Are Rotel amps and preamps any good?

My first "audiophile" purchase was a Rotel pre-amp/amp pair. I exchanged the pre-amp within a week or two for a more expensive Classe unit, but lived with the amp for a couple of years. I still have it in my second system.

In short, I think their amps are better than their pre-amps. Not fancy looking, but nice big power supplies and clean insides. Really a good value, and good sound. A bit "lush" as others have said.

The pre-amps on the other hand seem to be trying to have a lot of "features" at the expense of clarity. A variety of pre-amps (admittedly, all a bit more expensive) sounded much better in my system.

- Eric

Anyone ever hear of this Rotel amp and preamp.
ROTEL RHB-10 AND RHA-10 AMP AND PREAMP.
I remember Rotel made this amp and preamp in like 93 trying to get highend.
Here's a pic of them.
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1109557372

Currently my system is based around a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista Integrated Amplifier and I have gone through many brands including NAD, Rotel, AR Cambridge, Mission/Cyrus, ARC, Mark Levinson.
As a spare system, I still have my Rotel RA-820BX which dislodged the NAD 3020 which is coming close to 20 years now! This is running a pair of Mission 70 speakers and still sounding great!

My CD source is a Rotel RCD990 which is over 8 years now. I tested many CD players at the time and during the last few years and I have not found anything below 5000$ with a big enough improvement to make we want to change.

I have a Rotel RB1080 and RC1090. Together they do seem to have synergy, but you don't hear much about them because they are considered "budget". I think they perform very well at their price point.

Stereophile said the RB 1090 is one of the best buys in all of audio becuase of its price/performance. Not that I always agree with them. I've never heard the RB 1090. So, I don't know about that.

All this being said, it's definately not the at the pinnacle of high end, but it doesn't cost $10k either. Its closer to $1-2 k.

Rob

Rotel amplifiers are simply amazing for their price, as I have discovered on two past purchases. Connected to a quality preamp like ARC it is like letting the music out of the box, keeping up with the front end improvements. Granted there are better but at many times the price!