Rotel 1056 or Denon 3805 with power amps?

[Shockabuku]

Hi @. I also posted this on the AVS Forum (hope that isn't bad form!), but I'd be really interested in the views of Rotel fans (maybe not so impartial though :W )

I'm in the market for a receiver & after some demos have narrowed the choice down to the Denon 3805 or Rotel 1056. Here's the catch...I have a couple of Cyrus power amps (1 x Q-Power, 1 x Power). I can afford to either buy the Denon & keep the power amps, or buy the Rotel & Ebay the power amps (here in the UK the Rotel is about £400 more expensive).

Now, I haven't been able to demo the Denon with my power amps driving the front channels, so I'm not really sure just how much improvement I'd get, plus I've had to demo the two units at different shops as nobody seems to have both. As the Q-Power cannot be switched to mono (but the Power can), I'd have to use the Power for the centre channel & the Q-Power for the front L/R. I understand that the processing in the Denon is top class (better than the Rotel?), but the Rotel tends to generally get better reviews over here as a higher quality unit overall.

I'd be really interested to hear any comments/thoughts about either of these two units & my little dilemma. Thanks!

[Andrew Pratt]

How large is your room, how loud do you listen to music/HT, Is HT or music more important to you?

If sonics are of highest priority the rotel's your best choice..if you're just doing HT in a larger room then the Denon might make more sense given the power amps.

Of course the best of both worlds would be to keep a power amp for the fronts and buy the Rotel but I understand we can't always do what we'd like to

[Shockabuku]

Hi Andrew, thanks for the reply. My room is 21ft x 11fx & I'm probably about 70% movies 30% music. Listening volumes are loud when my girlfriend is out, and less so when she's in :B. I've spoken to my dealer & I'm going to have another demo of the 1056, but this time I'll bring my power amps along. It should be very interesting to hear the difference...if any. I can feel my budget spiraling out of control already :roll:.

[Andrew Pratt]

can feel my budget spiraling out of control already

Welcome to the club :B

Actually if you only kept one of the power amps and sold the other you'd get to recoup part of the cost..but you'll know better if the differences with and without the seperate amp are worth it to you.

I will say this though that there's a lot of us here that used to own Denon receivers that have moved on to Rotels and won't ever go back now that we've heard just how its supposed to sound. The Denon's typically come loaded with features that look impressive on paper but at the end of the day when you turn on the unit to listen to music or watch that movie its the sonics that mean the most...and besides its not like the 1056 isn't feature packed either :W

[Shockabuku]

I'm already trying to justify to myself how to keep one of the power amps & still buy the 1056. Just don't tell my girlfriend :T

[Andrew Pratt]

Just don't tell my girlfriend

Mum's the word :assimilate:

[Shockabuku]

Oh dear, I've been thinking some more (always dangerous). I could save myself £200 & go for the 1068. I would then have to keep both power amps (remember...ssshhhh), and I've seen another Cyrus Power 2nd hand for £250. Result = a 1068 processor with all channels driven by Cyrus power amps. Yummy :B. Should I expect the processing to be better on the 1068 than the 1056?

[Dmantis]

I would only use the Denon avr3805 if connectability was an issue.The 3805 has more inputs.

Sound quality as a preamp,I perfer the sound of the Rotel.

Dan

[aud19]

Ditto...and 1068, plus amps... :drool:

Jason

[Andrew Pratt]

Should I expect the processing to be better on the 1068 than the 1056?

No not really. The 1068 will bench better but in the real world there likely isn't going to be much difference...meaning that you could go for the 1056 and use some of its internal amps to power the surrounds if you like to save some money and not likely suffer too much sonically...though the pure seperates route would be ideal for other reasons.

[Aussie Geoff]

Shokabuku,

I like your thinking, the RSP-1068 plus the separate amps will be way better than the Denon 3805. I had a Denon which I though was awestome, till I tool a dealers suggstion to try separate amps on (Rotel) - and it went to a whole different league for Home Theatre. I then found Club Rotel and felt brave enough (with encouragement) to buy the RSP-1098 - and was blown away how much better it was. You simply don't know what you are missing with the Denon till you hear it, and given that you already have separate amplification - it would be a shame to go backwards...

Geoff

[Shockabuku]

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated...although you are currently playing the role of the devil on my shoulder :twisted:. Not that I need much encouragement though I guess :B. So...it's the 1068 + Cyrus all round, or the 1056 + front 3 Cyrus & using the onboard amplification for the surrounds. I guess I also need to think of the resale value....any ideas which of the two would hold their value better?

[JPHIL]

No not really. The 1068 will bench better but in the real world there likely isn't going to be much difference...meaning that you could go for the 1056 and use some of its internal amps to power the surrounds if you like to save some money and not likely suffer too much sonically...though the pure seperates route would be ideal for other reasons.

I'm in the same process and I read a lot in the forum...I'm playing music at loud level like guns or metallica...but I also listen to tony bennett or diana krall live...always much loud...A lot of people told me to buy the 3805 and then buy separate amp to drive the front. Other told me to buy a rotel...But it 'S only 75x5 compare to denon 120x7...I don't have the money to buy separate amps for now cause I need speakers also. I have already the center Energy AC300 and Surround XL80 energy...So now, I need a receiver capable of driving loud, with lot of bass in stereo, and good front speakers....90% of people told me to buy paradigm....I'm confuse now and some people on other forum told me to sent you a line to get your opinion.

Thanks! :T

[aud19]

JPHIL, Rotel's 75WPC is rated with all-channels driven throughout a full frequency range. I can assure you the Denon is not. Believe me, the two have similar power, if anything I'd likely give the Rotel the edge with it's bigger/badder power supply. The Denon does have those extra 2 channels if you absolutely need 7.1 though whereas the 1056 needs an outboard 2-channel amp. IMO, the Rotel will give you better sound quality, especially for music, but the Denon does have a lot of appealing features. (Not that that the 1056 is lacking in features :lol: )

Jason

[Andrew Pratt]

JPHIL glad you decided to post over hear :W

I'm not sure if you've seen this site or not here but if you go there you'll see that while the Denon's are "rated" higher they generally bench MUCH lower in real life which means that while they claim 120 watts it could be far lower. Rotel on the other hand is known for building very high quality power supplies which help all their amps meet or beat their rated power outputs which is a big reason why the Rotel's sound better then other more mass market machines. Actually on that link too see that most of the Denon tests are for 5 channel driven not all 7 and for some reason they're missing the test for the 3802 that only managed 38 watts a channel when all were used (obviously not a good sign of where they were going!)

[Bob Knarly]

I've owned the 3802/03/05 all good solid units with good features.The 1056 has at least as much if not more real power and better sonics to boot.

[JPHIL]

denon

I have listen an Integra 7.4 this afternoon...Well this one beat easily the
Denon...Less feature, but good power...The Denon is now out of the game for me. It's now between Rotel and Integra...They all do sound very good. What is you appreciation on the Integra???...Once The receiver will be bought, we will have to discuss the speakers!!!... :cry:

[JPHIL]

denon

I just visit the link for the rated REAL amp watts for each company...Denon is going down in my heart....But Integra too!!!Did you see the rating on the Integra 7.2...ouch! :E

[Andrew Pratt]

Now you know why we're such big fans of Rotel One of the trademarks of Rotel is that they tend to over build their power supplies..even in things like CD players etc as they (and many others) believe you can't build a quality component with out a strong power supply as a backbone.

[JPHIL]

denon

I have finally bought the Denon AVR3805 instead of the Rotel. I have found the Rotel better for music. The Denon, in my opinion, is better then the rotel 1055 for HT. I have also bought Canton Speakers. LE109 and a sub. Then later I will buy the center too....but budget have limits!!! :T