| Audio Emporium
Newsletter Rotel
RA-1062 Integrated Amp $700: Remains One of Stereo’s Best Values!! Let’s take a look at one of the finest values in
the history of audio, the Rotel RA-1062. It has been a terrific integrated amp since 2003!
It’s still the class of its field. It
has a gutsy 60 w/ch amp- strong enough to drive the vast majority of speakers out there.
It’s available in black or silver. It has phono. It has remote. It has a headphone
jack. It has spkrs A & B. It has a separate record/listen control. It has preamp out.
It has contour controls and relay switching. Musically
it is outstanding. It has a toroidal transformer and large power supply caps. It has a
double-sided glass board that is clean as a whistle. The caps are Black Gate slit foil.
This is marvelous stuff MADE BY ROTEL in its own factory, not vendored out. The subsequent
consistency and reliability is top notch. The warranty is five years! It
came out in about 2003. Here we are five years later. It still sells great. It is just as
competitive sonically as the day it came out. Why replace it? Most companies can’t help themselves. They come out
with a new line every year. Sometimes they haven’t even gotten the bugs out of the
old gear and now they’ve got new problems, er, models. Rotel is a welcome exception. I’m sure they’ll
have a new model one of these days that’s basically the same thing- with an IPOD jack
on the front. But RA-1062 is a true classic. If you go back to our home page and look at the listings
on the left, click on the Rotel 2-CH listing near the bottom. The comments are just as
valid today as they were several years ago! If you or a friend are putting together a nice
STEREO system, you would do very well to consider the RA-1062 integrated amp and RCD-1072
CD player. You’re “in” at $1400. With any luck you’ll still have some
money left for a fine pair of speakers. The RA-1062 can power literally anything we offer
to about $4500! Rotel’s main competition is top end product like
Bryston and Ayre, similar power for $3k on up. B&W 684,
$1100pr: B&W’s First Speaker With Kevlar Woofers! The
relatively new B&W 600 Series has been a big success. The 685 ($650pr) bookshelf
speaker has already become something of a standard in the affordable, high quality “mini”
market. The 684 tower wasn’t rolled out with the other new models and has come in
more recently. 684 is a three element, small tower, with 1” Aluminum Nautilus tweeter, 6 ½” Kevlar Midrange and new, 6 ½” Kevlar woofer. The 684 also comes with a substantial plinth which accepts spikes. For you die hard two channel lovers who like to tweak your systems, 684 is an ideal solution. The speaker casts a large, stable image. The bass is tight as a drum head- no slop or boom to get in your way. For the popular price point of about a grand per pair, consider the 684. It is 90dB efficient and an easy impedance. You can drive it with anything, including a modestly powered home theater receiver! Brahms: Violin Sonatas Brahms wrote three sonatas for violin and piano. They are called violin sonatas because the violin is more heavily featured, but there is great interplay between the two instruments. The piano isn’t an after thought. I’ve jumped up and down about the DG Originals Series. This one has been in and out of print. I’m happy to have bought a bunch while they are again available. Wolfgang Schneiderhan is the violinist. Carl Seemann is the pianist. These magnificent works were recorded in the early 60s (stereo, not mono) and have been remastered. The sound is very presentable and the playing is impeccable. While a lot of labels were still stuck in mono, DG early stereo is wonderful. If you’re not a DG Originals fan yet, stop in to buy one. Then you’ll be convinced to try more! |