Parasound vs Rotel Amps

The older Rotel 10xx series amps are somewhat forward and dry sounding with grainy treble and tonally on the cool side of neutral when not paired carefully with the right speakers, upstream components and cables. But the newer and current Rotel 15xx series amps are very different from the older Rotel 10xx series amps. The new 15xx series sounded way better than the older 10xx series amps. All gone those dry grainy treble and cool lean sounding that you hear from the older 10xx series Rotel Amps. The new current 15xx series eg RB-1590, RB-1582 Mkll, RMB-1585 have warm rich dense tonality and fulsome sound with smooth highs and the noise floor is much lower than the older 10xx series Rotel amps. The new current model Rotel amps, especially the RB-1590, RB-1582 Mkll, RMB-1585, are much quieter design than the older 10xx series amps and have much fuller sound than the older 10xx series amps.

However, the Parasound Halo such as the A21, A31, A51 are excellent and IMO are superior to the newer current Rotel 15xx series amps. You should stick with your Parasound Halo A51 amp.

Fyi, Parasound does not make HT preamp surround processor. Parasound only makes stereo preamps. Rotel makes both stereo preamps and multi-channel preamp surround processors (HT processors).

As a matter of fact when building and designing HT preamp processors Rotel is way behind compared to other manufacturers in keeping up with the latest and most up-to-date surround sound formats and codecs as well as latest video processing such as 4k, HDR and stuff. Rotel is always behind in implementing the latest AV or HT technology. Recently Rotel has just implemented supports for Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, 4k, etc in their HT receiver (RAP 1580) and their lower end HT processor (RSP-1576). Rotel has finally caught up with the latest HT formats whereas other manufacturers have done so few years back.
But Rotel amps are great for the money.

@donjr  

7 years ago the Rotel 15xx series amps are not the same as the current newer 15xx series amps. Which Rotel 15xx series amp did you have? 

@angelgz2

Yes you should keep your Parasound Halo A51 amp. The Marantz, Anthem, Arcam, Audio Control, McIntosh, Yamaha, Onkyo / Integra HT processors are early adaptors and especially the Denon Marantz Onkyo/Integra are usually the first that adapt new AV technologies and new formats & codecs.

The new Marantz AV8805 will perform and sound better than your Rotel RSP-1576 processor. Rotel makes great amplifiers but when it comes to HT processors IMO the Marantz is slightly better. Besides, your Rotel RSP-1576 is not a Rotel’s top of the line HT processor. Currently the RSP-1582 is Rotel’s top of line HT processor but the RSP-1582 does not support latest formats and codecs eg Dolby Atmos DTS-X Auro 3-D, 4K HDR Dolby Vision. The RSP-1582 sounds and performs better than your RSP-1576.
I got a feeling that Rotel is probably going to release a new replacement for its flagship RSP-1582 possibly next year.

In regards to a tube power amp vs your Parasound Halo A51 driving your ML electrostats, I don't think you will be able to find a five-channel tube power amp. Or unless you're thinking to use a stereo or monoblock tube amps to drive your front ML electrostats? What kind of ML electrostats do you have? The big ML electrostats would need big high current solid state amp to drive them properly. Their speaker impedances are very low and can drop to around 2 ohms or below. So a low wattage tube amps just won't cut it, unless if you get a hybrid amp (tube input stage & solid state output stage) such as the PS Audio BHK 300 monoblock amps or the BHK 250 stereo amp. 

Sonically and totally the new 15xx series Rotel gears are very different from the old 10xx series gears. The latest 15xx series gears such as the RB-1582 Mkll stereo amp, the RMB-1585 five-channel amp, the RB-1590 stereo amp & the RA-1592 integrated amp sounded fulsome rich warm, much fuller sound and much smoother much more refined sounding than the old 10xx series gears. The newer 15xx series amps have more body and volume and smooth highs and are much quieter than the old 10xx series amps due to much lower noise floor (better S/N ratio). The new latest 15xx series gears have been greatly improved over the old 10xx series gears.

I agreed that the old 10xx series Rotel sounded cold grainy somewhat thin and very forward and can be kinda bright and can be fatiguing at times when not carefully matched with the right associated speakers, cables, upstream components and front end source components, etc. I found the old 10xx series Rotel gears possessed somewhat grainy trebles but I can assure you that the new latest 15xx series gears are nothing like that at all, in fact it’s a total opposite of that of the old 10xx series characteristics I just described, especially true with the higher end or flagship new 15xx series gears such as the RMB-1585 amp, RB-1582 Mkll amp, RB-1590 amp, RA-1592 integrated amp. These new latest 15xx series amps are much more refined sounding than the old 10xx series amps and they exhibited midrange bloom warmth and richness similar to that of McIntosh gears.

As a matter of fact, when reviewing the Rotel RMB-1585 amp for Stereophile, Kalman Rubinson (Stereophile senior reviewer) commented that the RMB-1585 exhibited greater level of warmth compared to his McIntosh MC303 amp and the Parasound Halo A31 amp that he had on hand.

But IMO the Parasound Halo A51 overall is a better amplifier than the Rotel RMB-1585.