Parasound vs Rotel Amps

Sonically and totally the new 15xx series Rotel gears are very different from the old 10xx series gears. The latest 15xx series gears such as the RB-1582 Mkll stereo amp, the RMB-1585 five-channel amp, the RB-1590 stereo amp & the RA-1592 integrated amp sounded fulsome rich warm, much fuller sound and much smoother much more refined sounding than the old 10xx series gears. The newer 15xx series amps have more body and volume and smooth highs and are much quieter than the old 10xx series amps due to much lower noise floor (better S/N ratio). The new latest 15xx series gears have been greatly improved over the old 10xx series gears.

I agreed that the old 10xx series Rotel sounded cold grainy somewhat thin and very forward and can be kinda bright and can be fatiguing at times when not carefully matched with the right associated speakers, cables, upstream components and front end source components, etc. I found the old 10xx series Rotel gears possessed somewhat grainy trebles but I can assure you that the new latest 15xx series gears are nothing like that at all, in fact it’s a total opposite of that of the old 10xx series characteristics I just described, especially true with the higher end or flagship new 15xx series gears such as the RMB-1585 amp, RB-1582 Mkll amp, RB-1590 amp, RA-1592 integrated amp. These new latest 15xx series amps are much more refined sounding than the old 10xx series amps and they exhibited midrange bloom warmth and richness similar to that of McIntosh gears.

As a matter of fact, when reviewing the Rotel RMB-1585 amp for Stereophile, Kalman Rubinson (Stereophile senior reviewer) commented that the RMB-1585 exhibited greater level of warmth compared to his McIntosh MC303 amp and the Parasound Halo A31 amp that he had on hand.

But IMO the Parasound Halo A51 overall is a better amplifier than the Rotel RMB-1585.

@caphill thanks for the detailed feedback. I just have the entry level ML Aeon. I’m thinking next year I’ll replace them with a pair of summit Xs. I was thinking to get the PrimaLuna Dialogue One just to power the electrostats. Since the dialogue one is an integrated amp, I can wire a separate, stereo connection to the turntable thus bypassing the Rotel.

My neighbor has one and wanted to sell to me for $2500. 

Well coming to this party LATE...

Parasound versus Rotel? I own, compared, and still use some vintage stuff. Namely Rotel 900 series - 980BX & 981 compared them to Parasound’s HCA-1000/1000 collectively tri-amping towers. 

The P’sound were great for driving unmodified Polk RTi A series speakers as their mid & top are a bit forward & bright. 

My RTi A series are bi & tri amped - yes no passive filtering save for Clarity DC blocking caps on the tweeters.  To me the P’sound sounded “flat” & the top rolled off. During one energetic listening session, I saw the P 1000 “Overload” LED flash driving 4 ohm tweeters. 

Rotels make the speakers disappear. They idle & run cooler and even during very  demanding program material I’ve thrown at them, they don’t seem to break a sweat. 
My $0.02. Thanks. Tony

I think the older 900 series gear was very musical with a slight grain but not enough to detract. The 10 series seems to follow the trend of much gear of  detail and more  detail which leads to a thin lean sound.  Parasound is also good  but  I would not say one is better then the other  Just different
  I see the word technology thrown around a lot  I worked in the audio bizz back in the day and it seems   amp technology has not changed much since 1980 other then Class D.  Things are made cheaper and you do get better sound for less money it seems.  Things keep recycling.  Tubes are in  tubes are out  MOS FETs are in MOS FETS are out  (usually at the same time).  The only way to know for sure what you like is to bring them in and compare. 

Geph0007: more truth to those words than some would admit😊