Rotel Amplifiers 2022 - RB-1552 MKII, RB-1582 MKII, RB-1590, RMB-1555, RMB-1585
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Rotel Amplifiers 2022 - This video is the 12th installment in our Home Theater Amplifier series. We examine the RB-1552 MKII, RB-1582 MKII, RB-1590, RMB-1555 and RMB-1585 amplifiers.
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I’ve had the RB-1582 MKII in black paired with the RB-1572 MKII preamp for about 2 years and I’m very happy. Powering a pair of Arendal 1723 towers and they provide plenty of clean power. Can drive at relatively high volume for hours without getting hot or stressed. Highly recommend. A great combination of quality and price.
So nice to have honest feedback from someone who ones these Rotel components. Glad also that your experience was positive. Thanks for sharing. -Jon
I own an RB-1582 MKII. 3 main reasons drove my purchase.
I have a pair of Magnepan 1.6QR and I needed more power than the 70W per channel driving them. 200W I correctly believed would be the ideal power.
2 - Years ago when I was audition speakers, I heard a Krell driving Maggies 3.6. It sounded ok.
The salesman switch to another amp and the music came alive. The Krell seemed flat. Something seemed lacking that the other amp brought out. That other amp was a Rotel.
Finally and just as important, the design philosophy behind Rotel amps reminded me of HK's design philosophy of the 70s. Separate power supplies for the 2 channels. The HK 730 I had actually had separate transformers for each channel.
Ultra wide bandwidth, exceptional transient response, high current capability, and low transient intermodulation distortion were among other hallmarks.
The Rotels embody, according to the write-up, most if not all of these criteria.
Thanks for this testimony. I agree that the power supply makes a difference. Great point on the separate power supplies and how that takes the experience even higher. When you have difficult to drive speakers, the amp becomes even more important. -Jon
Thank you for taking time for doing this. Excellent content!
It has been fun learning the finer details about these amplifiers as I go. I appreciate the feedback. -Jon
The interior design reminding me of older marantz models reason why I chose RB 1582 well built ROTEL
Nice to hear from a Rotel owner. I don't hear as much about that brand. -Jon
Thnak you for doing these! =) Very quickly became my favourite place to verify some data points. =)
So glad to hear you are finding value in the content. - Jon
@@ripewave For starters only the 5 channel amps are for home theatre. Also you will notice the damping factors...? I know for a fact that the enormous RB-1590 cannot even drive a 4 ohm load without tripping it's internal safety circuitry. It's grossly underdamped. Rotel made these for people who just MUST have a power amp the size of a microwave oven as some kind of status symbol in the USA. I bought the RB-1582MKII as it can drive a 2 ohm load and is known for easily handling "difficult" speakers of 4-6 ohms with absolute ease. The RB-1552 is most noticeable for it's tiny capacitors and low damping factor. Your "review" was a joke.
I really like the Rotel line of audio equipment. The Michi is Beautiful and is one of the nicest being built today. Rotel offers a wonderful 2 channel sound for cheap compared to theMichi . I would love to hear them live. Thank you for your review.
Glad you enjoyed the review. Thanks for that perspective on their two brands. It makes sense that you are paying a premium for their Michi brand vs Rotel which provides more value. -Jon
Merci 🙏🏼
Glad you found this video helpful. -Jon
I paired this up with RC 1590 & RB 1582 wondering what kind of change would happen with marantz 250 connecting RC 1590
That Marantz 250 was very unique - especially in its day. It should work. -Jon
I built my endgame system this year, migrated away from McIntosh to Michi/Rotel. While I love the McIntosh look, I need to use a media cabinet to keep the components away from little hands. That drove me away from McIntosh and towards something a little less flashy. I love the Michi gear, no regrets. I’m running the S5 for L/R, and the M8 for the center, and the P5 for 2ch listening. For home theater, I went with the RMB1585 for the side surrounds and Atmos rear heights. A big part of my deciding factors was aesthetics, and I just love the black combo of the Michi and Rotel gear, with the B&W 800 series. I did research the independent measurements which were all favorable, where you can find 4ohm measurements of the 1585 and other models. Can’t go wrong with these models!
Thanks for the first hand testimonial. Glad to hear that Rotel/Michu met your expectations. Beside the aesthetics do you feel sonically these compete with McIntosh?-Jon
@@ripewave absolutely! I had an MC302 for a few years, pushing a pair of 804d2’s. I didn’t compare this amp to the S5 using those speakers, but the S5 drives the 802d4 speakers very well, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything except blue meters! But I do love the spectometer/dB meter on the digital display of the Michi. Most independent reviewers and third party tests mention somewhere in their reviews that the value of the Michi products is excellent. If it had analog VU meters it’d probably be priced above McIntosh, imho. McIntosh doesn’t have a 500W amp that they market today (they had one at one point). I also like the 800W at 4ohm capability of the Michi, whereas the MAC uses the autoformers for continuous power ratings across the impedance band. Mac’s output power is typically understated though, so that’s something to consider. Simply put, if the equipment is visible and meant to be a statement piece, go with McIntosh; if not visible, buy off specs first, beauty second! You’ll save some coin that way for sure!
Excellent feedback. Thanks for the insightful comparison between Michi and McIntosh. I would like to understand the value of the autoformer - why is it important to hold output power continuously across load impedance? Load impedance of speakers is variable yet you need to wire the McIntosh amps to a specific terminal for the typical rating of the speaker. Why should I care that each terminal has the same power output? I hear reports that the autoformer can negatively impact sound quality vs older models without it. I agree that some enthusiasts are willing to sacrifice some sound quality for looks.-Jon
RB 1582 MKII is a true dual mono design? With separate power supplies per channel?
I own one and it was never marketed by Rotel as a true dual mono. It's close. But it it isn't quite that.
Hi Jon, I have purchased a Rotel A12 MKII to drive my floor standing Speakers, unfortunately the power of A12 MKII is not enough, only 60W per channel, I am considering to add the RB-1552, is it OK for a Rotel A12 to work with RB-1552 and still produce powerful & nice sounds? Thank you!
It all depends on how efficient your floor speakers are. The RB-1552 MkII provides 130W@2ch, 8ohms. That would not be enough for my Polk lsi speakers, but say a Klipsch speaker may work great. -Jon
Hi John - hot video and very informative.
Glad you enjoyed it
Rotel had a 5 channel class D , RMB- 1085. iCE powered ( years ago ). I still have one. They had models other ones too. Not sure why they gave up on class D so fast. I wish they would seriously look at class D again.
Jaakan - thanks for raising up the Rotel model from the past with class D modules. I too am curious why the haven’t continued to at least have one model still in their portfolio with class D. I understand class D has thermal advantages. What I would like to understand is whether class D can sonically equal or best class AB. With the new modules from Hypex and Purifi we are hearing the differences may be inaudible. The questions is can they measure better as well. Tests from ASR suggest they can. Therefore, the time may be right to revisits. -Jon
Why I cant find anything about these ROTEL amps? I look for RMB-1555 and I cant find any videos or reviews for these machines. It is old solid company on the first look.
Yes - there is some equipment that does not see many reviews. -Jon
Interesting info on these amps. I’m thinking of getting a 1555 to power my 5 main speakers (b&w 600 s2 with matching centre) wonder what I could expect from doing this running from a marantz 5014 avr. Would like to go full separates one day with a full processor so no more avr, do u think I would benefit with one of these power amps or look else where ?
@M Doh
I have Marantz SR-5014 as pre/pro and a now vintage Rotel RMB 1075 driving five B&W 603 S2 series (front L&R minitowers, center and and two bookshelves as surrounds) in a 5.1 set-up. It's another league in terms of dynamic headroom and full-bore, raw power. Best regards from Brazil !!!
@@afelcandy I ended up getting a rotel 1555 so bi amp the front towers and use the last channel for centre. Wasn’t really over hyped until New Year’s Eve when I tested the system and wow it’s so clear and loud had people blown away by the sound and i was blown away too very good amps 👍
@@mdoh8209
My Rotel RMB 1075 is a keeper, for good. Bought my Marantz SR 5014 in March 2020 (pre-pandemic rage here in Brazil) and as I'm an unabashed late adopter, and a 2k Blu-Rays and SD-DVDs heavy user, have no plans of upgrading the "brains" of my system in the near future (betting on the Marantz long-term reliability), since I'm stuck in a 5.1 set-up, definetely.
I’m keeping my 5014 too until it dies the only thing I wanna upgrade is the bowers htm6 s2 centre to the bowers htm7 s3 saving up to get
Great great bill quality old school electronics all laid out properly exclusively ternal transformers with the British silk foil very expensive to do and they manufacture their own transformers in the house great value for the back clean neutral sound and a five year warranty and they’ve been in business over 60 years take a look at one and you’ll see what I’m saying great bill quality great sound great value for your buck my opinion and of course this is a hobby you may think differently that’s OK to
It’s a fifth foot in the center!
Thanks for that positive confirmation-very helpful.-Jon
@@ripewave Yes. Five feet.
It's 5. feel I have the 1586 rmb
Also, I think the 1585 and the 1590 are the same price at $3800…
Yes - I have them both at $3,699 but prices may vary depending on market conditions, country and retailer.-Jon
@@ripewave ah ok, I think I saw a misprint on one of the tables.
I will review and correct as necessary
Rotel Michi's are quite a bit better ... and pricier also 😂
From what I understand the Michi amplifiers are targeted to address the 2-channel market, but there is no reason why you couldn’t use to drive home theater speakers.-Jon
@@ripewave I use the S5 for the front channels 👍
@@ripewave Rotel Michi are a factor of ten above the price of these reviewed here.
I am on audio Fidelity Mike Levinson PS audio which I have a couple pieces of theirs now and I have a rotelle rotelle‘s build quality is as good as PS audio it’s as good as audio research it’s as good as Macintosh if you own one and you’re able to take a physical look at it you’ll find that it is built highest quality out there the reason they can offer such a value they build most of their equipment in-house transformers etc. The capacitors what you know use a film foil that’s only produced in England and everyone that does territorial trance formers of high end 356 $10,000 use the same foil yeah can’t go wrong I’m playing him on dual panel Magis and it’s perfectly neutral and very revealing just like my speakers you can’t go wrong with rotelle and I just ordered the new you can’t go wrong with rotelle and by the way I am an audio engineer retired and I have golden ears and if you follow it take a challenge and look at rotelle you’re going to come out with a different opinion especially in build quality and that’s one of the most important things in electronics besides engineering and design build quality Again this is a hobby and we all have different opinions take 100 always put it on the wall bring 15 speakers and put them on the wall everyone’s going to give you a different opinion it’s a hobby and enjoy it
Always nice to have the perspective of someone who has experienced higher cost products and can give an honest assessment.-Jon