Any Rotel love around here? Looking to power my Sonus Faber Olympica 3

I held onto a RCD-1570 just in case. I'm not a fan of the slot loader but it works. Other than that, garbagio for the past 8 years.

@donjr

Don, I haven't heard the RCD-1570 but did own its predecessor, the highly regarded RCD-1072. Let's just say that it was the worst CD player I've ever owned. I bought it on a whim thinking it would have mated perfectly with my Rotel pre/pro combo at the time. Despite having good build quality and being quite attractive to look at, it never developed any mojo with its accompanying Rotel equipment. The cd player was very dry and uninvolving, with no dynamics or gusto whatsoever. A less expensive Sony (non-ES) player I was using previously had a much nicer and warmer sound than the Rotel. The 1072 just too overly-analytic.

Was your newer 1570 CD player similar to what I experienced?

After auditioning the MF A5 and the NAD Masters Series five channel amps, as well as a few others, I bought the Rotel 1590. I own the 1075 as well. To my ears, the 1590 was far cleaner and had much more range and realism than the NAD and the MF amp and was a huge step up from the 1075. It sounded as good as some Higher end amps in the store for less money.  The MF and NAD sounded muffled and soft to me in comparison.  They just did not excite me.  I may be ruined for all other amps if I hear something like a Pass Labs. But, until then, I have not listened to any kind of music on the 1590 that did not move me and make me smile real big.  I especially love the incredibly deep, fast bass it generates in my B&W 804s. I did not really understand the concept of speed in an amp until the 1590. It seems like nothing taxes it. The mid and highs are pure and not annoying.  At this point, I feel like the amp is no longer the limiting factor in sound quality, and I think that title now belongs to the speakers. It may be that the 1590 is a return to the sound of the “older” British Rotels. I have heard a few lower priced Rotel amps that were nowhere near as refined or moving.

I had a [ Rotel RB-1080 ] in 2003-4. It was great with more than sufficient power for my small Martin Logan speakers. Not sure if you can mono-block this with (2) RB-1080’s or not. That would be super IMO.

I am very interested to read more about this [ NAD 275bee ] ; it sounds marvelous for the money, especially used in great condition. ] Can this amp be set up to be Mono ? ] 

I’m trying to drive a pair of [ Focal Chorus 826V ] speakers with something affordable. Any suggestions on this with the above - [ either the Rotel RB-1080 or the NAD 275bee ] or other?

Thanks.