TechBoy

I was in the local Home Theater Store looking at the Denon 3806. Many have told me to wait for the 3807. The sales guy pushed me to the Rotel 1057 telling me it was 7.1. When I went to the Rotel site, it led me to believe that it was not a true 7.1. You really needed to add an extra stereo amp to get 7.1. Anyone know anything about this? If the Rotel is a true 7.1...how does it compare to the Denon or the Yammy?

Cyborg

how does it compare to the Denon or the Yammy?

TechBoy

that is correct, the RSX-1057 is a 5.1 receiver, but can be stepped up to 7.1 by adding a two-channel amp. Quite simply, the RSX-1057 is absolutely stunning. Rotel focuses on high fidelity and excellent build quality. The Denon AVR-3806 is focused on a large feature-set.

Personally, I would get the AVR-3807 (expected out around September) for an engaging home theatre experience. However, if you are interested in a true hifi experience and want to bring the most out of your CD collection and have very capable speakers I would certainly lean towards the Rotel.

Semona

Just out of curiosity, what'll keep someone with the Denon 3806 from having a true hifi experience?

ITRocks

Denon AVR-3805 vs Rotel RSX-1056
http://www.audaud.com/audaud/MAY05/component/comp2.php

Cyborg

If all you need is HT any decent avr will do.

Semona

what does superb musicality mean?

Sound and Vision did a recent review of the 3806 and I believe it measured around 150w in stereo at 8ohm and 250w in stereo at 4ohm. THD was.05 and frequency response was something like +- 0,0.2. According to this it has plenty of power, extremely low noise and a flat frequency response.

I think Rotel makes a fine product. Their amplifiers are first rate. I think Rotels being more musical is a marketing hype.

For sound quality and reliability it's simply hard to beat a Denon or Yamaha mid-level receiver.

TechBoy

Just to set the record straight, I currently own both a Denon AVR-2807 and a Denon DVD-1920. I absolutely love my Denon receiver! But after auditionning the Rotel RSX-1057 with my speakers (Monitor Audio Bronze Series), I really would love to one day upgrade to the Rotel receiver. I urge you to audition the Rotel RSX-1057, many hifi stores will let you take equipment home for a day, and this receiver certainly speaks for itself.

ITRocks

For reliability Denons great,I've owned many.If you have owned a Rotel you'd know why they are musically superior.

Semona

I don't doubt the Rotel receiver is a nice piece of equipment since Rotel has a reputation of making good equipment. It's been a few years, but I've listened to one of their receivers, and it sounded very nice. It has excellent fit and finish and has a good record of reliability. The only problem I've known about was one of their models would burn up if there was a short circuit in the speaker wires. This was due to a lack of a protection circuit. There was a thread on this forum about it awhile back.

Okay, we all agree Rotel makes good equipment, and it sounds good too. No argument there. I wouldn't have a problem owning one either, but I feel I can get equal performance with more features at a better price.

What I disagree with are statements like it sounds better, is more musical, is better for 2 channel music. True it will sound better than a Denon or Yamaha entry level receiver simply due to lower THD, higher current capacity, better DACs. However, this isn't necessarily the case once you get up into the mid-level and higher receivers like the 3806.

I think it's perfectly valid to say someone prefers one over the other due to sonic character, looks, features, name, price, but to say one is more musical is an opinion.

What does musical mean anyway? It's based on preference.

Rotel has also done a nice marketing job to carve out it's audiophile niche. Marantz, Nad, and Arcam have also done this.