I picked this amp up cheap off EBay as an experiment to drive 2 subwoofers in my HT system. At first I tried it as a front 2 channel amp matched with a Theta Casablanca and some Snell B Minors. This amp has a very harsh, shrill sounding upper register typical of a mid-fi product, however the bass weight and definition are actually pretty good for an amp in this price range. As a subwoofer amp driving 2 Kinergetics SW-800 towers it works pretty good. Having a damping factor of >1000 gives it pretty good control over the five10" woofers in each tower. Surprising the Rotel was able to handle the low impedance (3.2 ohms) but started to get pretty warm after about 30 mins at a Dolby reference volume.

My curiosity got the best of me so I moved one of my Krell KMA 160 monos from the my dedicated 2 channel listening room ( not recommended moving these around very often) and plug it in. Now the Krell is nearly 5 times the cost and a true class A amp so I expected a noticeable improvement, but given the Rotel's lofty specs on paper, I didn't expect the Krell to totally crush it. The sound quality was night and day difference even though the Rotel is rated at 40wpc higher than the Krell.

For a mid-fi amp it's ok as a subwoofer amp, but for 2 channel stereo it's pretty bad in the top registers. I think the Parasounds are much better amps for the money in this price range. This amp is no where near audiophile quality, but I suppose for home theater soundtracks it might be ok. For 2 channel stereo, forget it..

I am sorry, but I have to give only two stars. Simply it is not good enough!
It was for a first week, but later I have developed bloody ears. Too much harsh treble.
The amp has a lot of power, but I could not deal with a treble. Maybe I should have tried so many different cables or other hifi equipment, but it was more simple to sell it to the guys who need power.
Bass is good, midds ok, but trebble is too cold for my taste.
And unit looks ugly with all those fins and blue light....what is next in hi fi? Purple light?
Whats wrong with red or green?

well built, price point, runs cool

none for what i needed it for

Bought this to power my Martin Logans, Did a great job, MLs are very power hungry and if I would have had this amp hooked up to a more efficient speaker it would have sounded even better.I traded up to the RB 1090. Good amp and well built. Never had a problem

Similar Products Used:

Rotel rb 1090
Onkyo m-5060

The toroidal transformer is massive(no power starving), the front mount fins does wonders for the cooling.
Power cable is detachable. The trigger works well.The binding posts are pretty easy to connect to.

Has no weakness, apart from weight so when ordering a shelf consider the weight.

I have used this unit for about 3 months and all I can say is that it's brilliant. It was initially used to drive the kef fronts but I'm now usiing it to drive a passive quad coil sub. Impedance per channel is 2ohm(not recommended but no signs of breakdown or distortion), this amp is well built. However it does heat up abit but considering the loading, one would expect it to. I have not used the balanced inputs yet.
I am very happy with this amp considering the price I paid.
I am definitely going to buy a RB-1070 to power my fronts.
Later on utilise my 1080 and 1070 to power up the fronts in biamping and get a monoblock to power the sub.

My amp is currently controlled from a Rotel dvd reciever rsdx02 , that will also be upgraded to an AudioLab AVP8000.

Similar Products Used:

NAD , AudioLab , Roksan Kandy, Marantz, Denon, Kef and B&W

Sound and Build Quality! Looks (apart from the gull wings)

The gull wings are ugly...

I purchased the Rotel RC 1070 Pre Amp and the RB 1080 Power Amp to replace my NAD C352 Integrated Amp. Nothing was majorly wrong with the NAD, but I was looking for more spice and a more open and engaging sound. To put it simply, the Rotel was all that was needed to really take my system to another level of performance. The highs were clearer, the mids more detailed, the soundstage was improved and I finally got complaints from my neighbours about the bass on my system (for the 1st time in 2 years!!!).... Not that my aim was to disturb my neighbours, but I was impressed with the amount of bass the Rotel combo was able to squeeze out ot my Mission Volare 63 speakers...

For anyone looking a good pre amplifier, but not interesting in spending mega bucks, I suggest giving the Rotel an audition. The same goes for the Power Amp.

Excellent value for money!!!!

Similar Products Used:

NAD C352, Musical Fidelity XT100

Great separation between musical instruments.
Power!

None!

Good value for the money - got what I wanted, i.e. power to drive my front speakers, Klipsch Tangent 5000.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom power amps.

Price,
Overall sound,
Build quality,
Power!

none

I purchased the Rotel RB-1080 power amp and RC-1070 pre amp to marry up with my Arcam 7se CD player and B&W 804 speakers to replace a Carver amp that was going on 16 years old. I paid roughly $1700 for the two pieces. Connections are all made with Audioquest Diamondbacks and Monster's Ultra 1000 speaker cables. Although the Carver was still working fine, it was time for an upgrade so I started my research and looked at NAD pre/power and also NAD integrated and Bryston's integrated. Although the Bryston was certainly beautiful sounding, the difference in sound was hard to justify the large diffence in price between it and the other two manufacturers. The superior sound of the Rotel over the NAD's was immediate including the detail, clarity, soundstage and base. I find myself listening to CD's that I never used to. A new feature that is on my power amp that did not even appear in Rotel's literature at the time I purchased was an extra set of binding posts on the back to allow complete bi-wiring capability from the amp straight through to the speakers. In my personal opinion, I don't think there is a pre/amp-power/amp combo on the market at twice the price that can compete and this thing is built like a tank. I will soon be replacing the Arcam CD player with Rotel's highly acclaimed RCD-1072 CD player.

Customer Service

The dealer was great to deal with. I will definitely purchase more from them in the future.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam CD player,
Rotel pre-amp,
B&W 804's
Carver amp,
Yamaha for surround sound,
Sony CD recorder,
LG DVD,
Toshiba widescreen,
Paradigm speakers.

Strong good sound

Older units may blow fuses without upgrade

Powerful and great sounding amplifier with one potential flaw. Made my speakers sound brand new. Particularly my bass improved dramatically. After only 3 months it blew the fused on one channel. Turns out, Rotel screwed up in calculating and an upgrade that is now in all the newer rb-1080s may be needed if you have an older one. They increase the fuse capacity from 6.3 to 8 watts and a couple other small components. Great amp though.

Great sound and very powerful. Can handle almost any speaker system.

Peculair looking is my only gripe. I have the silver version with a small rectangular plate in the center which I don't think matches the other silver series components very well. Should have been wider. A tad on the expensive side, but great value and quality compared to other Amps in its price range.

I had some wonderful Dali Helicons 400s (I like better than B&W Nautilus - not harsh like the B&W) which seemed a little lacking in the bass from what the reviews fortold. I switched from my Denon AVR 2806 (135 Watts using 2 Channel) to a very low priced Harman Kardon 2 Channel Amp that rates itself at 125 Watts. The bass sounded grainy and a bit wussy with the Denon compared to the HK which made the bass sound good. Denon apparently overates their power compared to HK. However, the 200W Rotel made the bass go from good with the HK to great and I am no longer thinking my speakers to be inadequate at all. The bass is strong, smooth, punchy, and full with no distortion now. Its as if I bought new speakers. The overall sound is warm and detailed with this amp.

Lots of power for small money

Well you have to know, there is better staff out there, but probably not for this price.

Just had to replace 10 year old audio stuff from DENON, so I went by at eBAY and found it. A bit of heavy metall around 15kg and on switching on it gives a flicker to the room light. With a LS cable from Black + White 1202 it is a bit screaming in the hights, a bit dumb in the bass, but perfect for straight forward music like guitar or piano or strings.