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


Looking to power my Sonus Faber Olympica 3.  

I am going to use these speakers in my family room, my wife really wants me to complete this system soon so we can play christmas music and she can finally watch TV with some good sound. 

I am looking at possibly Rotel power for this. 

Either the integrated solution: 
Rotel RA1592

Or going separates:
Rotel RC1570 or RC1590 preamp
Rotel RB1582mk2 or RB1590 amp. 

Thoughts?

Thanks!
joey_v
@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. 


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.


Also wanted to add that I don’t think you would go wrong with the RB-1590. Top of the line Rotel, and I love the power specs on that one, 350w. I would just try to audition lots of similar amps in that price range so you know you made the best choice.

I haven’t heard it or the RC-1592, but you are looking at their high-end so you are in the right ball park.
About a couple of years ago when I bought B&W CM10 speakers, I briefly experimented with Rotel gear. I paired my speakers with Rotel separates (preamp -> RC-1570; amp -> RB-1582). I was not very impressed. While the soundstage was wider, the clarity and details were just not there. 
I returned the Rotel gear and bought (used) Parasound A23 and P5. The improvement in sound was noticeable, at least in my system and to my ears. Very balanced across the band. Neither too clinical, nor too warm. I moved up the chain to Parasound A21 and couldn't be happier