Decent Power Amplifier for Rotel RA 6000 Amplifier

 Uhm the Rotel is already brilliant so don't know why you want a dedicated power amp? How demanding are your speakers? What speakers do you have?

Cos the Rotel has power delivery of 225W into 8 Ohms and 374W ish into 4 Ohm

Burst wattage for dynamic headroom peaks is 253W into 8 Ohm and 453W into 4 Ohm

With a high damping factor of 637 so it has much greater cone control with voltage output into the speaker coil @hifiworld2024

Yeah I’m a bit confused by this as well.  What specific improvements are you looking for?

If you are looking to improve the overall sound quality of your system... one function at a time... which is typical for folks pursuing high end audio. I would upgrade the preamp portion unless you are driving some really exotic and incredibly inefficient speakers. 

Rotel is good quality, particularly the amp. If you want to enter the high end, I recommend a high quality preamp, preferably tube... which is likely to be more natural and musical. As we fanatics say, the preamp is the heart and soul of the system and is critical for a great system. You should consider spending as much as was the integrated to make sure you are "upgrading" not just going sideways. You will get much more bang for the buck buying a use high end preamp. Consider, Conrad Johnson, VAC, Audio Research, Zesto... for instance. If you want new... still consider those. 

Hi,
Thank you for responding.

Yes it has ok power but I want a power amp to accommodate for future speaker upgrades, for more demanding speakers when need be. Instead of spending money on amps/sources I'd rather spend the money on better speakers. The amps/sources will stay constant but the speaker will continually be upgraded or improved.

Speakers at the moment are low budget $6000 Canton Vento DC 886 floor-standing. The Rotel will drive them fine but as mentioned these speakers will be replaced by bigger better speakers. I am considering some AudioSoultion Figaro XL.

So an amp that will suit the Figaro XLs.

Budget around $5000.

Thanks for the additional information. 

The rule of thumb is to buy the speakers first. Then to get the appropriate supporting electronics. This way you can carefully choose the tonal balance, power, etc to optimize the speakers which tend to make the biggest difference. 

So, I recommend a careful long look at speakers first... to find some that are emotionally involving, then look for electronics perfect to support them. 

All components of audio... speakers, amps, preamps... DACs, and streamer have unique sound characteristics. You want to carefully put these together to get the best out of them and not have them work against each other. 

Don’t do it.  Wait til you get the speakers and then figure out what direction you wanna go sound wise and go from there.  Getting an amp now is premature IMO and like putting the cart before the horse. 

Aah thanks for that.

I have the Marantz SACD 30N streamer CD player, so this will one day act as a preamplifier once I find a decent power amplifier, the Rotel will become redundant after some time. This is the reason in seeking power amp.

Well bigger speakers ideally should mean more efficiency so you may not need to even get new amplification.

Your Canton already is reasonably sensitive at 90dB @ 2.83V/1m and is standard 4 ohm speaker.

Even if you listen at 9ft away that is 107dB Peaks at 9ft. That's a lot of SPL.

The Figaro XL lists as a 92 dB @ 2.83V 1m sensitive speaker which is more efficient than the Canton like I surmised.

So unless either Canton or Audio Solution is lying about their sensitivity and these are more hard to drive voltage wise I think you're rushing the process. Get the speakers first, play them and see if you need to crank before reaching ear punishing SPLs 

If that is the case, then you can start shopping for more voltage beefy amps @hifiworld2024 

@kofibaffour Yes you are 100 percent correct. I won't be listing at those levels. Moderate 80dB is sufficient or low level SPL.

Room is decent size tho, at 7m x 6m, carpet, sofa and thick contains as acoustics. So the headroom SPL comes in handy if needed.

Reckon the Klipsch RF7iii would be even better at 100dB efficiency and 1000 watts peak power?

Thank you for info.

I have the Marantz SACD 30N streamer CD player, so this will one day act as a preamplifier once I find a decent power amplifier

With the level of speakers you’re looking at you should really consider either a separate preamp or a better integrated amp if the Rotel isn’t giving you enough.  The preamp is a critical piece in the audio chain, and using the preamp section of a $3k CD player will likely be a significant bottleneck to performance so worth considering for the future.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

@soix "significant bottleneck".. That's interesting. What do you mean cause "bottleneck"??

By bottleneck @soix  means in terms of sound quality. Ultimately you want each function Streamer, CD Transport, DAC, Preamp, and amp to perform at the same level of sound quality. 

If you are looking to increase the performance of your system, you will want to use a high quality preamp and not connect your Marantz SACD 30N to an amp. 

Given what you have now, I would use the Marantz for streaming and disk playing. Get a good preamp... well, after choosing speakers. 

What @ghdprentice said.  One of the things I didn’t learn fully until I began reviewing audio equipment is just how critical a preamp is and how much it affects the overall performance of an audio system, and there’s a good reason that it’s often called the heart of an audio system.  Put another way, discount the importance of the preamp at your own risk.  Your Marantz is a CD/SACD player, streamer, preamp, and headphone amp all in one, and you could easily pay $3k for each one of those as separate components, which is to say to do all those things for $3k means significant compromises need to be made.  After all the other functions the 30N performs are accounted for, how much does that leave for a quality preamplifier?  Not much, and the critical and more expensive parts like the power supply, volume control, etc. are unfortunately the prime candidates for cost cutting.  Combine this with that the low-level signal the preamp handles is very susceptible to noise and here is housed with inherently noisy digital processing components, and you can start to see why using the 30N as a preamp is not optimal in a system at the level you are building.  Sorry to drone on here but hope this helps explain a little more about why I said using your Marantz as a preamp will likely be a significant bottleneck in the context of your future system. 

@soix and @ghdprentice I know there are a tone of preamp brands out there but any suggestions on decent preamps you guys may have had experience with or know of?

Thanks.

Hmmmm, preamp, amp, speakers....which way to go?

I favor speakers first, then determine preamp, amp, or an integrated.  Decent cabling also important.

I have a Rotel amp with the same power and it drives all the speakers I’ve owned and tested.  Agree with selecting your speakers 1st and then checking out power amps that will meet your needs.  You won’t really know until you listen with your speakers in your listening room. 

@bassbuyer any good speakers out there??

If you share what specific improvements you’re looking for and what sound characteristics are most important to you you’ll get some really good recommendations here.  I think that’s your best place to start if you’re not 100% committed to the Figaro XL. 

I'd recommend a used preamp, since high end preamps last for decade and have been excellent for a long time. Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, VAC, Zesto are brands I would look at first. Although there are lots of great brands. For $3K you can get an originally $6K preamp, putting you into a very good quality range. Most of the preamps above are tubed... the preamp is a very good place to use tubes, even if you do not in other functions. 

@soix I'm not sure about improvements as my system is not up and running yet. I am only %50 complete, other %50 would be speaker and power amp selection.

But sound characterises i am looking for is non-fatiguing high frequencies, not ear piercing brightness, looking for agile bass, tight bass (not car boom box sound).

Music style is pop, hip hop, rap, rnb, some soul/jazz and percussion instruments.

Most my test listening are done on YouTube headphone streaming as this gives me an idea on speaker and amplifier quality/potential, and thus far these are the speakers that sound good to me:

Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII G2 - incredible bass dynamics matched well with Rotel Michi amplifier.
Buchardt A700 - thrilling dynamics for size / price!!

Thanks.

First, I wouldn’t go by YouTube videos alone, and headphones are also limiting in revealing important aspects of what speakers can do.  Read reputable reviews to see if they back up what you’re hearing, and by all means travel if at all possible to go hear some of the speakers you’re interested in at a dealer and/or go to an audio show — either would be well worth the effort at the price level you’re at.  You’ve already got a couple good ones, and some others in a similar price range I’d mention and worth a look if you can find them — ProAc D30/D20, Joseph Audio Profile, ATC SCM40 v2, Usher Dancer Mini-Two, Dali Rubikore 6, MoFi SourcePoint 888, and Dyneaudio.  Take your time and enjoy the search and you’ll be greatly rewarded for your time/effort.

@soix You'd be surprised what headphones I am using to listen to YouTube speakers ... $100 Bob Marley brand.. God they have some bass response to them when a high-end well recorded speaker plays on YouTube haha! you'd be surprised what basic cell phones can pick-up on YouTube recordings lol, if the system is high-end enough the headphones will pick it up.

Proac and ATC are interesting. Never heard of Joseph Audio but looking into them. Dali and Dyns are very cool but I'm after heavy weight speakers, 70-100kg for the price point. I like oversize bulky look. Love multiple driver look haha.

Thanks lad.

hifiworld2024 

Most my test listening are done on YouTube headphone streaming ...

YT uses lossy compression, so you really can’t be sure what you’re hearing. Add to that the variations of mic preamps and room acoustics and you can’t conclude anything definitive about the components.

Don’t get me wrong - I understand that listening to YT videos can be loads of fun. But if you want to audition an audio component, you’re just as likely to be deceived as enlightened if you’re relying on YT.

You can’t judge the color accuracy of a computer monitor if you’re using a black & white monitor as your tool, or by using a cell phone video of the color monitor.

@cleeds Yes you are 100 percent correct about lossy compression and not giving you fair comparison but because there are million brands out there and limited capacity to evaluate them all I am passing judgment based on a selected few YT videos and i will go from there. What ever pops up first in the videos and subsequent reviews online I’m heading that direction. Traveling to shops to audition takes time, cost money, distance factor and shop staff biased opinion on limited brands they want to sell you, not to mention non-standard rooms they audition speakers in. So yeah, too many brands and models to choose from. Have to rely on YT and online information for now. Tah.

Why ask for advice if you won't listen to it?

Why ask for advice if you won't listen to it?

That's why I removed my post. 

Mike

@ditusa @devinplombier You can take a horse to the water but can you make it drink it?

I've listened and appreciate the comments but ultimately it is upto me what I do or how I heed information.

Please do not be offended.

Tah.

Yes to answer your question I have Arendal and Revel speakers paired with my Rotel setup.  The Arendal 1528 series is excellent.  It depends on how much speaker you need.  They have a huge standmount, a monitor and massive towers.  I recommend the Revel PerformaBe series too.  I have the M126Be standmounts and they also have several tower versions.