's even better than my previous RSX-1055. Maybe because of the new DACS, since the amplification stage seems to be the same.

Feel free to comment!

Pitou!

[Dmantis]

Thanks for the info. Sorry to hear you are having some problems.

The Ir problem would be solved by a universal remote with full backlighting like a nice mx900 from Universal remote. I never use the factory remotes.

Dan

[vernonl]

Hi guys,

I've had my RSX-1560 for a little over a week now and I just happened to get mine from Alex in Toronto as well. Considering how few dealers there are and he had his hooked to a Krell as well, I'm assuming he's the same guy..

That said, I have mine hooked up to my B&W 804S's and so far I'm really enjoying it. The 100W a channel has been "good enough" to power the 250W rated speakers and the sound is clean, albeit a little bright. I've had to knock down the HFs a notch for most of my listening to avoid getting a headache from the highs after an hour of listening.

The HDMI delay is pretty bad but then that's HDMI for you. It'll be great of Rotel fixes this b/c it can be annoying after hitting pause on a movie to miss a few seconds of dialogue and having to rewind a bit to catch it.

My biggest head scratcher has been trying to get this receiver to play stereo w/ my ASW-750. So far it's a no go. Can't figure it out, but I'm new to this...

I also have it running through HDMI and have noticed that my Dolby TrueHD stuff is running in Multichannel but the receiver's saying it's at a 48K sample rate which I don't think is right? The source is the PS3 which I've set up for LPCM up to the 190K sampling at 7.1 so this shouldn't be an issue.

I'm trying to determine if the tested source material is actually sampled at that, namely Wall-E and Transformers Blurays.

[Nolan B]

I also have it running through HDMI and have noticed that my Dolby TrueHD stuff is running in Multichannel but the receiver's saying it's at a 48K sample rate which I don't think is right? The source is the PS3 which I've set up for LPCM up to the 190K sampling at 7.1 so this shouldn't be an issue.
.

48k is right. Every BD lossless track aside from a few music BDs have a 48k sample rate. Lossless is 16 bit 48k or 24 bit 48k.

[alo_dk]

(private) Review Rb1572:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1109794

[Dmantis]

Hi guys,

I've had my RSX-1560 for a little over a week now and I just happened to get mine from Alex in Toronto as well. Considering how few dealers there are and he had his hooked to a Krell as well, I'm assuming he's the same guy..

That said, I have mine hooked up to my B&W 804S's and so far I'm really enjoying it. The 100W a channel has been "good enough" to power the 250W rated speakers and the sound is clean, albeit a little bright. I've had to knock down the HFs a notch for most of my listening to avoid getting a headache from the highs after an hour of listening.

The HDMI delay is pretty bad but then that's HDMI for you. It'll be great of Rotel fixes this b/c it can be annoying after hitting pause on a movie to miss a few seconds of dialogue and having to rewind a bit to catch it.

My biggest head scratcher has been trying to get this receiver to play stereo w/ my ASW-750. So far it's a no go. Can't figure it out, but I'm new to this...

I also have it running through HDMI and have noticed that my Dolby TrueHD stuff is running in Multichannel but the receiver's saying it's at a 48K sample rate which I don't think is right? The source is the PS3 which I've set up for LPCM up to the 190K sampling at 7.1 so this shouldn't be an issue.

I'm trying to determine if the tested source material is actually sampled at that, namely Wall-E and Transformers Blurays.

I install a lot of HDMI gear and none of it does what you are describing with the Rotel. THe delay I would want to throw it out a window. What has Rotel said about this issue? What if you pause Cable with DVR? Does it do the same thing?

[Leef DaLucky]

Hi Vernonl,
ya that's, indeed, the same shop. Great guys there and they know their stuff.
I got a little snowed-in this weekend and by the time I shoveled, I didn't even feel like going out and contending with all the accidents so I spent saturday in front of tube

I did stop by on the way home from work today and had a listen to the Krell/1575 combo and it sounded awesome. We did some KD Lang and some Jazz off the Escient drive (nice little unit too, btw). I was pretty giddy. Lots of headroom, it seemed to layer and wrap the music all around the room. I'm not a big fan of KD Lang, but even when I heard her, I was pretty impressed. Those guys are still expecting their shipment of Rotel Pre's, so i'll reserve final judgement until the complete combo is available to audition.

So you're finding 100w is fine with 804s? I loved the sound of the 1560. It was extremely controlled. I'm coming from a Panasonic Class D and decided it was time to move up. One of the things that I loved about the Panny was it's totally black background. No hiss, Nothing..I found today when i was listening that there was a ever so slight hiss with the 1560, but i think it might have been the escient. Again, another variable to think about. Maybe I should just take my bd-35 over, too.
I'll be pairing these with a Paradigm 40/470/20 combo. The P'digms are even easier to drive than your Bowers. Now, I'm starting to wonder if I should be looking at the 1565.
Decisions, Decisions...
This is for my upcoming condo, and I usually listen at moderate levels, and I absolutely cannot be blasting it.
If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.
Main room will be 16x18x9.

I liked the Sc-07, but I think I have my heart set on separates.
And i've always wanted Rotel.
These bugs are setting off my spidey sense though.
All these units were supposed to be 100% QC'd off the line.
I hope most of these issues are fixable with some minimal upgrades.
Who knows, maybe i'd be better off just waiting a month or 2 for the dust to settle.
I'm in no hurry.

[Leef DaLucky]

alo_dk,
ya I read that very review last night.
That's why i wanted to go in today and listen to what 250w of Rotel Class D sounded like this afternoon. Wish I had that guy's technical vocabulary, so i could explain my findings more elaborately. I gotta get off this fence soon.
*laughs*
I'm not even researching my appliances this thoroughly and i have to go buy them on wednesday. heh.
(although i was careful to try to choose appliances with minimal audible interference, so they don't screw with my Rotel sessions).
"Insulation package with your Dishwasher, Sir"
"Hellz ya."

[Dmantis]

Hi Vernonl,
ya that's, indeed, the same shop. Great guys there and they know their stuff.
I got a little snowed-in this weekend and by the time I shoveled, I didn't even feel like going out and contending with all the accidents so I spent saturday in front of tube

I did stop by on the way home from work today and had a listen to the Krell/1575 combo and it sounded awesome. We did some KD Lang and some Jazz off the Escient drive (nice little unit too, btw). I was pretty giddy. Lots of headroom, it seemed to layer and wrap the music all around the room. I'm not a big fan of KD Lang, but even when I heard her, I was pretty impressed. Those guys are still expecting their shipment of Rotel Pre's, so i'll reserve final judgement until the complete combo is available to audition.

So you're finding 100w is fine with 804s? I loved the sound of the 1560. It was extremely controlled. I'm coming from a Panasonic Class D and decided it was time to move up. One of the things that I loved about the Panny was it's totally black background. No hiss, Nothing..I found today when i was listening that there was a ever so slight hiss with the 1560, but i think it might have been the escient. Again, another variable to think about. Maybe I should just take my bd-35 over, too.
I'll be pairing these with a Paradigm 40/470/20 combo. The P'digms are even easier to drive than your Bowers. Now, I'm starting to wonder if I should be looking at the 1565.
Decisions, Decisions...
This is for my upcoming condo, and I usually listen at moderate levels, and I absolutely cannot be blasting it.
If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.
Main room will be 16x18x9.

I liked the Sc-07, but I think I have my heart set on separates.
And i've always wanted Rotel.
These bugs are setting off my spidey sense though.
All these units were supposed to be 100% QC'd off the line.
I hope most of these issues are fixable with some minimal upgrades.
Who knows, maybe i'd be better off just waiting a month or 2 for the dust to settle.
I'm in no hurry.

Going with the Sc-07 is a fantastic choice especially with your speaker package. I install P'digms all the time and like them a lot. The Studio 100's are one of my favorites. I also like the Studio 20's , great mid bass and nice smooth highs.
There is no quirks that I'm aware of with the Pioneer. I Install them all the time. Rotel I hope fixes these bugs. I want to jump on a new preamp but I'm trigger shy right not due to so many factors.Money isn't one of them. I just want a solid good working I don't have to constantly fix it preamp. It seems like a lot to ask for these days.

[GillianSeed]

What Amplification would you recommend for my System (Rated at 4Ohm)?

Front 2x350W
Center 300W
Surround 2x100W
Back 2x170W

I realy cant deside what Rotel offers by his 15 Series.
No Class-D Monos are here or will ever be?

I could go for 5x250 + 2x250. But I think its a waste of money.
Perhaps 5x100 + 2x250. Fine for the front, but my Center would be limited, does he?

[vernonl]

Hi Vernonl,
ya that's, indeed, the same shop. Great guys there and they know their stuff.
I got a little snowed-in this weekend and by the time I shoveled, I didn't even feel like going out and contending with all the accidents so I spent saturday in front of tube

I did stop by on the way home from work today and had a listen to the Krell/1575 combo and it sounded awesome. We did some KD Lang and some Jazz off the Escient drive (nice little unit too, btw). I was pretty giddy. Lots of headroom, it seemed to layer and wrap the music all around the room. I'm not a big fan of KD Lang, but even when I heard her, I was pretty impressed. Those guys are still expecting their shipment of Rotel Pre's, so i'll reserve final judgement until the complete combo is available to audition.

So you're finding 100w is fine with 804s? I loved the sound of the 1560. It was extremely controlled. I'm coming from a Panasonic Class D and decided it was time to move up. One of the things that I loved about the Panny was it's totally black background. No hiss, Nothing..I found today when i was listening that there was a ever so slight hiss with the 1560, but i think it might have been the escient. Again, another variable to think about. Maybe I should just take my bd-35 over, too.
I'll be pairing these with a Paradigm 40/470/20 combo. The P'digms are even easier to drive than your Bowers. Now, I'm starting to wonder if I should be looking at the 1565.
Decisions, Decisions...
This is for my upcoming condo, and I usually listen at moderate levels, and I absolutely cannot be blasting it.
If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.
Main room will be 16x18x9.

I liked the Sc-07, but I think I have my heart set on separates.
And i've always wanted Rotel.
These bugs are setting off my spidey sense though.
All these units were supposed to be 100% QC'd off the line.
I hope most of these issues are fixable with some minimal upgrades.
Who knows, maybe i'd be better off just waiting a month or 2 for the dust to settle.
I'm in no hurry.

Yeah they're a great bunch of guys and always willing to assist, which is why I drove 50kms to them instead of the high end places near me.... That sort of service is worth it imo.

With the 804S's, it's quite something that the 100W is "enough" to get me started. I listend to the Krell with the Rotel amp and even Alex couldn't believe how the 1560 held its own. Don't get me wrong, there definitely is a difference between the two setups. there's a lot more headroom on my 804S's if I went w/ the separates, it was just a big purchase for me and I would have had to settle for CM9s if I got the separates. My thinking was that I'd get the speakers and considering the 1560 was decent, and it IS decent, I'd get more electronics down the line. Alex agreed and I trust his judgement.

As I mentioned, the highs w/ the Rotel and the 804S's are a little harsh but I've yet to determine if it's the Rotel, the 804S's or even the AudioQuest speaker wire I'm using. I'm VERY new to the Audio game (i.e. 1 week in) and am still learning how all these tiny things tie together into one great big package. It's interesting and a lot of fun.

48k is right. Every BD lossless track aside from a few music BDs have a 48k sample rate. Lossless is 16 bit 48k or 24 bit 48k.

Thanks to Vancouver for clarifying this. So what's the deal them with the ability of BD to go up to 192khz? Will we ever see that then? My assumption was that if it was there, it was what was already being used on BDs for Dolby TrueHD.

With respect to the HDMI issue, as I've said, I've only had it a week so I've yet to spend a lot of time determining what exact scenarios cause the issue, i just noticed it occurred this weekend when watching things on my PS3 (could be the PS3 for all I know). I work 12 hour days so I've really only spent an hour a night on this setup. I'll keep everyone posted so please don't make your final decision based on my limited observations.

This is a great thread. Please keep your observations coming.

[Leef DaLucky]

Update.

Well,
where to start?

Got "the" call last night that both Rsp-1570 and 1575 were in place and to stop by.
So, I worked my butt off, went out for a beer and perogies and brought my nap sack laden media references out for a test drive.

My references for tonight included:

Software
-------------
Best of ELP (CD) - "from the beginning", next to SRV's "Riviera Paradise", my consumate reference track.
Best of Sade (CD) - I've always use this to speaker test, thought it might be useful, as female vocals are notoriously hard to render.
Genesis: SETP (CD) Personal Fav. Love the Gabriel.
Police: Certifiable (Blu) a new Fav, and i've played this a hundred times since I got it for Xmas.
5th Element (Blu) Old stand by, Infinitely experienced with this, in pretty much every format.

on hand were:
Dave Matthews (Blu)
Iron Man (blu)

Hardware
-------------
Paradigm Studio 100
Paradigm Sig4 ( i kindly requested Studio 40's, but he had these in)
(wish he hadn't-Wow! nice Speakers!)
Paradigm CC-690
Paradigm Adp-590(?)
Rotel 1570/1575
Pioneer Sc-07
Pioneer Bdp-05fd blu
Pioneer Kuro 50" plasma (not sure#. LOVE those blacks though!)

So I started off with some Rogers cable. Wanted some insight into how long it took for the processor to latch on to audio between switching channels.
=non-issue. brilliant! HD->SD were both acceptable.
1080i= breathtaking. no processing errors/artifacts (sports, DiscoveryHD, and TLC)

For what it's worth, I didn't notice any 1080p P.Q. discrepancies when we went Blu.
Went on to Blu. I immediately heard some signal lock/TrueHD drops by the Rotel.
Now this gets interesting. We only heard the drops when putting on 96k TrueHD concerts (unfortunately: my 2 fav's-Police and Matthews). I noticed it immediately. Unmistakable. Any attempt to backtrack or FF or restart a tune exacerbated the issue. BUT not at 48k.
Most of the movies (ie. IronMan) were at TrueHD48k and performed exquisitely!
I tried to use scientific reasoning to start removing variables and we began to hook the 05fd up to the SC-07.
No Drops. Solid as a rock.
(but that combo also has a PQLS jitter setting, that might have influenced it).
Back to the rotel, and anything that was a "normal" 48k recording was incredible.

*Here's an aside note. For anyone that's wondering what the difference is between a $2k Pioneer 140w receiver and a $4.5k 250w Seperate system. Let me tell you. It's DEFINITELY a law of diminishing returns. But! It's that extra-hard-earned-cheese that puts your system over the top.
I'd say the SC-07 was 90% of the Rotel. That's not saying the Rotel was bad. It's actually a testament on how good the Pioneer actually was. There's that extra "Ting!" when a bullet casing hits the ground. It's the extra "Whooph!" when IronMan lets his Mark I flame thrower go.
It's actually hard to explain and put into words,but I suspect the Rotelians already know what I'm talking about. They knew this ages ago and ditched their cheap stuff in favour of quality.

It's that little difference in detail, range and clarity that separates these systems.
It's when you hear something and you KNOW its good.
I heard it tonight and now I know what the fuss is about.
*sighs* no going back now...
anyways.

So I tried a little E.L.P on both and of course, the Rotel came out on top.
Musically, It's the superior unit. No question.
Pioneer was awfully nice, too. Had some awesome detail, but that sound stage and layering by the Rotel was incredible. Enough to put it over the top.
Same for Matthews Blu. Rotel>Pioneer.

I'm actually going to stop right there, for tonight.
The drop-out issues were almost enough to make me second guess it.
Tommorrow, I'm bringing out my BD-35 to see if it's a Pioneer Blu problem or it's inherent in Rotel's processing. I'm assuming, at this point, that it's all modifiable with a FW upgrade.

Bottom line for tonight is:

Damn fine system! Finicky/Flakey.
research continues..
stay tuned.

[scanido]

Hey Leef DaLucky great write up!

Great to hear a first thorough review of the RSP-1570! I'm in the GTA as well and cannot for the life of me find any dealer with this new processor. Which dealer did you manage to demo it from?

I guess it's reasonable to expect some issues with a new unit, but the drop outs in 96K tracks are worrisome, hopefully it is only firmware.

I believe the difference in SQ between the Pio and the Rotel would be even more apparent as you get into more revealing speakers.

In one of the pics there was an Anthem processor. Were you able to compare the Rotel to it?

[WelshOne]

Hi All,

Im new here, first post, but have been browsing for a while so I thought i'd join in! Great forum btw, and its nice to see the alternative manufacturers (for me in the uk it always seems to be Arcan, Cyrus, Naim etc?)

I am currently looking for a good HC and 2CH system, my current system comprises of the following:

Cyrus AV8
Cyrus CD8
Nad 218THX
Nad C270 x2
B&W 605S2
CDM CNT
B&W 601S2
Pioneer 5090
PS3
Sky HD
Chord Chorus Interconnects
Chord Odyssey Biwire

Sitting in front of me on demo is the Rotel 1570 and 1575, denon 2500 BD transport.

I am going to test these out in greater detail this evening and over the weekend, so I will let you know how I get on. I am no real expert in this field, so if you have any advice please feel free. Although I do have a good ear for sound!

Everything is calibrated using an SPL, speakers set to small and distances set correctly. I am looking forward to testing the kit, and really like the look of the rotel.

With regards to PS3 as the BD player, yes, the 1570 states MULTICHANNEL 48K when playing HD movies, but to my ears it sounds flat and quieter compared to bitstreaming plain 5.1 DD/DTS of the same film to the rotel.

Swith to the denon 2500 and DolbyTrueHD/DTS Master 48k etc will display on the rotel. The PS3 cannot bitstream HD audio, only via LPCM, hence only seeing MULTICHANNEL on the rotel.

Tonight will tell how these are comparable.

Any advice or questions from you guys would be appreciated!

Thanks.

David

[tpirovol]

Hi Everyone,

I have had the Rotel 1550 for about a week and so far here are the issues

1) Remote sucks
2) 1550 IR Sensor sucks
3) HDMI has some picture loss via HDMI (Watch Dark night and you will see)
4) HDMI audio takes a while to switch back and forth with PLII and DD via scientific atlantic 8300 HD PVR. It also does so weird stuff with audio going away from time to time.
5) Getting into OSD takes like 5 attempts.
6) No HDMI Pass-through

Please add if there are any more.

Thanks Terry

[Leef DaLucky]

Ya, i saw similar issues last night as far as the remote goes.
I didn't see Picture degradation. Didn't notice audio issues when watching HD cable.
(I'll check but I thought we were using a 8300HD as well).
Ya theres a drop when you switch channels, but that's happened with almost every receiver I've used for the last couple years.

Ya, I wish they had an option to Bypass the scalar on this, as well.
That's one of the good things about the Sc-07, is they say the signal passes through completely unmolested. Do you have Dave Matthews, Terry?

Scanido, Nope didn't get a chance to pit it against the Anthem. It's out of my price range, by a bit. I DID hear the 1575 last week with a Krell Pre/Pro and it was pretty sweet (but flaky as well). You know, I think that almost every manufacturer is having issues with HDMI implementation right now. I've checked the other Pre/Pro threads and not one unit is standing out as being flawless.
Anyways, my battle is between the 1570/1575 and the Sc-07 right now, and I'm super hesistant on bringing anything else into the equation.

[Nolan B]

Thanks to Vancouver for clarifying this. So what's the deal them with the ability of BD to go up to 192khz? Will we ever see that then? My assumption was that if it was there, it was what was already being used on BDs for Dolby TrueHD.

It can to go 192, but you will never see that in a movie. BD is also be used as a music format though which can benefit from 192. Honestly I dont really now why we dont see any movies with a 96k sample rate.

[tpirovol]

With the 8300HD watching the HD channels and when it goes back and forth it is a slight longer then via optical. Also select recorded tv and it will mute the music for a second and then stretch the screen same thing. This does not happen via optical only via HDMI verry weird. Other then those minor issues it sounds very good.

As for picture quality it is hard to tell on TV but via ps3 try and get dark night and watch the seen where they show the building at night and switch between direct and through the reciever you will say what happend to my 1080P I dont have Dave Mathews but will purchase it what should I keep an eye out for?

One thing I can say about the unit is that the DAC is so much better then the 1056/1057 its like night and day. One thing I am not to keen on is the 1550 is very centre channel centric and almost all DD and truehd audio goes through the centre channel not enough balance to the side speakers. I auditoned the 1570 It sounds amazing but just to bright for my liking.

Do you have a 1075 available to you? If so could you hook up the pre-outs and lets me know if you hear a noticable difference since I am leaning toward purchasing one.

Thanks Terry
This is just my own opinion.

[Leef DaLucky]

Being the Scientist that I am, I started off by re-creating the events of last night.
It should come as no surprise that I stopped by the Pub for exactly 3 Large Ice cold Canadian Lagers (-4C) and a plate of Cheese/Potatoe/Bacon Perogies.
(I wanted to remove all variables in the interest of a thoroughly controlled experiment).
It was, after all, in the name of science.
I'm sure you guys will understand.

Besides, my BD-35 was sitting in the Jeep all day and I wanted to make sure it was warm enough to endure tonight's session without a significant warm-up lag. So I had it with me, while I grabbed some nourishment.

I said, last night, that the Rsp-1570 was flaky. I formally retract that.
The Rsp-1570 is flawed (for now).
Let me explain.
Flaky would imply that it simply doesn't know "what the hell" it's doing.
The fact is, that it knows exactly what it's doing. It's just not capable of processing things they way they should be done.
It's flawed. (but only for now)
The awesome thing about taking over my BD-35 is:
it not only has the ability to bitstream 24/96 TrueHD,
it can also decode it internally and spit it out as 96k PCM if it has to.

When we bitstreamed 24/96 tonight, Alex and I experienced the exact same dropouts that I saw last night with Z (my other bud at AudioOne-Good dude!). These were the same dropouts we observed with the 05fd, and pretty much completely screwed any chance of enjoying the track.

Now. The fun. We switched the panny over to internal decode. The Rotel clearly stated 96k multichannel (that's 24/96 PCM) and selected TrueHD 5.1 and...<insert ray of light/orchestral choir> the gods allowed us concert goodness.
"And it was good."

Is this a big deal?
I dunno. But I see a trend. All those guys who discovered DVD concerts and got peeved by compression artifacts in their music are touting 24/96 blu.
From what I've seen so far, I believe them.
Music blurays have definitely come a LONG way from DTS-Eagles and Diana Krall in Paris from 5 years ago.
But, most Blu's are 20/48 anyways.
Will this change? who knows.

I'm kinda consolling myself in the fact that whatever happens with the processor glitch, I've got that handled thanks to my awesome choice in Blu players.

Found the other nasty glitch that I wasn't sure would rear its ugly head.
But it did.
The 3 second loss of track when playing a CD.

to be fair, I timed it. and it's 2.5 seconds.
damn.
Depending on who you listen to, some tracks have an artificial "lead-in". Sometimes it's a brief time where there's Nothing going on in-between tracks. A volume/cresendo build-up maybe. Sometimes a brief musical finger stretch?
*sighs*
No. didn't think I'd catch you on that one.
The fact is, that CD space is limited. The artists have a flow within their CD that for one value or another, must be maintained.

OK, when I pressed "play" the CD didn't get processed until well into the 3rd second. wow. 3 seconds. doesn't sound like much.
but it was.
There's CD by Genesis called "Selling England by the Pound" and one of the things I enjoyed about my panasonic XR57 was playing it, having an entirely acoustically empty room, and suddenly filling it with vocals from "dancing from the moonlit knight".
It was eearily overcoming.
Umm best example i can use is 0-60 in 2 seconds..

With the 3 second audio stream lockdown that Rotel has, it's REALLY dissapointing.
You kinda hear your track like it started the party without you.
Don't get me wrong. It's simply AMAZING when it works.
*sighs*

[Leef DaLucky]

Just got msg'd.
but a good point.
This was all during a HDMI hookup with the BD-35. No L/R. HDMI.
Frankly, I'm not sure how it would handle a good ole'fashioned analogue hook-up.
That 3 second loss might be gone.
That's actually kinda interesting.
But not for tonight.

[Leef DaLucky]

P.P.S>
Alex almost one up'd me tonight. After doing some ELP "from the beginning" He was reminiscing and thought he had heard it before.
*laughs*
Thought he had something on his Escient drive.
No sooner than later, he brings up a remake of "from the beginning" from ex-heavy metallers stars " Dokken"!!!
well done.
Nothing beats the Original though, dude
and the Hair!!!
hahaha

[mjb]

Leef DaLucky, you might need to find yourself a new CD player: one that outputs a digital stream regardless of whether its playing or not.

The 3 second lock problem is nothing new, I'm discouraged to say it seems to be a Rotel characteristic. The RSP-1098 suffered from exactly the same problem, the bug was listed in Geoffs "Wish List V4" in 2004 (which has unfortunately gone, but the thread is still there: http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=1998 ). I also commented on the phenomenon in a thread in May 2005 (http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=13811).

3-4 years on, and several processor models later, the behaviour is still the same. What does this mean? I would imagine it means either Rotel don't consider this to be a bug or a problem, or that the design engineers are limited by hardware restraints.

If you are unhappy about this, please make Rotel aware of it - without knowing anything about the hardware, I can imagine a fix is only a firmware update away. Having said that though, if it were so easy, why wasn't it taken care of in 2004 with their earlier processors?

Its worth remembering that processors from other manufactures can exhibit this digital lock problem too, so perhaps it does have something to do with the chip-set after all. Perhaps you really do just need to find another CD player.

[Minus4]

Just got msg'd.
but a good point.
This was all during a HDMI hookup with the BD-35. No L/R. HDMI.
Frankly, I'm not sure how it would handle a good ole'fashioned analogue hook-up.
That 3 second loss might be gone.
That's actually kinda interesting.
But not for tonight.

The 1570 works perfectly with analogue hook ups the problem is with the digital hook ups HDMI or Optical. Depending on the player you use the delay ranges from 2milliseconds to 3 seconds, the longer times being experienced with bdp/dvd players.

[Leef DaLucky]

thanks mjb and Minus4,
Ya that sounds about right. It must be a HDMI limitation/processing problem.
2004?
wow.
So, at this point, either they fix it, or I'll most likely have to splurge on the new upcoming slot loading CD player and just hook it up with analougue.
Or, I guess, decide I can live it.

Yep, both the 3 second issue and the 96/24 issues have been logged with Rotel. My guys maintain a healthy rapport with B&W/Rotel so we'll see what happens.

[Dmantis]

Being the Scientist that I am, I started off by re-creating the events of last night.
It should come as no surprise that I stopped by the Pub for exactly 3 Large Ice cold Canadian Lagers (-4C) and a plate of Cheese/Potatoe/Bacon Perogies.
(I wanted to remove all variables in the interest of a thoroughly controlled experiment).
It was, after all, in the name of science.
I'm sure you guys will understand.

Besides, my BD-35 was sitting in the Jeep all day and I wanted to make sure it was warm enough to endure tonight's session without a significant warm-up lag. So I had it with me, while I grabbed some nourishment.

I said, last night, that the Rsp-1570 was flaky. I formally retract that.
The Rsp-1570 is flawed (for now).
Let me explain.
Flaky would imply that it simply doesn't know "what the hell" it's doing.
The fact is, that it knows exactly what it's doing. It's just not capable of processing things they way they should be done.
It's flawed. (but only for now)
The awesome thing about taking over my BD-35 is:
it not only has the ability to bitstream 24/96 TrueHD,
it can also decode it internally and spit it out as 96k PCM if it has to.

When we bitstreamed 24/96 tonight, Alex and I experienced the exact same dropouts that I saw last night with Z (my other bud at AudioOne-Good dude!). These were the same dropouts we observed with the 05fd, and pretty much completely screwed any chance of enjoying the track.

Now. The fun. We switched the panny over to internal decode. The Rotel clearly stated 96k multichannel (that's 24/96 PCM) and selected TrueHD 5.1 and...<insert ray of light/orchestral choir> the gods allowed us concert goodness.
"And it was good."

Is this a big deal?
I dunno. But I see a trend. All those guys who discovered DVD concerts and got peeved by compression artifacts in their music are touting 24/96 blu.
From what I've seen so far, I believe them.
Music blurays have definitely come a LONG way from DTS-Eagles and Diana Krall in Paris from 5 years ago.
But, most Blu's are 20/48 anyways.
Will this change? who knows.

I'm kinda consolling myself in the fact that whatever happens with the processor glitch, I've got that handled thanks to my awesome choice in Blu players.

Found the other nasty glitch that I wasn't sure would rear its ugly head.
But it did.
The 3 second loss of track when playing a CD.

to be fair, I timed it. and it's 2.5 seconds.
damn.
Depending on who you listen to, some tracks have an artificial "lead-in". Sometimes it's a brief time where there's Nothing going on in-between tracks. A volume/cresendo build-up maybe. Sometimes a brief musical finger stretch?
*sighs*
No. didn't think I'd catch you on that one.
The fact is, that CD space is limited. The artists have a flow within their CD that for one value or another, must be maintained.

OK, when I pressed "play" the CD didn't get processed until well into the 3rd second. wow. 3 seconds. doesn't sound like much.
but it was.
There's CD by Genesis called "Selling England by the Pound" and one of the things I enjoyed about my panasonic XR57 was playing it, having an entirely acoustically empty room, and suddenly filling it with vocals from "dancing from the moonlit knight".
It was eearily overcoming.
Umm best example i can use is 0-60 in 2 seconds..

With the 3 second audio stream lockdown that Rotel has, it's REALLY dissapointing.
You kinda hear your track like it started the party without you.
Don't get me wrong. It's simply AMAZING when it works.
*sighs*

I ask this with a true heart... Is it impossible to get a higher end unit to perform correctly? I mean come on???!!!!!??? This just angers me to no end. I would own a Rotel 15 series as I write this IF the damn thing would JUST DO IT'S EFFIN JOB!!!!!!!!! Look at the Pioneer ELite sc07, it does EXACTLY what it is suppose to do...WORK!!!!! Damn it why can't Rotel or any other higher end company (B&K) make a processor or receiver now with the ability to just work. Am I asking 2 much? If i had 6 or 8 ohm load speakers, I would just buy the SC07 and forget about all this madness. It's a very very good sounding receiver and probably arguably one of the very best Pioneer has ever released. I have Installed a few of the sc05's and I love it. It's rated at 6 to 16 ohms but the pioneer rep has told me it can hold a 4 ohm load no problem. I'm on the fence with even trying but I did have huge success with the Sc09 running a full 7 channel 4 ohm load system. It kept dynamics and sounded great.

So I'm still wanting my cake and wanting to eat it. I hate reading stories about how the new high end processors just have bugs and problems, I deal with it on my end with the gear we carry. But the Pioneer Elite don't flinch.

Maybe it's time to reconsider my speaker purchase , find 8 ohm speakers I can love like the B&W cm9's and the rest of the theater package, buy the sc07 and get back to listening and watching instead of waiting and searching + being angry that the company I love can't build a processor/preamp anymore.
I'm just about done with Rotel and all the other brands that just can't get it right... :M :evil:

[mjb]

My 1570 arrived yesterday, and yes the 3 second thing is a bit annoying, but not as annoying as on the 1098 where loads of relays click back and forth until it locks. Otherwise I'm really impressed, it sounds fantastic (I'm sure it sounds better than the 1098 ). No remote control issues either, and I sit about 5 meters from it.

There's no video degradation with HDMI in/out, but component to HDMI suffers a bit (the screen is obviously connected via HDMI). HDMI source switching takes ages while the devices chat, 24 fps works fine too. But, you can loose the picture if you change the source device resolution (power cycle the 1570 is required). This HDMI/DRM thing is a PITA.

Hopefully a firmware update can make things a bit more stable, particularly regards HDMI negotiation. Otherwise, no regrets, its a great processor, and a worthy upgrade from a 1098.

I've also got a 1565 (5x100w) amp here, while waiting for my 1575 to be delivered. The 1565 can really pack a punch, for a rated 100w amp its impressively powerful. Its fast, articulate, and very precise. The treble is very clean, the mid not over emphasized, and the bass warm but bold. Each revision of D amps seems to be better than the last. I hope the 1575 will sound the same. Mine should be here next week.

[Dmantis]

My 1570 arrived yesterday, and yes the 3 second thing is a bit annoying, but not as annoying as on the 1098 where loads of relays click back and forth until it locks. Otherwise I'm really impressed, it sounds fantastic (I'm sure it sounds better than the 1098 ). No remote control issues either, and I sit about 5 meters from it.

There's no video degradation with HDMI in/out, but component to HDMI suffers a bit (the screen is obviously connected via HDMI). HDMI source switching takes ages while the devices chat, 24 fps works fine too. But, you can loose the picture if you change the source device resolution (power cycle the 1570 is required). This HDMI/DRM thing is a PITA.

Hopefully a firmware update can make things a bit more stable, particularly regards HDMI negotiation. Otherwise, no regrets, its a great processor, and a worthy upgrade from a 1098.

I've also got a 1565 (5x100w) amp here, while waiting for my 1575 to be delivered. The 1565 can really pack a punch, for a rated 100w amp its impressively powerful. Its fast, articulate, and very precise. The treble is very clean, the mid not over emphasized, and the bass warm but bold. Each revision of D amps seems to be better than the last. I hope the 1575 will sound the same. Mine should be here next week.

I wish you the best of luck with your system. I hope Rotel fixes the buggy issues you have to deal with. Sounds like the sound quality is top notch.

Dan

[Stevebez]

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

I have to repeat what Dmantis said...

Why can't things just work?

Why release a product that clearly has issues?

Rotel (and others) Enuf of using the end user as guinea pigs please a-la Microsoft.

I am not waiting 18months (?) for a firmware upgrade that will resolve 50% of the issues.

I was going to recommend the 1570 to a friend who wants a home theatre, how can I possibly do this now?

Rgds Steve.

[Leef DaLucky]

Steve,
well you COULD recommend it, it honestly depends on what you're friend's sources are.
if he has an internally decoding Bluray, I think he'd be fine as far as HT goes.

Dan,
ya i hear you. This is extremely frustrating. I'd easily pick up the Sc-07. It was that good.
Rock solid. It was pretty darn close to matching rotel's sound quality.
ALMOST there...it's that Rotel 250w amp that had me drooling me, though.
Nicest amp I've seen in a VERY long time.
Add in the facts, that the pioneer has a built-in tuner, plays FLACs, and supports unmolested HDMI and some internet radio and you've got yourself an extremely potent competitor.
*sighs*
i don't know.
I'm tempted to leave this for a month and see what happens.
The Rotel combo is $$, and if I'm spending that kind of money I want something a little more polished.

P.S. mjb: does that mean if I had my bluray set at say... 1080p/24 and my HDcable at 1080i I would have to physically shut off the 1570 every time I switched between sources using my harmony remote?

[mjb]

I have to repeat what Dmantis said...

Why can't things just work?

Why release a product that clearly has issues?

Rotel (and others) Enuf of using the end user as guinea pigs please a-la Microsoft.

I am not waiting 18months (?) for a firmware upgrade that will resolve 50% of the issues.

I was going to recommend the 1570 to a friend who wants a home theatre, how can I possibly do this now?

Rgds Steve.

It DOES work - kinda.

Digital lock taking a few seconds is not limited to Rotel, and has been around for a long time. Its annoying, but not a show stopper.

HDMI has issues because HDMI is flawed with all the HDCP forced on it by the studios. Its early days, and the software isn't quite right.

I would not hesitate to recommend the 1570, but I would make people aware of these two points.

[mjb]

P.S. mjb: does that mean if I had my bluray set at say... 1080p/24 and my HDcable at 1080i I would have to physically shut off the 1570 every time I switched between sources using my harmony remote?

Nope. It learns what's on each port. But I found while messing around if I changed the selected source's resolution a few times back and forth, it could lock up the 1570 video side and loose the picture. This is something you wouldn't normally do though.

The manual says if you change the 1570's output resolution, you should power cycle it for the change to take effect. This would be a onetime set-up thing.

[Dmantis]

It DOES work - kinda.

Digital lock taking a few seconds is not limited to Rotel, and has been around for a long time. Its annoying, but not a show stopper.

HDMI has issues because HDMI is flawed with all the HDCP forced on it by the studios. Its early days, and the software isn't quite right.

I would not hesitate to recommend the 1570, but I would make people aware of these two points.

I'm sorry to say but the Pioneer ELite line does not have these problems. When you start a cd in digital, it plays from the beginning. When you use Blu ray or anything HDMI, it works the first time. When you pass video, you get what you sent. Nothing poor about it's performance.

If Pioneer can get it right , Rotel should do it better and look cooler doing it. But they have let me down since the rsp1068 with it's problems, then the terrible rsp1069, I hoped that the 15 series would come out and win the job in my theater but I will not be getting one. I wish this was not the case.

Dan

[lvhung]

i am waiting on the repace metn for 1098

[Dmantis]

i am waiting on the repace metn for 1098

I'm suprised Rotel has not come out with one yet. They have upgraded the 1068 to the 1069 then 1570. Gotta be soon if they are going to at all.

[fhsun]

I have been told by my dealer over the weekend that 1098 is being replaced with a new 15 series equivalent in Q3 of 2009. I don't remember the model # though.

[Dmantis]

I have been told by my dealer over the weekend that 1098 is being replaced with a new 15 series equivalent in Q3 of 2009. I don't remember the model # though.

It seems like a eternity. Waiting for a new preamp sucks so bad. I just want one that does what I want it to do. Before there would be so many to choose from, I would have to sort them out and find the right one. Now it's like the one i want does not exist.

[hifiguymi]

There is info in another thread about the 15 Series but I'll put it here as well.

Stereo Preamplifiers
RC-1580 Stereo Preamplifier replaces RC-1080 $1,300.00 March (with unity gain option - aka HT bypass)
RC-1550 Stereo Preamplifier replaces RC-1070 $ 700.00 March

Stereo Power Amplifers
RB-1552 Stereo Power Amplifier 2 x 120 Class AB $ 900.00 March
RB-1582 Stereo Power Amplifier 2 x 250 Class AB $1,500.00 April

CD Player
RCD-1520 CD Player w slot loading mechanism $1,000.00 March

Integrated Amplifier
RA-1520 Integrated Amplifier 2 x 60 Class AB $1,000.00 March

Tuner
RT-1520 Internet Tuner $800.00 June

The stuff below is not set and doesn't exist yet. These pieces may not see the light of day so take this stuff with a grain of salt. If they do these, or something similar, they would more than likely be announced at CEDIA in September. It doesn't sound like there is a Blu-ray on the horizon. Since that is a product category that everyone is in a race to a price of zero, there's not much that Rotel could do to one to justify the price they would have to charge for one.

Surround Receiver
RSX-1570 Surround Receiver 3 x 250 + 4 x 100 Class D, Multi zone, 5U $TBD - Q4 2009

Surround Sound Preamp
RSP-1590 High end pre/processor with advanced feature set $TBD - but target is $4,000.00 - Q4 2009

System Remote
RR-1500 System Remote 2-way, RF with RS-232 and IR outputs $TBD - Q4 2009

Eric

[watchnerd]

My 1570, for the most part, works fine. Except...

About once every few weeks it will (I assume) lose the lock on a digital signal and start making a horrible buzzsaw noise. I have to reboot it to fix it.