that’s right - Classe became part of B&W in 2001 while ROTEL became part of B&W back in 1981. Just FYI - ROTEL is a Taiwanese brand. It was founded in Taiwan in 1957 & the founder soon after that moved to Japan.
I’ve not heard B&W + ROTEL but I’ve heard B&W + Classe at the RMAF shows & I can say that the B&W sound horrible with Classe. The sound is etched, screechy, bright, brittle, metallic. B&W is a very hard speaker to like to begin with & pairing it with a Classe amp was a bad idea in my opinion.
I used to own a B&W pair & drove it with a Symphonic Line power amp & the sonics were pretty good. I also had a friend own a 802N & 802D pair & he also drove it with a Symphonic Line power amp to very good effect. The issue w/ B&W is that if you pair it w/ the wrong sort of amp, the sonics can degrade rapidly.
There is much written about B&W & its sonics - just troll the Audiogon archives & you will find many answers to your question. ;-)
I’ve not heard B&W + ROTEL but I’ve heard B&W + Classe at the RMAF shows & I can say that the B&W sound horrible with Classe. The sound is etched, screechy, bright, brittle, metallic. B&W is a very hard speaker to like to begin with & pairing it with a Classe amp was a bad idea in my opinion.
I used to own a B&W pair & drove it with a Symphonic Line power amp & the sonics were pretty good. I also had a friend own a 802N & 802D pair & he also drove it with a Symphonic Line power amp to very good effect. The issue w/ B&W is that if you pair it w/ the wrong sort of amp, the sonics can degrade rapidly.
There is much written about B&W & its sonics - just troll the Audiogon archives & you will find many answers to your question. ;-)