advice pls - upgrading a rotel rsp1066 processor


Hi .. I have a Rotel 1066 I bought new back in 2002 and it is paired with a rotel rmb 1095, aerial 7b's, CC1, 5's and a Martin Logan Descent sub. Also a Pioneer HD630 rear projection tv. Transparent Cables hook everything up.

95% usage is home theater. when I listen to music on this system I plug in an iOS device

I would like to upgrade the TV (probably get a panasonic VT plasma) and will need a new processor.

Money is tight :( so a simple choice of a rotel rsp 1572 is out of my budget. Could i get the same benefits of the higher def TV with a used rotel RSP 1069? It also has 4 HDMI connectors but I am not sure how important the Rev. of HDMI is.

or is there another choice to consider? I had thought about a less expensive receiver that I could hook up to my amp but figured I would lose audio quality.

thanks for your comments
eyrdkill
Emotiva UMC-200. As long as you don't need legacy video inputs (component, composite) or analog audio inputs this would seem to be a wise choice. $599 with a 5-year warranty...

-RW-
Eyrdkill: Interesting you should bring this up. I'm in almost in the exact same situation. I have a 10 year old RSP-1066 that still sound fantastic particularly for music and DVD concerts powered by an RMB-1085). I don't use any HDMI on the RSP but plug my blu-ray player directly into my TV using HDMI. I too want to upgrade (have the upgrade bug) to something brand new but a new Rotel RSP-1572 is out of my budget as well. I'm seriously considering an Integra DHC 40.2 surround processor. On-line reviews are mostly excellent and new is $1,200.00. My high end audio store carries this line as well as Rotel so it has to be decent. I still have some questions that I can't find the answers to on-line so I'm going to have to demo it soon. So if you purchase a new plasma TV, why would you need a new processor? To me the less cables going back and forth between your TV, receiver, cable box, DVD player, etc the better. Do less harm by minimizing cables and lengths. Let me know your thoughts on this. Good discussion.