POWER
Nice mids, authoritative bass (a bit boomier than I am used too but my speakers and amps are both about 17 years old though the speakers have been redone as they are legendary and probably the most irreplaceable part of my system for me; but fairly adequate sound duplication without any EQ which I only believe is good for 78 rpm recordings and the like). The brightness has lessened a bit and with some tweaking of speaker positioning I probably will just keep the 1070 and maybe buy another and mono bridge them. That seems like a better long term investment than resurrecting the 565s which I love but alas, unless I can swap out the electrolytic capacitors and clean the boards myself I am SOL.

As to the Rotel's strengths

10:00 on the gain is about as far as I need to turn it and I am replacing two mega power amps Adcom 565s. It has major power. I am driving 4 ohm speakers with it and I put it in a rack system cabinet and bought a clip on desk fan to provide extra cooling to the back of the rack. I have 4 inches head clearance and about an inch on the sides.

For the price: I haven't heard anything comparable.

For those with too much money to waste, send me your used, tired, poor audio equipment cause I'm a bang for the buck guy and though "freedom may be another word for nothing left to lose," freedom is not having a DC Offset blowing your legendary speakers quick fuse every time you power it up.

Oh yeah and they can be bridged for mono so that when I can swing another one I can have 2 mono's again.

It doesn't have the soundstage that the 565s provided.

The power cord.

A little bright but depends on preamp, speakers etc and I have excellent speakers and preamp IMHO.

Imaging is good but hard too compare with 2 $900 monos though I may try bridging 2 of the Rotels and see how that sounds.

I have a pair of Adcom 565 mono's with a DC offset problem on one of them. I can't get anyone to swap out the electrolytic capacitors on the boards connected to the heat synchs. I understand that they leak and this leads to a loud thump sound when I turn on the unit and it is cold. It will cost me about $400 to replace and swap out the electrolytics on both and I don't know what with cleaning of the boards and all. Am wondering if it is worth it. Now to the point. I picked up the Rotel RB 1070 at Stereo Exchange after hearing and reading rave reviews. I'd like the 1080 or 1090 but my budget could only swing the rb 1070. I have a pair of DQ 20 speakers and an Adcom preamp. My first impressions were that the bass was more present than with the Adcom monos and that the amp was a little bright. I am hoping that aspect mellows with some burn in time.

Customer Service

Hopefully I will never know. Has to be better than Adcom Repair services and a personal note that I got hosed at Cosmophonic in NYC to the tune of $200 to bench test one amp and preamp. End result. $200 lighter. Adcom is not who they used to be and when they offered me to trade up - welll how do you go up from the best amps they ever made. The woman on the other end of the phone had no sap rap to give me when I told her that because it is true. However, all things must pass and unfortunately, my 565 mono blocks may be up on the block. Before you e-mail me for them know also that the guy I bought them from sold them to me for $500 10 years ago. He bought a Threshold amp to replace them. One of the big caps was replaced as he decided to open and play. (Extra Dumb!). Nevertheless, refurbished (back in the good ol days) by Adcom. One listen and $500 came rolling out of my wallet. I didn't lose then and you won't lose now if you get this amp. It's a nice piece of solidly built equipment and has a nice overall sound and presentation for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom 565 amps and preamp
Threshold 100 W Amp
Adcom 4000 ???
Have listened to many systems at audio shows and w/friends
Levinson
McIntosh Tube monos

Quiet, Solid, comes with a great warranty which I doubt I will need.

NONE

I've had this amp for 8 months now, and I'm very pleased with it.
Its hooked up to a Acurus preamp, along with a Rotel CD player going into my Quad 11 speakers.
The combination of these components rock.
I also have a Klipsch Reference 10" subwoofer that is sometimes hooked up to this system.
I could not be happier with what I hear. My current sound room is pretty small, measuring about 12x11 with a cathedral ceiling. The sound is crystal clear, with no distortion what so ever. The Quads alone, are capable of producing enough lows, but with the help of the Sub it opens up a new demension for the lows. The Klipsch Reference 10 is very musical. Its not boomy at all. When set up correctly you won't even know its in the room, but what a difference it makes.
Anyone looking for a pure audio thrill would be happy with all of the components I have put together.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Kenwood, Pioneer.

musical with good bass-beautiful midrange and highs as well

would probably prefer full tone control, as opposed to contour control-but I don't know if that is really a weakness

THIS AMPLIFIER IS WONDERFUL- SOUNDSTAGE it provides is very musical,rich sounding.The bass is tight,and overall this unit is well worth the money and then some----Best upgrade I,ve made so far

Clean power, at a great pricepoint.

None

Great Amp for the price, a superb cost/benefit ratio. This amp provides very clean detailed power supply to any quality speaker at AN AMAZING PRICE. Rotel doesn't waste lots of money on unusable whistles and bells. They design simple paths and use high quality components. This amp will easily drive any reasonably efficient speaker at any normal (below tone deaf causing) listening levels. Typical Quality, no frills Rotel power. I also would not pay any heed to someone rating this product with a 1 star. When you see virtually everyone who owns a product rave about it and then a guy gives it a 1, that should tell you something. I'm guessing he does not even own Rotel gear, probably more like some sales schlep trying to pawn off an inferior competitors product at a Best Buy or Tweeters box store. The guy claims he's had buzz problems with a Rotel Preamp so he goes out and buys a Rotel amp?????? Yeah right! Next liar, please step up. :-)

Similar Products Used:

Parasound, Adcom, Sunfire.

Look, power, quality / price

Slightly bright sound

Gorgeous looking power amp, affordable price ($700), Bridgeable, Impressive toroidal transformer, Powerful sound. A little bit too much mid-highs, slightly bright sound.

Similar Products Used:

Quad, NAD, Adcom, Parasound, Conrad-Johnson

Makes an excellent paperweight. Will hold your garbage can in place!!

Everything else. Poor quality, poor sound quality at higher volumes and Chinese construction quality on higher priced items marginal at best.

This unit is a total piece of junk!! I alwats seemed to have a buzz about it. It is going in for service again due to a buzzing sound. you don't pay all that money to have a supposed high end piece of "equipment" go in for service thice in a year. It clips easy. This is not a high quality amplifier. I have Rotel's pre amp; the rc-1070 and that also needed service (buzzing/one channel was louder than the other). This is the pathetic thing; I have a Technics home theater receiver. It immages better than that putrifing piece of excrement Rotel set up. Shockingly enough, the Technics I.C. chip equiped receiver has been very reliable!! 4 years of heavy use and NO PROBLEMS. I've come to this determination; all Rotel products are inferrior! Do not buy them. I have heard of several other people that have had serious problems with Rotel. They are not the old Rotel we once knew.

Similar Products Used:

Technics (reliable, decent sound quality for price paid. Yamaha, Denon, B&K, Harman Kardon, and Hitachi (25 years old, still plays well)

Tight bass, lots of power, stunning looks (in silver with the blue LED)

Not a weakness really, but performs best with a good controlling pre-amp

I originally bought this amp to tighten up the low end on my system (Arcam Alpha 9 integrated amp and a pair of Dali Blue 6006 floorstanders), after not finding any integrated amps that could control the Dalis. The result was incredible. Paired with the 1070 CD player and Arcam (bi-amped), results were that tracks such as Sarah McLachlan's 'I love you' and the K-Pax soundtrack all of a sudden had nots at the very bottom end, not just booming noises. More recently I have replaced the Arcam with a Parasound P3 pre-amp (retails £750), which has made an incredible difference again. Bass has been tightened, and the warmth and tightness of the low end is out of this world. Tracks such as the Dixie Chick's 'Give it up of let me go' and Martina Sorbara's album 'The cure for bad deeds' are so lifelike and controlled, it's like nothing I've ever heard. As an Acoustics professional, I take my music very seriously, and this suits me down to the ground. Accompanying kit as follows: Rotel 1070 CD (£495) Dali Blue 6006 speaker (~£400) QED Silver signature bi-wire cable (£8/m) Chord Cobra interconnects (£50 per pair) Future Glass GEM equipment rack (£100 per shelf)

Similar Products Used:

I tried integrateds such as Rega Planet, Arcam Diva and Rotel 1070, but non could touch the combination of the 1070 power amp with either my Arcam Alpha 9 or Parasound

Clean sound except for mid bass at volume. 12 volt trigger feature. Nice aesthetic.

Mid bass.

Giving this opinion now before I'm too biased by my purchase to be as objective. I've had the 1070 amp and 1070 preamp for less than a week-purchased together for an even $1000. I use them with some KEF Q7s $1500 retail. The amp is very clean but, surprisingly, not as tight in the upper bass as is my Yamaha integrated amp AV970 (with just 65 Watts) in my HT room. I'm serisously thinking about adding a music-quality sub to pair with this new setup. Low bass seems fine, mid bass gets lost (a little muddy). Weird b/c it is there on the Yamaha (a $1200 HT amp purchased 12 years ago, but with just 65 watts/channel). Dunno what to say. At least the amp is cleaner/crisper sounding than the old Yamaha. Nice imaging. I'm upset that this may cost me another $600-1000 for the sub, though. Still, at $1000 for amp and preamp, a good buy.

Similar Products Used:

Own: Yamaha. Auditioned: Marantz 80W? Receiver (the Rotel sounded much better), B&W (more $, worse sound).

Quality, sound clarity, and simplicity

None

This is a great amplifier at an affordable price. Having purchaced the Rotel 1070 preamp at an earlier date, I decided to match it with the complementary 1070 power amplifier, and have not been disappointed in the least. Nice clean sound, and with more than enough reserve power for my listening needs. I tend to favor simplicity over gadgetry, particularly when it comes to audio components, and the simplicity of the Rotel 1070 preamp and amp was a large selling point for me. These units feature simple, down-to-earth functional controls with a minimum of superfluous switches, knobs, and other extraneous "bells and whistles". The frontal heat sink on the amplifier does appear to be more cosmetic than functional, but that doesn't detract from the overall appearance. To get the most out of this amp, It seemed prudent to purchase high-quality speaker and RCA cables. Even though this meant spending extra cash, I felt that the improvement in sound quality was worth every penny. My only other recommendation is to definitely follow the manufacturer's guidelines on where to place the amp, as it does tend to run warm. Proper ventilation is key! As with any audio component, keeping this amp out of direct sunlight is probably a good idea. I have had this amplifier for a month, and have already enjoyed many hours of fine listening. I look forward to many hours of the same!

Music sounds very realistic, controlled bass, 12v trigger.

Speaker connectors are too close to each other when you use bare wire.

I needed a good amp that would do justice to my new B&W cdm 7nt''s and the RB-1070, priced 750 Euro, are perfect for it. Acoustic intruments and voices sound lifelike, placing of the instruments is perfect, bass is controlled. I auditioned with Van Morrisson - Live at the Grand Opera house, Björk - Homogenic, and Diana Krall - Only trust your heart. It is also is very powerful, the volume control never passes past 1 third, but the music also sounds good at low levels. For those that experience some brightness: more and more livingrooms have hard walls and floors, so experiment with carpets, curtains etcetera. My sources are: Rotel RCD-971 and RT-1080.