Lots of power.

Mine died after two years. The outer case is very thin and too weak in case you wanna put something heavy on top of it.

This is a good amp. I run mine so hard that the light in the whole house fades from the current surge when the bass is booming (it's a small villa though, but still very cool!). Someone wrote here that the amp smoked and finally died when it was on. Mine did too, and I know the probable reason: Faulty inrush current limiter. I did replace mine with a bigger one and now it works fine. If you wanna have a small disco or house party then this is the amp for you. Beware that it gets hot and requires good air flow. Not only does it output plenty of power, it sounds good too! Definitely a good choice to power front speakers in any surround system.

Similar Products Used:

None

Good value for the money, cool running, great bottom end, smooth midrange.

Slightly veiled in the midrange and high's, obscures low level detail

While I feel that this amp offers excellent value, it is not as good as my Hafler 9505 at reproducing low level detail. Slightly veiled sounding, but very smooth with complete freedom from listening fatique. This amp is excellent in the deep bass, with solid, transparent and very extended bass response. I am bi-amping a pair of Paradigm Studio 100v2's along with HSU HRS10v subs, with a 50 hz crossover, and the big Rotel makes an ideal subwoofer amp. I use the Hafler 9505 above 50hz. I tried the Rotel on top and as I said it sounded slightly veiled.

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Hafler Transnova 9505

Price for performance! Well Controlled Bass, Silky Smooth Midrange, Treble, and Vocals! Power, Reserves, and Accurate reproduction of music!

Bulky in size, but worth the money and sound!

Well, I must say outstanding at this price point! I have been upgrading my equipment for the past six months; I must say, I am quite pleased with RB 1090 addition to my audio family! When I picked up the amp from the store, I immediately noticed the size of this bad boy! Whew!! I thought to myself, what in the world is it? Mark, my consultant told me, that is your amp! Immediatley when I connected the amp, the bass and upper frequencies were alive and extended. The midranged was silky smooth! The amp has tons of clean, undistorted power and headroom that will push any efficient speaker. For years, I have been looking for a powerful amp that will deliver the goods to my Bose 901 Series VI speakers! The RB 1090 does more than performs, it performs as if you are attending a live Jazz concert. One word to describe it is "Outstanding!" If anyone is considering a purchase in the power amp category; the requirements are Hi current/voltage , Reserves and Power, You will not go wrong!!!!!!!! In order to enjoy the amp's potential, I recommend a dedicated 20 A outlet in your house! I am amazed that more people are not purchasing this amp. The last 3 or 4 Stereophile Recommended issues have ranked this amp Class B. To me, the review is pretty darn accurate! My system: Rotel RB 1090 (Black and Silver Finish) Adcom GFP 750 Arcam CD72T Cambridge Audio D500SE HK CDR 20 MSB Link III DAC MSB P-1000 Powerbase Power Supply Monarchy Audio 48/96 Upsampler PS Audio Ultimate High Current Outlet Monster Power HTS 3600 Line Conditioner Bose 901 Concerto Series VI Speakers and Active EQ (1988) Interconnects and Cables: MIT Optical Cable Kimber Optical Cable Silver Serpent Digital Cable Silver Serpent BNC Digital Cable MIT 330 Series II 3 Pairs MIT Terminator 2 Speaker Cables 1 Pair MIT Terminator 2 Interconnect 1 Pair Nordost Solar Wind Interconnect 1 Pair Nordost Blue Heaven Interconnect 1 Pair

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Adcom GFA 5802, (2)Carver TFM 15 CB's Bridged, Sunfire 300 X 2 Power Amp, Krell FPB Series, and Mark Levinson

Great for price. Well built power supply.

Flimsy case.

First of all I must say at the price point, this amp basically has no rivals in neutrality or in sheer output. For the money it is very smooth in the midrange, treble has very little grain and the bass is well controlled. However, the Classe Ca-101 at $400 less is a smoother amp but of course doesn't have the reserves. Another consideration at $2400 is the Proceed BPA 2 which is significantly more refined. Anyway, back to the review. Weighing in at 83 lbs you can guess at the size of the power supply. The build quality for the price is good, but the outer case is a little flimsy. As far as over-heating is concerned, I have not experienced this. This problem is probably two fold: either a. Your outlet is insufficient, or b. You don't have it ventilated well enough. Sound is open but not to the nth degree as with Levinson. To the guy who said this sounded better than Levinson: CLEAN OUT YOUR EARS. The soundstage is open but still a little closed in compared to the upper end equipment. Space around the instruments is hinted at, but never given to full extent. Bass controll is excellent which can be attributed to the power supply. In short, a very capable amp at the price, but not the panacea some claim it to be.

Similar Products Used:

Proceed, Levinson, VTL, Classe

Power, clarity, clean power, watts per buck.

Weighs a ton. 100lbs.

The Rotel 1090 is a massive dose of power that more than amply supplies my Carver Amazing Loudspeaker Platinum Edition. The Platinum Edition speaker requires an amplifier rated at 350 watts per channel to allow peak sound levels as high as 115 dB. When shopping and listening to power amplifiers such as Adcom and other top shelf power amplifiers, most were out of the race because the amps could not meet watt requirements. At 380 watts per channel the Rotel fit the bill. Once connected the sound quality improvement was dramatic. Previously an older Phillips 200 watt per channel integrated amp was used (adequate but ribbon failure was probably caused by the low/dirty power). The ribbon repaired and Rotel in place my music collection was rediscovered. Everything sounded new and dynamic as never before. Bass, mids, highs were more vivid and produced with less volume.

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Adcom GFA-5802 Power Amplifier, Phillips Integrated Stereo Amplifier 3881

Looks. Sound Quality. Bang/Buck

Not as power as I expected.

I researched amplifiers for at least a year prior to my purchase of the big ROT. I have large amp requirements due to the size of my room.(16x26 w/14' cathedral). I play alot of movies(rotel 1066 pre-amp five stars) and occasionally throw partys requiring large volumes of stereo output. My first problem was amp hum. For all you out there with this problem this is easily corrected with a $1.25 item that can be bought at any hardware. It is three to two prong adapter that eliminates the ground plug in. Evidently the ground loop is creating the buzz. As far as sonic performance is concerned, the product is awesome. The only real problem I have is that I cannot get enough volume without clipping when I play loud party music. I damaged the tweeters(due to clipping) and had to have them replaced in my paradigm stud.100's. Since then, I have had the amp shut off twice due to overheating and was not driving it to max at the time. Had to wait 10 minutes to cool to resume music.I am now looking for a small fan to push air around the unit while being used hard. Am also considering how to get more volume for the system in two channel operation.

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Harmon Cardon

Incredible value and build quality, sweet - very seet sound

None

Well - I just got the upgrade bug after many years with a Perreaux 3150B Amp - read Stereophile November 99 issue and decided that the Rotel 1090 was on my top list to review - Let me tell you that after listening to the Rotel - I just had to have it and was floored at the relatively low price at $2,000. Since buying this incredible piece I have sold my Mirage M3si speakers and replaced them with the Martin Logan ReQuests - sweet - plenty of headroom for the most demanding of music and loads - runs cool - If you're in the market for a new 2 channel amp you owe it to yourself to listen and evaluate this great sounding amp.

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Perreaux, Krell, Adcom

Clean accurate sound

None noted so far

Current setup:
rotel 971 cd
rotel 960 preamp
rotel 940 tuner

Linn tukan monitors
sunfire true sub woofer

Kimber silver streak interconnects
Kimber 4tc speaker wire, biwired

I've owned all the above mentioned amps and auditioned others not listed. Each amp had its own distinct sound quality. The little rotel 930 sounded the best out of all of them, just didn't have the power I needed. As a matter of fact the 930 comes the closest to the 1090 in sound character, just without the power reserves. If your listening does not require more than 30 watts a side you might try to find a 930 and listen to that gem. However if you need power with accurate tonal quality the 1090 is going to be hard to beat! I haven't had this amp long but I'm finding it nothing short of fun to listen to. Alot of recording engineers need to go back and learn their trade again, if the recording is lousy (which alot seem to be) this amp lets it come through. But ah, if the recording is good this amp sings!! The bass is tight, fast and not over bearing or missing. Midrange is clean and fast. The highs are clean without being sizzly or strident. And isn't that what music is all about!

My next upgrade will be the preamp, can't wait as I feel this is now my weak link. Am looking at the adcom 750, hear its very good in the passive mode.

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Rotel 970, Rotel 930, Carver 1.0, M400a, M500t, Luxman M-02

Words cannot express this AMP..

NONE!

I have write to say that I have bought and traded many AMPS in search of the perfect amps for my Martin Logan Request. Well, my search has come to an end thanks to Rotels RB-1090. I have one amp for each Martin Logan.. I have them bi-wired and words cannot describe the sound that I am hearing from my Logans... Thank You Rotel!!!
Robert Lent

Startling resolution and limitless power. Incredible value.

The Rotel is difficult to transport and can certainly be inconvenient if one attempts to move it up a flight of stairs.

Allow me start by saying that this amplifier is certainly far better than any amplifier labtech or altec lansing would dare dream of using in their multi media speakers. In fact I would go so far to say that it bests the Hafler 9500 on computer games,by no small margin either. Computer games run through this amplifier and my Adcom GDA 600 DAC are so realistic that background sounds come to life in remarkable and compelling ways. For example during the intro movie for Red Alert 2 I can clearly hear the pigeons fly away as the Soviets Zeplins are about to bomb New York into Rubble, the sound of missle platforms on Soviet ships raising their missles can also be heard quite clearly. Although the Rotel is quite impressive on Red Alert 2 this amplifier is even more spectacular with Diablo II. I sometimes start Diablo II only for the sake of listening to it's detailed and haunting soundtrack. Diablo II's ambience affects also greatly benefit from the Rotel's detail and power, the sound of rain and thunder in Scene I at Rogue encampment is conveyed with both exquisite detail and stunning power.

However for what most people on this website will use the Rotel for I can emphatically and whole heartedly recommend this amplifier for music. Listening to the "Screaming Trees" on the Rotel I'm suddenly aware of all sorts of nuiances and subtles in my music that I've never heard before. Instruments that before might have had two dimensions suddenly explode into three with remarkable detail,clarity and liveliness that I've never heard before. Subtle background vocals that I've never heard are represented with clarity and depth on this amplifier. This amplifier will bring out every ounce and drop of subtly,nuance,power and feeling in your music.
Although I certainly purchased mine for excellent price it would be no exaggeration to say that it's worth as much.

As Beavis and Butthead would say ,"It rules! It rules!"

Similar Products Used:

Hafler 9500. Adcom GFA-7500,used to actively amplify mids and highs.