RSX-1055 vs Denon-2803/RMB-1075

[htcrazy]

Hi,

I am a newbie and have just started building my setup from scratch.
I was going to buy a Denon-2803 receiver, when I read about Rotel.
I am completely sold on Rotel now. But now I am in a dilemma as to
which set up to buy.

1) RSX-1055 receiver OR
2) Denon-2803 as pre/pro and RMB-1075 as power amp

The price of the above two options are almost same. But I read in this
forum, that separates are better than receivers. In that case should I
go ahead with option 2) above?? I cannot afford a RSX-1066 at present.

I will be using it for music/HT equally. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
-Shekhar

[Rock Dog]

There's no doubt that Denon is a great product, across the board in all it's price ranges. But I think most would agree that ROTEL holds it's own with the big boys/big names. Where Denon (especially in the prepro amps area) does not.

I think your decision comes down to the preamp/processor side of the equation. The 1075 would simply walk all over the 2803's amplifier section. That's a given. (as I think most would agree.) This can be further supported by this comparison done by What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision magazine. I know the comparo does not address your question of components specifically. But it does show that ROTEL is in the upper echelon of gear, even given it's price point. Which brings to the forefront their dedication to value for your dollar, and the expertise at placing their products in the high-end or near high-end arena with much less out of pocket to you the consumer.

OK, that said. I have a friend who went from the 2803 to the 1055 and is simply amazed at the difference between the two. Now of course the 1055 is twice as much money as the 2803. But again, I think the biggest difference comes from the designs before the amplifier sections, in both music and HT. The ROTEL is a much better piece in this area IMHO. One of the biggest difference comes from it's ability to reproduce the information it's fed. In HT, I think you'll find the 1055 is more seemless. When a sound is going from say the center to the right, the Denon would display a "gap" if you will, almost as if, at one point the center channel turns off, and the right channel turns on. The ROTEL's prepro section makes this transition nearly seemlessly. Almost like there is one large long speaker going from the center to the right. And this can be said for all channels.

I think you'll find the ROTEL to be cleaner, crisper, more defined and refined, as well as a plethora of other "audiophile speak-like" terms better.

My recommondation? Get the RSX-1055. I think it'll be the best of the 2 combo's mentioned, it's updateable. And later, when you have the funds, you can add the 1075 or 1095, or whatever else you need, and use the 1055 as your prepro only.

$0.02




-Thomas-

The easiest way to find something lost around the house, is to buy a replacement.

Hey You! Make sure you stop by the HTguide Off-Topic section. It's FUN!!!

[Azeke]

Shekhar,

What speakers are you driving and their specifications?

This will probably help other members to provide information.

That being said I was also faced with your same delima, I bought the RMB-1095 and ran my Yamaha RX-V3200 until I could purchase the RSP-1066. My reasoning was I will not have to upgrade the Amp (pretty much standard and built to last), but receivers and processors constantly change.

Hope this helps,

Azeke

[htcrazy]

I am planning to buy the B&W 6 Series for my speaker setup.

[Scarp]

The 1075 will be sufficient for 600 series B&W speakers.

You can indeed get the RSX1055, which is already a great machine and then start saving up for 1075. And maybe later on replace the RSX1055 with a RSP1066.

[zeppelin]

If you got the budget, than by all means go straight for the pre/power combo the 1066 and 1075.
For me I ran a pre power combo with pre1066 and 5 sets monoblock(Bridgemono) RB-970BX poweramp 180watts each to every 5 speakers.
Previously I use the old Pioneer preprocessor SPD07 with the RB-970BX than my SPD07 was down after good 6yrs service.
The RSP1066 that I just bought 2 weeks ago was definitely awesome, better overall in Music and HT.
I'm a Rotel Fan since 7yrs ago when I started playing HIFI.