Yes, I totally agree with and support the feedback from Bnieman. Rotel first of all is not a mass market receiver sold in stores like Best Buy/Magnolia and Expo. Rotel is sold by private higher end professional audio dealers who know this business well. Rotel uses superior internal components such as torroidal transformers and hand selected electronics. I have the RSX-1057 and it rocks. It's so musical. Yes it's only rated at 75 watts/channel x 5 all channels driven 20hz - 20khz but that's highly conservative. I'm driving power hungry B&W loudspeakers and they sing !!
The other question you must ask is what really is the power rating of the Denon? The specs state 140 watts/channel but is that ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN into 8 ohms, 20HZ - 20KHZ with .05% harmonic distortion? Many mass market AVR manufacturers are not totally honest to the consumer with their power specs. As a general rule of thumb, I wouldn't purchase any AVRs that do not fully disclose their power specifications with ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN into 8 ohms 20hz to 20khz. Rotel and NAD do. Even Marantz, who I highly respect and I have a Marantz DVD and CD Player, does not do this. They rate their power on multi-channel AVRs with two channels driven and then this drops off by 70% when 5 or more channels are driven. They've told me this directly over the telephone. Marantz AVRs are still great products but you're not getting what you think you are.
If you get yourself a $40.00 Radio Shack SPL meter, you can set up your speaker output levels in dB yourself which is accomplished with your own ears than those of an electronic circuit. You'll be better off for it. Rotel is serious stuff. I have the Rotel RCD-1072 CD player and that thing is built like a tank and performs flawlessly. You can feel and hear the difference. This feedback is just all my own educated opinion.
The other question you must ask is what really is the power rating of the Denon? The specs state 140 watts/channel but is that ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN into 8 ohms, 20HZ - 20KHZ with .05% harmonic distortion? Many mass market AVR manufacturers are not totally honest to the consumer with their power specs. As a general rule of thumb, I wouldn't purchase any AVRs that do not fully disclose their power specifications with ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN into 8 ohms 20hz to 20khz. Rotel and NAD do. Even Marantz, who I highly respect and I have a Marantz DVD and CD Player, does not do this. They rate their power on multi-channel AVRs with two channels driven and then this drops off by 70% when 5 or more channels are driven. They've told me this directly over the telephone. Marantz AVRs are still great products but you're not getting what you think you are.
If you get yourself a $40.00 Radio Shack SPL meter, you can set up your speaker output levels in dB yourself which is accomplished with your own ears than those of an electronic circuit. You'll be better off for it. Rotel is serious stuff. I have the Rotel RCD-1072 CD player and that thing is built like a tank and performs flawlessly. You can feel and hear the difference. This feedback is just all my own educated opinion.