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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$0.00
from Local Vendor Summary:
To describe a preamp that is IMHO invisible to the source and speakers is difficult. It does the job as intended. Chassis design, customizable, aluminum remote, quality and sound performance are solid and superior.
This unit is for those who can properly match up a system to full utilize its performance and those who desire ultimate transparency and sound articulation with future compatibility. It's not for those who feel 2 channel audio is gone or they can't hear a difference between Classé and other brands. eg HK or Rotel, etc.
My first unit received was slightly dinged on the front. The problem was reported and they sent me another within 2 days after the confusion was cleared up on the vendors side. Interesting note, so far they have sold about 500 units if the serial #'s are sequential. The only complaint is that I just finished running the previous unit for 200+ hours and it was beginning to sound settled down, relaxed, totally amazing and sweet... then I had to begin the breakin' process again on the new unit! :-) I was surprised to how much music never made it to my speakers with my older Rotel RC-1080. Rotel gear is great stuff for the money. I had mine for 4 yrs but for 2½x the price the diff is 25-75% more detail and music just from the Rotel RCD-991 player. 4x-5x that improvement IMHO, if you use the matching Classé CDP-100. Strengths:
Very invisibe and to describe it would be describing the source exactly. I began debating to keep my Rotel rcd-991 only after the Classé preamp was installed because it sounded so much better. MM/MC Phono board available for each channel. Weaknesses:
A few minor things; A little short on options; screen saver has only fixed timeouts. eg. 5, 10, 30 sec or 3 hours. Would be nice to see a default low volume level at startup rather than just "off". TFT screen is a little blury when cold during the initial 5 secs when turned on. Probably a sign of a long lasting 10-20 yr bulb. Remote requires a screwdriver to change batteries. The Rotel cd player caused the Classé preamp to buzz slightly and when the player was changed, the buzz disappeared. Tried to use the 12v trigger to switch on the preamp from the Classé CD player and it didn't like it. The TFT screen appeared showing a white blank and I had to power-off to operate again. Similar Products Used:
Have used or demo'd, Rotel rcd-991, Marantz, HK, Krell 250, others.
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