Any Rotel love around here? Looking to power my Sonus Faber Olympica 3

@joey_v

I spent a couple more more hours with the RC/RB1590 set. My impression hasn’t changed. They are outstaning. If budget wasn’t a concern for me I would have ordered a set and been done. Period. Thanks for starting this post.

I also spent about an hour listening to the Musical Fidelity M5si 150 watt integrated. Not exactly apples to apples comparison but it gave me a feel for the different presentations. The MF was a bit warmer and a touch softer. As you go up in watts with MF that may not be the case. If it wasn't for budget constraints I would investigate MF further.

@shadorne

Thanks for your comments on the NAD C165/C275BEE set. I have used an NAD 320BEE as well as 325BEE in systems for years. NAD makes great stuff. I’ve lived with an Arcam integrated (A19) for three years now and your Rotel/NAD comparison could apply to an Arcam/NAD comparison as well.

I’m trying my best to listen to the 165/275 but the nearest dealer that has them is three hours away. That fact and my budget constraints (which precludes me from going with the RC/RB1590s) leads me to the conclusion that I’m going to order the NADs from a source with a generous return policy and give them a go.

Cheers,

Scott

Don’t short change yourself with not mating the Olympica 3’s with high quality equipment. Using less than optimal amp,preamp, and source will not get you what you paid for in regards to quality of sound...

@samac 

My brother has the MF6 integrated and likes it.  I think it sounds good as well.  DOes not have all the swiss army knife features of the rotel, which is why I lean rotel. 

The problem with going full Rotel RC1590/RB1590 stack is that the amp has to be placed outside the media console in the family room and my wife is leary of that... I have waf to abide by here.   haha...

otherwise, the RA1592 would fit inside the media console and would have all the doo-hickeys for her.  BT and ability to stream her iphone music etc.  

This system is more for her than it is for me, but obviously I am in the family room a lot so I want good sound too.  

I am constrained with positioning of the O3 as well, I cannot pull them out too far from the wall so I am sure there will be boominess. 

Plus a lot of the input will be from TV sources, DVR, netflix.. so it's not the highest quality sources either. 

@shadorne 

Thanks for the input on luxman and marantz, those are now out. 

I have gotten what I think is very good mid-fi sound with a Rotel RMB-1585 5-Channel amp (200w), so I have Rotel love. I feel like I have very good dynamics and sound staging. Instruments and vocals do all the magic things that decent speakers and an amp should make them do as they appear in the middle of the room and the speakers disappear. I get good bass impact to make it fun, and I haven’t ever felt like it lacks for naturalness. It is my rainy day English countryside amp. I mostly listen to Jazz and I am very pleased with it.

My Rotel was a compromise though, because I needed 5 channels of amplification and no space or budget for a separate 2 channel amp. I would dearly love a dedicated 2 channel amp for music, and if I were buying one I would probably look at something other than Rotel. There is just so much more out there that I would like to try. Pass comes to mind. My Rotel is also their top of the line offering, so I’m getting the best sound they offer. And above everything else, I believe my upstream components and system synergy are what really determines how things sound. I use a multi-bit dac and a tube pre for music, and I have carefully chosen cables to improve sound quality, I’ve done what I can for good impedance matching. Blah blah blah, I'm rambling,  Point is I like my Rotel amp, but I don't know how much credit to give to Rotel.  I owned the Rotel RMB-1075 (120w) a few years ago and it didn’t do much for me, but that was before I upgraded my front end. It was fine, but my inner audiophile wasn’t stirred by the music until I stepped up my game in a lot of other areas. Is the difference because I went from their budget amp to their best multi-channel amp? Probably/somewhat. I know the extra watts and the XLR input path helped. If I were buying Rotel, I would buy the best they offer and not choose something from the lower end of their line.

So yeah, lots of Rotel love here, but I would also love to try other brands. I like my sound, but you never know how good it can get until you try something else. Most owners think their systems sound awesome because they haven’t tried something from the next level up. I know that is true in my case. My next level probably wouldn’t be Rotel, just because I’m already at the top of the Rotel heap and I’ve read about so many more interesting amps on the market.