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

@joey_v

I'm looking into new amplification for our system and I spent a couple hours with the Rotel RC1590/RB1590 paired  with the Rotel RCD1570, AudioQuest cabling and Bowers and Wilkins CM10 S2.

In a nutshell, it was fantastic. To elaborate a bit; great tone, detail and resolution, powerful, dynamic and so easy to listen to. There was such an ease and scale to the music. Whether played at background levels, cranked up or anywhere in between the music sounded excellent.

Part of me didn't want it to sound that good. It's at the top of our budget and I was hoping (just a little bit) that I wouldn't be impressed. Well, I didn't stand a chance. After about twenty minutes into the audition I knew it was going to be the set-up to beat.

I've listened to some great stuff under $5k and I'm going to check out a few more things this coming week but the Rotel RC1590/RB1590 is going to be very hard to beat. If you have the opportunity audition it

Cheers,

Scott
 

@samac 

Thanks!  I heard the rc1590/rb1590 combo and I agree, very good combo!

I have been trying to locate the RA1592 integrated that's based partly on the rc1590 and rb1582mk2... But no one has it so far.

About 8 years ago I had brand new top of the line amp and preamp from Rotel and it was the low point of my 35 years in audio. When jafant says to buy the older stuff, he means pretty old. And I paired it with B&W speakers and it was horrible. The best part about it was I sold everything and went tube. NAD is tons better if that's your price range.

@ebm 

When you say "mediocre" sounding, which unit are you referring to and what similar price point would you recommend?  

Try an Exposure 3010S2D integrated. 

Rotel is OK, but I don't think it competitive with upper end lines, many of which are available for less than upper end Rotel.