optical or coaxial audio cable?

When we put the latest generation of Trident missiles into existing submarines there was concern that the hundreds of feet of 25 year old coax cable between the missile and the fire control system would never work at ten times the frequency for which it was originally intended. I participated in tests which revealed that the digital pulses were indeed thoroughly mutilated as they traveled through the wires...but, after reclocking and regeneration by the well designed line receivers, information was transmitted flawlessly. If digital audio equipment were properly designed (and I think that some is) this whole issue of digital transmission fidelity wouldn't matter.

sean....In newer subs lots of optical cable is used. It, like everything else on the boat, will survive depth charge attack!!!

Nrenter...I also have the Rotel 1066, and have tried out both coax and optical hookup. I hear a slight difference in gain, but that's about it. (Gain differences are easy to misinterpret as sonic quality). I will take another listen.

Nrenter...I suppose you realize that you can put the coax into one input and the optical into another, and switch back and forth without disconnecting any wires. Why not do the analog signal at the same time and cover all bases.

Nrenter....An afterthought...If the optical cable were defective, or improperly seated, the ROTEL would detect lack of a digital input, and would automatically revert to the analog signal (which you should have connected, per owners manual, so that you can send a signal to a recorder). Make sure that the optical signal is actually being used. Ditto for the coax.

Nrenter..Is that display the "active" input or the "selected" (by setup process) input?

Nrenter...See page 25 of the ROTEL 1066 owners manual.

"If no digital signal is present the unit will automatically revert to the analog input".

That's the way mine works. Try this:

1. Connect coax and analog to an input.
2. On the OSD, select coax. The 1066 display says "Coaxial"
3. Play a CD.
4. While playing, disconnect the coax.
5. After a brief silence, the music resumes. The 1066 display "Coaxial" disappears.

Nrenter...It defaults to the analog signal that is designated for the same input selection as the digital signal. In my case I have Coaxial and 2-CH Analog DVD signals assigned to VIDEO 2, which I have labeled "DISC". If I play a regular CD, the digital input is used, and I utilize the D/A and surround sound capabilities of the ROTEL. If I play a stereo SACD there is no digital, so the analog signal is used, and I can listen to this without any processing using the "2 CH" stereo function, or I can make center front and/or surround channels. Of course a multichannel disc (SACD or DVD-A) is played using the discrete MULTI (5-channel) analog signals.

This ROTEL has a lot of features which have taken me a while to figure out, and I am sure that I haven't got them all down yet. The labeling feature is nice. I have my outboard phono preamp stage plugged into VIDEO 1, and the label says "PHONO".

Nrenter...I have not compared the 2-CH analog input against the MULTI input (also analog). I would take ROTEL's word that it's the same signal. Of course if you use the MULTI input you forgo any capability for matrix multichannel playback of the stereo signal from that source (LP's in your case). I have a bunch of SQ quadraphonic LP's, and some other LP's that only claim to be stereo, but which respond well to matrix decoding.