My RSX-1056 - the HAPPY sequel

**Aussie Geoff** · 02 May 2004, 01:48 Sunday

Stan,

Congratulations.

Welcome to our world....

Let us know how you progress revisiting all those CDs and DVD's. It's usually a revelation...

Geoff

**aud19** · 02 May 2004, 11:26 Sunday

Glad to hear it worked out Stan

Now maybe people will believe us when we rave on and on about Rotels customer service and the awesome and supportive user community we have here at Club Rotel

Happy listening buddy :T

Jason

**Bam!** · 03 May 2004, 15:00 Monday

Congrats duder and

:

I too have a 1056 and am very curious on your overall review of this beast!

:T

**will1066** · 03 May 2004, 16:17 Monday

You're the man, Stan.

**Azeke** · 03 May 2004, 16:48 Monday

Stan,

I guess now you can officially welcome you to the Club :T .

Glad things worked out, quality of service for Rotel seems impeccable doesn't it and having Andrew doesn't hurt either

.

Enjoy your toys,

Azeke

**Chuck** · 03 May 2004, 19:42 Monday

turning a new leaf

Before I rant about my renewed faith in rotel, I have two notes regarding the 1056 receiver. One is probably a flaw, one may be me expecting too much.

1) When connecting an s-video cable to the monitor out the 1056 starts to hum (through the speakers)

2) When going through the osd, where you can set the speakers to different settings (large / small / none) on the different modes (dts / dolby / stereo) it won't change for the center or surround speakers. I can only set the settings for the large speakers. Is this normal? I'd like to set the center to off for 5 channel stereo).

Please let me know what you think about these two things... The rest of this post is my up and down experience back at the dealer. Up being the rotel, down being my salesman. Oh well, che sara sara. You really don't have to read this.

So I went back to my salesman explaining my doubts about the 1056 this past saturday. I brought some cds and dvds to listen to and instead of allowing me to compare the 1056 and 1067(which I thought was ludicrous because he'd make more commission) he instead had me compare two dvd players through the 1056. Which turns out was a smart move on his part. There was a huge difference between sound quality of the $1600 marantz dvd player and the $300 dollar marantz. Damn. I was impressed. He then hurried me out the door and said he'd stop by my place on sunday at noon. I stayed home, he didn't show. Although I am beginning to have more faith in the 1056, as I got those tingles of excitement for those few minutes in the showroom, I'm still pissed at my salesman which leaves an overall bad taste in my mouth. The plus side though for all you rotel fanatics, is I am looking to upgrade my speaker cable and possibly my newly acquired samsung dvi dvd player (what a tragedy) rather than second guessing my purchase. After those upgrades then I'll re-evaluate the rotel, and if I'm still unsatisfied with the power and dynamics I'll get a power amp to add onto the 1056 for about the same price as the 1067. One thing that still irks me is that there is a noticeable difference between the sound in 2channel stereo and 5 channel stereo, when supposedly the same signal is being sent to the fronts (and also to the rears). I would think that since the speaker wires are the same, and the source is the same, that this sound difference is entirely in the receiver watts/channel yet everyone still says it could be the source or speaker cables.

**will1066** · 03 May 2004, 20:49 Monday

Forgive me if you already know this, but if you set your front speakers as SMALL, you cannot set your CENTER and REAR speakers as LARGE. The 1056 will not allow you to set different speaker configurations for different sound modes (dts, Dolby D, stereo, etc.). Only the 1098, with its greater processing power, allows that. Whatever you set in the 1056's speaker configuration menu applies globally, or to all sound modes.

Now I'm only guessing, but when you were listening to stereo, the Rotel was probably just acting as a traditional preamp, doing nothing (theoretically) but passing the signal from the source player to the amp stage. When you were listening to 5-channel stereo, the signal gets digitized and massaged by the Rotel's internal DSP. That may be the cause of (in part or in whole) the differences you heard. Plus, the output levels between stereo and 5-ch stereo may not have been matched. People tend to gravitate towards the louder output as the better-sounding one.

**Chuck** · 10 May 2004, 12:00 Monday

Sounding better

So I bought some decent 12 gauge wire just as a test to see if it would flesh out my Quad 22Ls.. Yup, it did. Then I turned it up to about 65 and it was awesome. it had the crunch I was hoping for (ex: pink floyd guitar solos) but the full-sounding crunch is missing at lower volumes. It is a large room, so would this be an amp problem (100 watts /channel not enough?) or should I look into a beefy sub? Or do I just have wishful thinking that I can be happy with lower volumes in a big room?

Thanks for your help, I'm still trying to fix the puzzle, but I no longer suspect the rotel to my problem.

-Chuck

**Bam!** · 10 May 2004, 13:40 Monday

Chuck!

Weren`t you the one with the thread that said my Rotel sounds thin ?

:B

I know when you hit 65 - 70 with the 1056...a freakin`freight train comes through the house! :E :E :E

It is unreal!

**Andrew Pratt** · 10 May 2004, 14:04 Monday

Chuck just what exactly is missing at lower levels? If its the low bass yes the only way you're really going to get that back is by adding a dedicated sub that you can boost a little to beef up the bottom...a larger power amp might also help but it wouldn't be as flexible as a seperate subwoofer

**Chuck** · 10 May 2004, 16:55 Monday

BAM, that's exactly the case. it's an amazing improvement in sound at those volume levels. Problem is, it is loud and may be bothering my neighbors. Any suggestions on how to have that fullness? After a bit more research I’ve heard others have the same concern with Rotel. They sound AMAZING at certain volumes but less so at lower volumes. I’m not sure if this Rotel specific, or just what’s normal for a big room.

Andrew, I’d have to say it’s the upper mid bass that’s missing… I think. For example at the 65-70 volume range David Gilmour’s guitar is simply ear-piercing, in the good way A bit of growl and attitude. But at low volumes it comes across pretty limp. (comfortably numb, young lust, brick in the wall II)

I went ahead and ordered a Velodyne SPL 1200 series II sub. It is only 12 inches, but from what I’ve heard and read, it should be enough for my tastes. Any other suggestions regarding the lower volume level sound is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Ps: I did listen to a NAD 773 in comparison, which I hoped would have the attitude I wanted… But it just was a bit too warm for my tastes after listening to the rotel.

**Bam!** · 10 May 2004, 17:59 Monday

Chuck!

i looked it up for you.....go back and read the original thread...I think you will understand all the comments on it now...

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=7548

**GosonFletchy** · 12 May 2004, 20:49 Wednesday

Chuck,

You say you have your system in a large room. What size room are we talking here, and what is the power requirements of your speakers. It could be that the 75 watts per channel of power that the 1056 supplies is just not enough to meet the power requirements of the rest of your system. Aside from that, the RSX-1056 is one nasty machine. That sucker freaking rocks!!!! I love all of the features that are available on this unit. It amazes me that Rotel has put out a unit that sounds this good, offers as many features as this one does, and is still very affordable. Massive kudos to Rotel for looking out for those of us that can not afford the $5,000.00 + equipment. :T

My RSX-1056 - the HAPPY sequel

My RSX-1056 - the HAPPY sequel

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