Price Paid:  $1750.00 from Audioport, Ltd. (Ov

Summary:
Well, here it is. The budget audio/videophile processor is here. This thing is all the processor you will ever need. I don''t care if you''re running $100,000 worth of gear along with it; you will never need a better unit. The sound is absolutely incredible. I compared it to top-of-the-line receivers from Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo, and the comparison is, well, there is no comparison. The Rotel unit along with the RMB-1075 amp (five channel x 110 watts, which is WAY underrated) made the receivers sound like Fisher Price. After you buy good interconnect cables to connect to the amp, you may be spending a little more than you would on a receiver (in some cases, less), but I can assure you, the difference is night and day. Rotel has decided to leave out the gimmick features and excessive inputs in exchange for quality. Think about it. If you overload a unit with inputs and outputs, each one of them costs money to put in there. So if a unit has ten digital inputs, they must be of lower quality than if it only used five, because each one costs money. Rotel has included only the critical ins and outs, and made them of top quality. I was pretty impressed when the guy at Audioport demoed the Denon 5800. Very clean, no background noise. Then he demoed the Rotel with the exact same speakers. My jaw literally dropped. Was performance this good possible from such a low priced unit? Granted, it does have its cons (see weaknesses), but they pale in comparison to its performance. If you live anywhere near Kansas City, take a trip to Audioport. Make it a road trip if you have to. I''ve been to hifi stores all over the country and these guys are the best. Period. Be sure to check out their Rotel lineup, and, on a different note, their line of REL subwoofers. If you think you''ve heard a subwoofer, but you haven''t heard a REL, think again.

Strengths:
SOUND QUALITY, SOUND QUALITY, SOUND QUALITY!!! Video switching is exceptional as well. Looks great too.

Weaknesses:
User interface, volume control, no 6.1 capability

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR-5800