Thanks for the very detailed response and the info about the ability to display CD Text. The Tribute should work nicely for me for CD playback, especially since my Marantz CD 6004 refuses to read some commercial CDs.
Your very welcome. Sorry to hear about your Marantz, I’ve had the 6004, nice deck. But I’ve told the story about my friends friend down in Oregon who bought a Macintosh CD player for over $5000 and it broke on him just a few years later. It took them THREE YEARS to get it repaired. That is no lie. But he was stubborn and wouldn’t try anything else so there you go! We’re excited for you! Beave
Yea, thanks a lot to all! After following this thread for these few weeks, I just ordered the cd-11 tribute! I was torn between the older cd-14 (was able to get an open box for about the same price), but with all these testimonials, went with the tribute. Hope I'm making the right call.
You are! And you have! The 14 I haven’t heard to be honest, but I know what I’ve heard with all the decks I’ve gone through, and I’m just about to post an experience with the Tribute11. Excited for you!!! Beave
I think the main difference between the 2 units is the cd-14 has the Wolfson dac. But to me I'm more into the hyper tuned cd-11!
it could come down to personal preference and system matching too. i had the cd-14 for a little bit before i had to put it into storage. in my system and to my ears, it sounded better as a transport into my yamaha a-s801, but i look forward to unpacking it after the move and spending more time with it.
Ok, since I like to talk a lot and I’m struggling through my second shingles shot tonight I need to share my “schiit in my pants” moment I just had with the Tribute11 and A14. Got to reiterate here that I’ve got a pair of $7500 Mirage OMD28 speakers which are 6 ohm and a difficult load for any amp to deal with. My older Onkyo amps couldn’t handle them, overheating and distortion at high levels, same with my older Yamaha integrated amp at 100 watts/channel. The mirages eat amplifiers up for some reason. The Emotiva amp is the only amp that tamed them and boy do they sound beautiful with that amp. So, taking on the A14 with the mirages and the Tribute11 I’m in new territory. Both are still burning in. And the 14 is still challenging me on tuning it to the Mirages. The treble is spot on but the bass is still a ? So, since I feel like schiit due to this shingles shot, while my Beautiful Wife was upstairs I asked her if I could crank it for 2 songs! Yes! So here we go. I got the 14 up to 76, way way loud but I wanted to exercise the amp, I knew it was going to get hot, and it did, but it wasn’t burning hot like my old Onkyo amp that got so hot that the top cover actually bowed up while I was pushing it! Read that again because it really happened...... I put in JohnnyA’s “Get Inside” and played 2 songs, first one, track 4 “Sing Singin”, lotsa bass and dynamics on this one. Second one was track 8, “The Wind Cries Mary”. Came close to Schiiting my pants. ............ I’ve listened to this disc over a thousand times on so many setups that it is THE DISC I tune my speakers to. I don’t even know how to describe what I heard . Details, full sounding details in his guitar playing that I’ve never heard been aware of, the distortion of certain notes WITHIN THE CHORD that were clear and totally natural sounding. A wood block being hit waaaay back in the mix that I didn’t ever hear before, and ALL of this at very loud volume on a brick walled cd that exhibited NO DISTORTION! Made that A14 work it’s ass off and it did get hot, but, it NEVER got congested or distorting sounding, quite the opposite. A very incredible sounding experience for me tonight. A definite “next level” thing. But now, I really have to pee. Beave Well this is a very important point! Back 8 years ago I was very high on the Wolfson dac’s, had at least 3 decks with them and they all sounded really good. But then I got my OPPO 205 from their lottery and the SabreESS 9038 PRO Dac pushed it up a whole new level. Then...... Then I came upon the Denafrips thread here started by Bever70 and I bought one! And that started my “journey “ (I hate that word!) back to 16 bit ladder dac’s and my journey to the glory of the Philips TDA1541 16 bit ladder dac’s, which I’m still in. Those dac’s, to this very day, are so musical it’s not even funny. And if you don’t believe me Denafrips is selling $6000.00 ladder dac’s and they can barely keep them in stock. So, that chip took me away from the Sabre, as good as it is, it just couldn’t touch the VIBE the Philips ladder dac’s brought to the table........ ............. And then Ken comes into the picture. How could a guy, however good he was, tweak the components of a $600 CD player and make it sound UNLIKE all the current delta sigma dac players? And.....And, KILL my Sabre 9038 pro’s???? Whether he knew his days were numbered I don’t know. Marantz was absolutely Stupid to give him his walking papers, you just DON’T DO THAT WITH THIS KIND OF TALENT. But thank God Rotel reached out to him and he accepted the friendly invitation. But back to my yadayadayada, forgive me, I’m on shot 2 of shingles bliss and it’s anything but bliss....... The point from my view is that I went way past Wolfson dac’s years ago. The Philips 1541’s just killed them. And now I have the Tribute11, which is giving my 1541 single crown a run for its money. So, back to tonight, and again, forgive me for just going on and on and on...... On my last post, we pushed the Tribute11 and A14 to very loud and hot levels. So, I decided to pull out some feet I’ve had from an old Pioneer Pl-530 turntable. I’ve had the A14 ABOVE the Cd11 with 4 ibrupods which gave it a clearance between the two units of about an inch and 1/2. I put the pioneer feet into the equation and it lifted the A14 almost 3” above the Tribute11. Then I put on and cranked Ratt “Back For More”, level 76. The cooling effect of that extra inch of clearance was amazing ! Instead of Hot, try Warm!. So back to cool Jazz on KNKX (look it up on the net, they smith 24/7 on the net). Hope All are enjoying the night! My best to you and yours,....... And don’t forget to LOVE your family! Beave
I think this video is the model before the Tribute, but the reviewer gives props to the A11 phono stage. That was exactly what I needed to hear to sell me on a Rotel integrated amp.
Just watched the Rotel video promo for the Tribute duo. Very emotional. The Man was truly Something! Beave
I purchased a Rotel RA-1570 integrated as a demo when they came out with the 1572. It’s just a solid, no BS beast. Very happy with it.
Fantastic, the more I research the Rotel gear the more I read about their longevity. Very cool indeed,! Rock on! Beave
Happy Easter everyone! Just thought I’d pass this along, Definitive Audio in Seattle seems to have Another Rotel A14 integrated Amp open box unit silver. This is the 80 w/ch totl in that series. And it’s $975, that’s 33% off list. They have it at its old list price (2017) of $1299, but in 2019 the list was increased to $1499. They ship and if you live in a state where there’s no sales tax you don’t get charged for that. You also get all the accessories and 5 year warranty. My demo from them had negligible cosmetic blemishes, front panel looked like nobody ever pushed a button. So again, they might have not updated this page since I bought mine a couple of weeks ago but maybe they do have another one. Hell of a bargain as Rotel gear doesn’t normally get any discount. Here’s the link: Clearance | Definitive Audio Happy shopping. beave
I'm sure that my new Rotel RA 1572 Integrated Amplifier will last longer than my Marantz Model 30 that died last week after only 67 days of ownership. I can't say that I have much confidence in Marantz especially since the Model 30 comes from their reference factory in Japan. So far I really like the RA 1572 and I hope the CD11 Tribute pairs well with it.
Listening to 1st press of Dave Brubeck Time Out CD. CK 8192..DADC. Wooowww!! .. rivals my AP SACD easily.
My CD 11 Tribute is on the way! I can't wait to hear how it compares to my Marantz SACD 30n, ND 8006 and CD 6004 players
It feels like 1989 all over again. Been buying up CD’s like crazy since I got my Tribute 11 last week. But 31 years later....the CD’s are MUCH cheaper lol
I am really looking forward to your thoughts on how the Rotel compares to the Marantz 30n. Some of the praise for the Rotel here seems so over the top that it will be nice to hear it directly compared to a more expensive new player. I wonder if it is really the giant killer people are making it out to be!
Understandable. Remember that enthusiasm is a part of the equation in our hobby. When I compare favorably the Tribute11 to my classic Marantz CD80, it’s no joke. There’s a whole industry as I speak selling Philips like 16 bit ladder dac’s, some going for over $7000. I don’t mean it to be over the top, but it is what it is. I didn’t buy a second one fooling myself. Beave
I understand! I am not criticizing in any way, I have been reading this thread and almost ordered a Tribute for myself! I just wonder if it would be an improvement over my current player, the Marantz SA8005. Part of me wants to save up and buy a Marantz SACD 30n or Denon DCD-A110, because I own a lot of SACDs. But I am still tempted to try the Rotel as it seems like a bargain.
Hey, if your an SACD fan don’t go back, you’ll always kick yourself and there’s no reason to do that! Beave
Ok, since this thread has seemed to succumb to the Covid and everyone is afraid to post, I’ll post! Two things, the power cord for the Tribute11 and the A14 amp are identical and their really cheap, they suck. I’m disappointed that Rotel included suck crap in units that are not cheap. I figure that these ac cords cost a whopping .79 cents in China. So, I went to Amazon and picked up a Pangea 14 14awg cable for the Tribute11 and a 12awg cord for the A14 amp. I’ll get them Saturday, but both the stock cords don’t even fit tight in the socket. Second, I accidentally found another “feature” on the Tribute11 that I wasn’t aware of. If the tray is out, like your going to put another cd in, at the 1 minute mark, the tray automatically goes into the deck. Pretty neat. So that’s it for tonight. You all stay safe! Beave
Would be interested in your power cord findings. Short of a nice solid connection, I am very skeptical of any real sonic improvements.
