Rotel RCD-1072 Overview

In a world where cramming as many home theater speakers as humanly possible is the norm, it is nice to know there are electronics companies still dedicated to quality two-channel music. Enter the Rotel RA-1062 Integrated Amplifier and CD-1072 HDCD Player. These are slim line components designed to fit in tight spaces and deliver big sound without breaking your bank account. You won't find any fancy DSP or surround modes, no On Screen Displays or learning remotes. Instead, you will find the essential high quality audio reproduction guts of what today seems to be a dying art - two-channel music.

Rotel products were one of my first introductions to high end audio. I can clearly remember the day I brought home a Rotel two-channel amplifier and CD player from a hi-end dealer I worked for during my college years. The amplifier was modestly rated at 150wpc (only 50 more wpc than my flagship Pioneer home theater receiver), yet when I preamped out my Pioneer to the Rotel, my jaw dropped in amazement at the increased fidelity of my then modest system. What I heard was much tighter control and deeper extension of bass, greater dynamics, and more effortless reproduction of music. My next step was to face off my Pioneer mega CD changer against the single tray Rotel. I was again startled by the higher clarity of detail and lack of sterility I was so accustomed to in my mass market equipment. It was then I experienced an epiphany as an Audioholic, realizing the existence of sonic differences in quality electronics. Despite the fact that my receiver had excellent paper specs, the published specs alone did not explain why I was experiencing sonic nirvana with equipment that didn't seem to measure as well on paper. In my course work as an Electrical Engineering student and with my continued experience working in a hi end home theater shop I learned some of the metrics that began explaining sonic differences. Metrics such as the importance of well-designed power supplies, filtering, quality of components used, amplifier topology & output impedance, Signal to Noise Ratio, etc. Upon comparing the guts of my mass-market gear to the Rotel, it soon became evident as to why I preferred the latter. In defense of my own gear at the time, however, the Rotel CD player alone cost as much as my receiver. I guess the saying " you get what you pay for " applied quite well in this instance.