In The Quieter Moments
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday January 28, 2002
The RC-1090 pre-amplifier and RB-1080 power amplifier prove that Rotel is still a relatively small company, because the idea of building such a pre-power amplifier combination would never have occurred to a large multinational corporation. There are only two channels, there's no digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry and the power output is higher than most people imagine they will ever need.
Rotel's idea was to provide a short, clean path for stereo music signals. By eliminating unnecessary circuitry, it's possible to stretch the frequency response yet at the same time reduce noise and distortion. There are some creature comforts built in. The front panel's dot-matrix display shows the selected input and the record-out source and is large enough to be read from across a room, which is handy when you're using the remote. Advanced users can reprogram this display, so instead of showing "Aux 1" it could show "VHS-1".
The RB-1080 follows in the great tradition of Rotel power amplifiers, being very large, very heavy and available only in black. It's also enormously powerful. Rated at 200 watts per channel into 8-ohm loads, The Guide's review amplifier was independently tested as delivering 282 watts into 8 ohms, 479 watts into 4 ohms and 800 watts into
2 ohms. Despite this huge power capability, the output stages are not fan-cooled, because Rotel believes fans are too noisy to permit critical music listening. Instead, the RB-1080 constantly monitors its own temperature. If the amplifier becomes too hot, the protection cuts in and shuts it down.
Wiring between the RC-1090 and RB-1080 is via balanced cable, a professional wiring configuration that prevents hum and noise from entering the set-up. It works well, but the cable is not included in the price, which seems miserly.
Hook this Rotel pre-power combo up to any pair of speakers, no matter how large or small, and you will be rewarded with first-class sound quality. Although an output of 200 watts per channel may sound excessive, it isn't. Human hearing is logarithmic, not linear. If you want to replace a 20-watt amplifier with one that will result in twice the volume of sound, you will need not a 40-watt amplifier, but one rated at 200 watts. In other words, you have to multiply not by two, but by 10.
One of the foremost benefits of a high power output is not sheer volume level, as you'd expect, but superior handling of the transient sounds found at the start of any notes made by percussive instruments, from drums to piano. Low-powered amplifiers can't handle these signals, so they blur this first millisecond of sound. Not so this Rotel combo, as an incredibly dynamic new release from the Sydney All Star Big Band, titled Doin' Our Thing (La Brava) demonstrated beautifully during the listening sessions.
High-power, high-end performance without a correspondingly high price tag.
INFOFILE
Rotel RC-1090 Control Amplifier and RB-1080 Power Amplifier
Price: $2199 (RC-1090), $1999 (RB-1080)
International Dynamics Australasia Pty Ltd,
129 Palmer Street, Richmond,
Victoria 3121
1800 456 393
id@internationaldynamics.com.au
www.internationaldynamics.com.au
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald