Huh? My dusty, old Rotel RX203A receiver sounds better than my NAD 3140? What??

A little while ago, I decided to drag out this dusty, old Rotel receiver (An RX203A that this guy threw in with a pair of speakers I was buying - I was loading the speakers into my car, and I saw the Rotel as I was walking through his garage, so I asked him about it, and he said "You want it? Take it." - I took it). I used it for a few days, but I shelved the thing when I bought my NAD 3140 shortly after, and it hadn't been plugged in since then. But today, I was cleaning in my bedroom, and I saw it sitting there and decided to see if it was still working. I switched the speaker wires from the NAD to the Rotel, and then plugged it in and turned it on. I was amazed to hear tighter bass and warmer, more-vibrant sound. Now, I realize that Rotel is a good name, but I figured that the RX203A was one of there lower models. The thing sounds great. I think I'm going to have to give it some personal attention and try and get it cleaned off. Decide from there. Either way, I have a feeling that this may be a better choice to go with the Dual 1019 when that comes back from being overhauled. I'm listening to the "Gaucho" MFSL CD, and it's sounding FAT. I have to turn it up a bit louder to get the same volume as the other amp, but it's a better sound.

Hey, does anybody even know how many watts this thing puts out?

 

Rotel does make some solid stuff, i just purchased one of their power amps, its leaps and bounds better then my old integrated, everything just opened up.

 

This "receiver" (That's what we called them in 80's in Connecticut) is definitely warmer, and the bass is tighter. But the first thing I noticed was that the sound had more-personality. It's more-alive. I think I'm going to start checking Ebay. I'm not sure if this has enough watts for my speakers (Wharfedale W60E Achromatics). I sprayed some Radio Shack "Precision Electronics Cleaner" (the compressed stuff that comes with the long, skinny, red tube). The sound definitely got "airier". I'm thinking about taking the top panel off and seeing if I can clean some of the connections inside (when it's off, of course). Never really done this type of thing before, but we all gotta' go sometime.

I am super-pleased with how this is sounding. It mates beautifully with my speakers. The sound is much tighter. Great bass response.

 

What integrated amp were you using?

 

cambridge 640Av2

 

From THAT to a Rotel? Wow. An old one, or one from the last 10-15 years?

BTW, I saw a really-cool, beautifully-restored Rotel belt-drive turntable on Ebay that looks like it's from around '78-'80. It's at like $75.00 right now. I know nothing about their turntables, but it has an LP12-type of look to it, and it looks really-sweet.

Old Rotels are going very-cheap from what I can tell. There's an RX202A that's at like $15.00 right now. I don't think there's a lot of time left on the auction. I'm going to have to see if I can find find a slightly more-powerful model and scoop it up. It seems to be a much-better match for my speakers I knew these things had more potential in them then I was getting from the NAD - It still blows me away that these speakers are over 40 years old and still sound like new ones - I can't believe I'm listening to a stereo system that cost me $30 total - not including the Dell PC that's pumping out the tunes).

 

Actually a brand new one, Im upgrading my speakers so i wanted more power

 

I'm listening to the Marshall Tucker Band's "Where We All Belong" album right now ("This Ol' Cowboy").

They have a bunch of newer stuff on there too. I saw a huge 1000w block of an amp that's up right now. I can't remember the model #, but it looks way-high-end - probably from the last 15 years, but I can't tell for sure. It's very hard to miss it. It's huge.

 

I can't get over how good this thing sounds. It's very-warm, airy, and tubelike. Much more so than the NAD. I paid $90 for the NAD, and some guy gave me the Rotel just to get rid of it. I'm very-impressed with what is obviously a mid or lower-priced piece of vintage gear from the '70's.

 

"Traffic" Mobile Fidelity Gold CD - and loving it. This shabby-chic, budgetphile thing is working out quite well for me.

 

I've never heard a bad sounding Rotel and I've probably owned six or eight over the years, including pre/power combos my first proper amp was a Rotel, an 840BX/2, Rotels generally sound good, especially for the money.

I still have an old Rotel RP850 record deck, it's nothing like a Linn though, it has a solid body, mine's had the stock arm replaced with a Rega, after an accident involving a crate of records, it sounded pretty good both before and after my mods, a decent budget deck.

I'm not a fan of NADs so I can't really comment on them.

 

Some fo the Rotels of that vintage look very similar to my Realistic Lab-440 - I believe they used the same OEM.

 

My old integrated amp sounds really good too. It cost me maybe $40 (?) and I mainly got it to use in the family's rustic, damp lake house with a small pair of Optimus speakers and an old CD player. Honestly, I knew it would be decent enough, but when I gave it a real good listen, I was sorta shocked - really sounds GOOD.

 

I spent the night and much of today listening to the RX203A. I'm really blown-away at the difference in sound quality compared to my NAD3140 integrated. It's much more-musical, for one thing (There's less distraction between me and the music). It's also more-realistic and lifelike (like you're in the room with the band). Instruments sound much more-natural - a piano sounds like a real piano, voices sound like real voices, rather than a recording of a voice (This was particularly-noticable). The sound is also more-airy and warm, and the soundstage is more well-defined, more-balanced, and just plain BIGGER. This is especially-good for my Wharfedale W60E Achromatic speakers - It's actually given them a much-larger sweet spot than I was getting with the NAD (which is awesome because I don't have a huge room for my stereo system, and yet I'm getting a bigger and better soundstage from such a small room - I knew these speakers had more potential). Transient response is especially-good - much better than the NAD 3140, which is surprising because the NAD is so much heavier with (I'm assuming) a much-bigger power supply/power transformer - The NAD is very heavy on one side, and seems to have an overbuilt power supply section - Weird).

I'm thinking of hunting down an old Rotel RA310 or RA410 integrated amp, because I've read that they're supposed to be well-built (designed in England/built in Japan, whereas the RX203 was built in Taiwan) with 2 separate power supplies/transformers (1 for each of the 2 channels), and are supposedly similar in quality to the NAD 3020 (which many people seem to like a lot and consider it to be a very-warm-sounding amp). Can anybody comment on the 310 and 410? I'm thinking that they would have a similar, but better sound than the RX203A (Mine seems to be the earlier version with a white-lit glass panel/strip over the FM/AM tuner band area on the front panel - not dark or multi-colored, just white/yellow-lit). Would a RA310 or 410 be a significant improvement over the RX203A? I would just stick with this one, but it's quite dirty and pretty-glitchy, so I don't trust it to work very long. Is the RA310 (or 410) close in quality to the NAD 3020 (and is the NAD 3020 really that great to begin with)?

 

The phono section is pretty good. The preamp has a spot of noise and rolls off at both ends. The amp section rolls off more. Coupled with typical low-cost bookshelf speakers, the combo of flaws usually works out. But it's seriously underpowered and not as open as the Rotel amp I replaced it with. Still have a NAD 7020, use it as a phono pre. The Kenwood KR-9600 bleats the stuffing out of the NAD but it's not a fair fight anyway.

 

I'm in the "INTEGRATED sounds better than RECEIVER" camp.

I have a 35WPC Sansui AU-317 that ABSOLUTELY sounds better than my 125 WPC Pioneer SX-1050... and no there's nothing wrong with my Pioneer. Just a different and more "precise" sound in my opinion.

 

Does anybody know how the mid-70's Rotel RA410's and 310's stack up against the competition of the time? All I really need is a good integrated, since I don't listen to the radio anymore anyway. Just something to run a turntable and a pre-signal from my digital source. But I'm not going to stick with my NAD 3140 if this dirty, old Rotel (low-wattage) reciever is kicking the snot out of it soundwise. But the Rotel reciever (RX203A) is quite glitchy and probably filthy inside, and I don't have the cash to do an overhaul since I'm doing that with my turntable at the moment. I would rather look around and find a better Rotel model from the same era as my receiver - A Rotel integrated from the same era would be better, provided that I can run a phono stage AND a digital signal into it and out to my speakers. Whatever's the best that I can find for around $50, give or take.

 

gener8tr,

I own a Sansui 4000x receiver (45 WPC) and it is superb as well. I love old Sansuis, they sound wonderful and are built well and with lasting quality. My favorite major brand Japanese amplifiers and receivers. I love Rotel equipment, especially their older components.

 

after getting my rotel amp I have to say that its probably the best of the budget amps

 

I own vintage Sansui, Pioneer, Marantz, and Kenwood... Sansui is my favorite by FAR. Really sweet sound!

 

The old Japanese made receivers do have a pretty nice sound. I could easily see preferring one to some of the affordable modern Chinese gear. I hooked up an old Onkyo from the 80's that a friend gave me and was impressed. Keep listening though before you decide whether it is clearly better over the long run. They have a really nice midrange, and as you say "personality", I'd call it exuberance. The bass is a bit wooly and the treble a little gritty/dirty. In some ways the sound is "tube-like".