Rotel 1560 vs Rotel 1570/1565 combo

[Industrial]

Hi I'm pretty new to "higher end" AV and I'm a little confused. I was contemplating getting the Rotel 1565/1570 combo but then saw the 1560 receiver. What I need to know is why is that combo almost 1k more then the receiver? I keep reading that seperates are more flexible and upgradable. However the price of the preamp alone is close to the price of the receiver. So down the road it would be almost better to just get a whole new receiver then to just upgrade the preamp. Also with the combo I listed about you lose 2x100 watt channels not to mention having to buy interconnects. So what I'm trying to figure out what is real pros to getting the seperates vs the 1560 receiver. I will be using this to drive 2 B&W cm1 mains, one B&W cm center and two rear B&W 686s in the back. Sorry for any typos as I'm typing this all up on a 2 inch phone screen.

[urlawyer]

I went through the same thought process and decided on the 1560 because of the built in amps (7x100). I use the 1560 as a preamp and out put the front right and left channels to an SAE 2500 amp (2x300) and the center, right and left sides to a Parasound 2003 (3x200). However, I do use the 1560 amps for the back right and left speakers and I do not see a reason for larger amps for the back channels as they add very little to the content of the sound.

I decided that should I lose one of my external amps I can use the 1560 amps until I replace or repair the external amp.

Another thing, I could find no major differences in the specs for the 1560 and the 1570 preamp and the 15xx external amps. Granted if something goes wrong with the 1560 you are down until repair or replacement but than again the same is true if the 1570 or an external amp goes down.

Sure you can use larger amps with the 1570 but as you can see you can do the same with the 1560 (as I have).

I will say that at one time, I felt that separates were the only way to go because at that time receivers were inferior to separates but I now feel that separates do not offer very real advantages to intergated systems until you get to really high dollar systems ($50k and up with dedicated rooms, etc.).

Well this is my 2 cents worth, others will have very different opinions.

[B&W_Group_Fan]

I, too, was in a similar situation when comparing the 1560 to separates for a 7.1 setup.

The room I was outfitting is a multipurpose room on my main floor and, for me, knowing that I am ultimately going to build a dedicated HT in my basement, I decided it wasn’t worth the extra money for separates. When I do the dedicated HT, that will be a different story.

If I needed (wanted!) 200+ watts / channel, then that would have swayed my decision as well. But I didn’t need anything bigger than 100 / channel. The 1560 drives my SIG-7NTs and FPM6 pretty effortlessly. Again, when I do the dedicated HT, that will be a different story.

I am also not aware of any specification differences in the processing of the 1570 versus the 1560.

So, for me the 1560 provided: the right number of channels, appropriate wattage and no discernible difference in processing from the 1570 all at a good price point.

My 2 cents here as well. Good luck with your decision - either way, I think you’ll be satisfied.

[Industrial]

I'm leaning towards the 1560 more and more. It does help that it can be used as a pre-amp as well. Only thing I like more about the seperates is that the amp is pretty cool looking

Thanks for help so far!

[style]

Hi Industrial,

for me is simply: now with the Rsp1570&1565you "are ready"....but tomorrow?

whit a separate combo you have the best quality.....in the future you can bua a rb1572 the driver the mains....or ?!??!?

Oke, with the 1560 you say I can make the same: that's raghit at 70%.

a receiver "all-in" with a extra ampli dont give you the same quality like the
2 pieces...

hope this help
Style

[cdika17]

if u can afford it, do the combo, if not the 1560 is a great option.

[Industrial]

To make things more complicated my dealer found me a 1069 Pre/pro for a really good price. My player can decode all formats so I don't need the HDMI 1.3. So now its either to buy the 1565/1069 or the 1560! What to do, what to do!

[Opus007]

If you can get a deal on a 1069 and was to pick up a RMB 1075 off of Audiogon (around 600.00) 120WATTS X 5 that is the way I would go.Am thinking of getting a 1069 myself.Dec

[tpirovol]

before you make your decision try listening to lpcm on the 1069 compared to bitstreaming TrueHd and DTSHd. I to was in the same dilema and started off with a 1057 then 1550 then finally went to the 1560. There is a night and day comparison between LPCM and DTSHD/TrueHD to my ears. One thing I did not try and might make a difference it muli-channel out via analog from the blu-ray player. I also like the fact that you can bi-amp with the 1560.

Keep in mind one thing the 15xx series is not perfect but there are some good firmware fixes coming soon that fix a lot of issues. I can attest to this since I had a few myslef and now that I received new firmware from rotel it has resolved about 90% of them.

One more thing I have been told that there is absolutly no difference in the scaler as well as HDMI and pre-outs from the 1550-1570. I am not sure if this is true or not but can tell you that the 1550 had slightly worse picture quality then my 1560 but it may have been my unit. And by PQ i mean HD degredation not much maybe 5%

Thanks Terry

[Industrial]

Thanks for all the help, really is a friendly forum. I just emailed the Rotel dealer to let them know I will picking up the 1570/1565 combo. One last question! (I hope) Does either of those boxes contain the RCA interconnect cables? Even cheap ones be will ok until I can pick up better ones.

[B&W_Group_Fan]

Congratulations on the new gear :T

While not positive, I do not believe any interconnects come with the equipment.

[Industrial]

Congratulations on the new gear :T

While not positive, I do not believe any interconnects come with the equipment.

Hopefully it's in stock and in silver. Ug yet another expense! Maybe I can use some of my old RCA cables until my wallet heals

[TommyV]

Monoprice has some good cheap ones or I make my own using high quality Belden RG59 and Paladin Sealtite RCA connectors

[mjb]

Does either of those boxes contain the RCA interconnect cables? Even cheap ones be will ok until I can pick up better ones.

There are a couple supplied in the 1570 box.

[Industrial]

Actually the Rotel dealer will give me a set of five RCA cables. Won't mention the brand but it's not the cheap (or the best) stuff or monster. Saves me a few hundred

[TommyV]

Nice dealer.

[Industrial]

I going to audition the combo in a few hours. However I'm now worried. all my connections to the pre/pro will be digital and I've been reading in a great number of places where people are having problems. Seems like the pro/pre is in default analog mode and detects when digital signals come in. However there is a lag and that start of each track or incomming digital audio has the first few seconds cut out before the pre/pro switches to digital. this sounds kinds bad for such a "higher" priced combo...anyone have any experience?

[Industrial]

Well I just got back with the combo. The dealer had the combo setup for me even with the same speaker setup (didn't even ask for that! I use at home. Even tested a digital connection and there was no signal lock delay. Will give me impressions after it's all hooked up :$

[DRSpalding]

Well I just got back with the combo. The dealer had the combo setup for me even with the same speaker setup (didn't even ask for that! I use at home. Even tested a digital connection and there was no signal lock delay. Will give me impressions after it's all hooked up :$

Well, how is it???

I am in a similar dilemma.

I am driving a full set of Snell THX Multimedia speakers (L, C, R, SURx2, SUBx2) along with a set of Paradigm Reference Studio 20's for the two rears for a 7.1 system. My current processor is a Proceed AVP, but since it contains no HD video switching at all and my current amps (3 x NAD 2700 THX Stereo + 2 x Marantz MA500 mono) are crapping out (NADs are anyway; they are roughly 15-16 years old and cut out until volume is raised enough to "punch through" some sort of resistance), the time has come to go full HD on the video and replace the amps.

I am concerned that the Snell system will not perform well with 100W/channel as their literature recommends 200W/channel with the ability to drive 4Ω loads well. The last part sounds fine for the 100W Class D Rotel amps, but I am not so sure about the 100W.

I would like the try the RSX-1560 Receiver that does 7.1, full blah, blah, blah, into 100W x 7 ch of Class D amplification. I listened to that unit at the dealer driving some very nice Paradigm Monitors (probably 9 or 11?) with respectable volume and tremendous clarity. We switched back and forth between the RB-1572 and the RSX-1560 driving them and sonically, I had a tough time differentiating the two. (note that I don't recall if the RSX1560 was the preamp/pro for both amplifier tests).

The dealer would like me to use a RSP-1570 + RMB-1575 + RB-1572 instead to be sure it can drive the speakers adequately. The NAD 2700's are rated at 150W/ch with the rated distortion at 8Ω, 200W/continuous before clipping. The Snell THX speakers are probably closer to 4Ω than 8Ω based on their literature, and the two subs (SUB750) are definitely 8Ω as they are wired together to one channel.

The cost of switching from the RSX-1560 to the RSP-1570/RMB-1575/RB-1572 is pretty high, probably going from around $2500 to $6000. The room is mostly for TV/Movie watching but if the sound is great and useful, I can see myself listening to high end audio again there.

So, what say you? Does the 100W/ch RSX-1560 stand a chance of working or should I just give up and go separate? I am going to try to get them to either bring out their demo RSX-1560 unit or take in two of my speakers to actually hear how they sound to help make up my mind, but if anyone has any information regarding it, that would be great to hear.

Thanks

[Industrial]

The setup I have is pretty amazing. I can push the litle CM1's pretty hard and they still sound clear with no clipping. You could get the same setup I have now. Then later down the road add the new 15 series class D 250w x2 amp for your fronts. This is what I would like to do in the "semi distant" future. I have been playing music non stop since I got the pre/pro and amp. Sure beats the hell out of my 6year old Yamaha.

Well, how is it???

I am in a similar dilemma.

I am driving a full set of Snell THX Multimedia speakers (L, C, R, SURx2, SUBx2) along with a set of Paradigm Reference Studio 20's for the two rears for a 7.1 system. My current processor is a Proceed AVP, but since it contains no HD video switching at all and my current amps (3 x NAD 2700 THX Stereo + 2 x Marantz MA500 mono) are crapping out (NADs are anyway; they are roughly 15-16 years old and cut out until volume is raised enough to "punch through" some sort of resistance), the time has come to go full HD on the video and replace the amps.

I am concerned that the Snell system will not perform well with 100W/channel as their literature recommends 200W/channel with the ability to drive 4Ω loads well. The last part sounds fine for the 100W Class D Rotel amps, but I am not so sure about the 100W.

I would like the try the RSX-1560 Receiver that does 7.1, full blah, blah, blah, into 100W x 7 ch of Class D amplification. I listened to that unit at the dealer driving some very nice Paradigm Monitors (probably 9 or 11?) with respectable volume and tremendous clarity. We switched back and forth between the RB-1572 and the RSX-1560 driving them and sonically, I had a tough time differentiating the two. (note that I don't recall if the RSX1560 was the preamp/pro for both amplifier tests).

The dealer would like me to use a RSP-1570 + RMB-1575 + RB-1572 instead to be sure it can drive the speakers adequately. The NAD 2700's are rated at 150W/ch with the rated distortion at 8Ω, 200W/continuous before clipping. The Snell THX speakers are probably closer to 4Ω than 8Ω based on their literature, and the two subs (SUB750) are definitely 8Ω as they are wired together to one channel.

The cost of switching from the RSX-1560 to the RSP-1570/RMB-1575/RB-1572 is pretty high, probably going from around $2500 to $6000. The room is mostly for TV/Movie watching but if the sound is great and useful, I can see myself listening to high end audio again there.

So, what say you? Does the 100W/ch RSX-1560 stand a chance of working or should I just give up and go separate? I am going to try to get them to either bring out their demo RSX-1560 unit or take in two of my speakers to actually hear how they sound to help make up my mind, but if anyone has any information regarding it, that would be great to hear.

Thanks

[pixeljedi]

I have the 1560 and am very pleased with it. I considered the combo option, but couldn't justify the additional expense. I wanted a receiver that was high quality, would accept hdmi input, drive some nice speakers and support the latest codecs, so for me, this was a good choice. You still have the option of using an external amp with it (which is what I'll do down the road).

The only problem I've had is the poor customer support from Rotel and the 3s delay from hdmi audio. I assumed the latest firmware update would fix the delay, but no dice. Other than that, I'm very pleased with it.

Happy to answer any questions you have on the 1560.

Cheers,
Thor

[kmcheng]

The only problem I've had is the poor customer support from Rotel and the 3s delay from hdmi audio. I assumed the latest firmware update would fix the delay, but no dice. Other than that, I'm very pleased with it.

I have not been following the 1560 closely on this forum. Would you please explain what the 3s HDMI audio delay is? If I have a CD player connected to the 1560 via optical would I have a 3 second delay on every track?

[pixeljedi]

Actually, the new firmware update seems to have fixed the audio delay for hdmi sources from my PS3 that are CD and Blu-ray. Now I'm getting instant sound from those. :T

The one that remains is from music files played off my network via the PS3. I don't believe it's a buffering/streaming issue as the visualizer shows activity 3 seconds before the audio starts. I've played around with different input settings and haven't noticed any difference, but will try again tomorrow.

Cheers,
Thor

Note: the delay was only occurring via HDMI, my connections via RCA showed zero delay. I haven't tried via an optical connection, but would assume this would work fine.

[Minus4]

I have not been following the 1560 closely on this forum. Would you please explain what the 3s HDMI audio delay is? If I have a CD player connected to the 1560 via optical would I have a 3 second delay on every track?

Its more like a 3millisecond delay ove optical and digital coaxial, the analog section has always played perfectly.

[Industrial]

It's because with RCA it's analog. The processor defaults to analog. With hdmi it's digital so it takes a few seconds for it to lock on and and switch to digital. So I'm guessing optical would have the same delay.

How does one tell what firmware they have? I tried pressing mute and saw nothing...

[DRSpalding]

The setup I have is pretty amazing. I can push the litle CM1's pretty hard and they still sound clear with no clipping. You could get the same setup I have now. Then later down the road add the new 15 series class D 250w x2 amp for your fronts. This is what I would like to do in the "semi distant" future. I have been playing music non stop since I got the pre/pro and amp. Sure beats the hell out of my 6year old Yamaha.

Did you end up with just the 1560 or the 1560 + RB-1562 (or RMB-1565)? Either way I guess is about the same, since they are all 100W/channel.

Oh, and a two channel amp is not really enough for HT applications if you need more power. The L, R, and Center all need the power. The Subs do as well, if they are not self-powered. The Snell Subs (SUB750) are passive and need external amps. I would likely have to get a 5 ch. amp to augment a 1560 and use the 1560 amps for sides and rears.

[Industrial]

I got 1570-1565 combo. What I meant was you could get the 1565 for now to power most of your system then down the road add in that 250watt x 2amp. That will free up two places on the 1565 and with the other amp your two big front speakers will have the power they need.

[DRSpalding]

There's not much difference between the 1570-1565 combo vs. the 1560 except the 1560 has seven amplified channels instead of five. Since I have passive subs, I need at least eight channels or nine if I power the two subs separately, along with using my leftover Marantz MA500's. That is why I am leaning to the 1560 at this point. I can use it to power the rears and sides if necessary to get the RMB-1575 250W x 5ch to power L, C, R, and 2 SUBs appropriately.

[Industrial]

There's not much difference between the 1570-1565 combo vs. the 1560 except the 1560 has seven amplified channels instead of five. Since I have passive subs, I need at least eight channels or nine if I power the two subs separately, along with using my leftover Marantz MA500's. That is why I am leaning to the 1560 at this point. I can use it to power the rears and sides if necessary to get the RMB-1575 250W x 5ch to power L, C, R, and 2 SUBs appropriately.

Well you already have your answer I do admit that the seperates "look" really nice on my rack..

[Kevin D]

How does one tell what firmware they have? I tried pressing mute and saw nothing...

You have to hold mute for 3-5 seconds. Remote or front button.

Kevin D.

[Industrial]

1.1.1-080925

Video v.1.00

Thanks