anyone using ra01 with rotel 891 or 985mk1 please

[mickyboy]

hi all i have at the moment denon 3802 rotel 981 and 985mk1 powers cdm1nts as fronts, lcr60 center,600s3 as surrounds, av is ok with 3802 but is lacking in sterio performance, having spent too much money on hi fi recently i cannot afford to buy say rsp1066, is anyone using the likes of rotel ra01 integrated £250 uk price with say 891 power amp, (ra01 being used as pre /amp only ) or would i get better sound quality going for a dedicated rotel preamp +891 over the rao1, it has been suggested i go for 985 i believe is model of rotel pre amp ? but cannot find one second hand at reasonable cost only £500+ at dealers , thank you ps just noticed a rotel rc 850preamp at very reasonable price is this pre anygood ,likely to be better than 3802 pre thank you

[sounddog]

The 985 is a 5-channel power amp ... don't think there was ever a Pre Amp with the same number.

What sources are you using?

Anyway ... I'd have a look for a S/H Rotel 971 or 970 pre-amp ... to match visually and sonically with the 981. Or look at the RC-02 pre-amp rather than the integrated amp.

Vikki

[twitchie]

You just missed an RSP-985 Ultra (pre/pro) on audiogon with factory warranty that went for $500 USD:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?homeproc&1059337233

If you can get the RC-850 for a very good price, then give it a try. It should be an excellent pre-amp for 2 channel, but keep in mind it will be close to 15 years old. You can find these on ebay from time to time.

[eelco74]

This look familiar :-)

I own a 3801 and a RB981. I found a second hand 985MkII friday, and bought it instanly.

I will upgrade to a rsp-1066 asap.

Rotel has had several HT-pre-amps
the 985 is a very nice THX pre-amp. That also is very good in stereo. But very hard to find (new price was about 2300 Euro's in Holland)
the 976 is the predecessor of the 1066. No 7.1/6.1 and reasonably good in stereo.
anything older like the rsp-980/975 you must forget about.

However I do have a rc-972 left over. It is including phone-preamp option. I have used it with my 981 power amp a few years. If interested Email me. Remeber it is a mainland Europe model.

btw. I found out that the multi-input sounds a litte better than the CD input on the 3801. perhaps worth a try ?

[mickyboy]

eelco i have a chance to obtain 2nd hand rotel rc971,no phono option though ,have you tried your 972 pre with say with either of your rotel powers vs 3801 ,and as i have 3802 would not think great differance between 3801 and 3802 and any defernite improvement with pre972 vs 3801, what inputs did you use on 3801 for cd replay if not the dedicated cd rcas thank you

[eelco74]

The rc972 is way better than the 3801.
We are talking about more 3d sound, better bass (3801 is muddy) and better soundstage.

However I fount that the 5.1 multi input on the 3801 is not that bad. It definately sounds better than the DVD or CD analogue input on the 3801.

is suspect the 970 to sound as good as the 972, perhaps a little worse, but still way above the 3801.