Rotel Home Cinema Surround Sound Amplifiers

It’s been a while since I’ve laid my hands on some new Rotel products. Fact is, I was beginning to wonder what was up since the line was getting a little long in the tooth in the last couple of years or so. But worry no longer. At CES they debuted the 15 Series, an impressive soup-to-nuts range of components that includes a 7.1-channel receiver, a surround processor, stereo and multichannel amps, custom install amps,… well you get the picture. It’s a BIG line. And a sexy one.

It doesn't take a long listen to realise that Rotel has delivered an amplifier that offers a genuine alternative to our established Naim and Roksan favourites. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's It's Blitz is a formidable test of timing and dynamics, but the RA-1520 dispatches the album without breaking sweat.

Although the amplifier has attracted some mild opprobrium in this test, it works well on the whole, but it was quickly apparent that the real star here is the CD player, which at the asking price is clearly rather special. Overall, the combination is tonally on the lightweight side of neutral and there's a hint of untidiness yet the presentation is also dynamic, colourful, and vivid.

Starting the demo with I Am Legend on Blu-ray, the Rotel duo made a very good impression with excellent Dolby TrueHD steering and thundering dynamics. The Rotels’ ability to retrieve detail from the soundtrack was quite exceptional; echoes and the distant sound of bloodthirsty zombies made for a potent surround sound experience.

The world of modern-day A/V receivers sometimes seems to be driven by the headlong pursuit of elaborate technical gongs and whistles, plus the burning desire to quote impressive—though sometimes implausible— power specifications. Deliberately bucking these trends, however, Rotel has always chosen to march to the beat of a different drummer. While competitors have added more buttons and flashing lights, Rotel has consistently taken a simpler, “less is more” approach.

Medium-sized manufacturers like Rotel are often referred to—admiringly, as far as I’m concerned—as the low end of the high end. The RSX-1550 has the refinement (if not the rated power) that I normally associate with good separates. If you want five channels of great sound, HDMI 1.3a connectivity, and a genuinely attractive look, this receiver delivers on all three counts.

There are countless recievers on the market, but few really deerve consideration from audiophile types. Ergonomic quirks aside, the RSX-1560 does a fantastic job with both audio and video. Movies really pop with the strong, punch, midrange. Perhaps the best added bonus with the RSX-1560 is that it looks as good as it sounds. And it looks really good.

The Rotel RSX-1560 is not just a science experiment in Class D amplification. It is a fine-tuned product that maintains the manufacturer's effortlessly musical personality while projecting it onto a new amplifier topology. If I agonized over this receiver, I can only imagine how many sleepless nights Rotel's designers trying to make it sound as good as its shiny front panel looks.

Since the early 1960s, Rotel hi-fi products have been a contender in the quality sound/good pricing arena. I remember Rotel’s 1980s receivers, entry-level audiophile RP turntables, and, later, the CD players and home theater gear — all have been successful in the marketplace. Building on its sonics/price heritage comes two very nice, home theater products, the RP-1570 preamp/processor and the RMB- 1575 five-channel amp. Both offer very good performance, and an ease of use and ergonomic simplicity that are much welcome in this age of increasing A/V complexity.