Rotel 1072: Deserving of product of the year?

Decent player for the money, but I would not give it a "Product of the year" unless the year was REALLY uneventful...

I was able to open the sound stage up and beyond the plane of loudspeakers by backing off on room/wall treatments there for the previous player.Like you said musical objects emerged from inky blackness. That still applies but the events are larger with more scale and dynamics.The Rotel is always louder than it seems at start with good jump.Main center image still begins just foward or at same plane as the Soliloquy 6.5 in smallish 20x12(bad thing?)backing has increased depth. Lack of noise allow this due to less room/boundary excitation? I moved some of the area rugs on tile back from boundaries a bit and stage image depth(Soliloquy6.5)very nice now. Fear of harsh sound from livlier room was unwarranted in my case. Late nite listening when it is spooky quiet here is an absolute thrill thats when that noise floor has details emerging from that blackness in 3 dimensional detail. I am still adjusting to that, by which I mean sounds never heard before from my discs can be musical or distracting such as cellphones ringing deep in the mix sounding like someone way beyond wall behind speakers.Summing up the Rotel has delighted "me" punching way beyond the price.I feel the Arcam 73 is another bargain out there in this price arena.I auditioned both liked both(showroom)>Hdcd and low repair history gave edge to Rotel for "me".Pet peeves no display dimmer,how could Rotel miss that one.Likes good long warm-up.

I recently decided to sell off my CEC/dCS combo and move some of the money into other areas; as such, I was used to VERY GOOD digital, and wondered if I could be happy with a cheaper setup. What do you know, I come upon TAS review and think "wow, $700 would sure leave me with a chunk of change in my pocket!" and head down to my local hifi shop to have a listen.

Initially, the Rotel grabbed me. Wow, deep, tuneful bass like I couldn't believe for a low-price player. I am shocked Allen didn't mention it more in his review! This is *the* strong suit of the CDP imo, especially at it's price point.

But the very thing Allen liked left me very cold in the end. The CDP certainly has no evident self-noise, and everything springs forth from a black background. This is unnerving, though, and completely unlike a real musical event. I listen to alot of live music, and aim in my home to recreate the live experience as closely as possible. While the Rotel got the "sound" right, it couldn't portray the music. The best way I can describe it is it's like you're looking at 4 very nice pictures of musicians, not an oil painting of a quartet. Like I said, this grabbed me initially, but I just couldn't get away from listening to the sounds hanging in space, couldn't get to the heart of the musical event. I played a few recordings I made personally, with 2 mics in a stereo config on the lip of a stage, and this hammered it home. I wasn't transported back to the live event, but listening to some musicians in space.

The Rotel was also forward, and had no real soundstage depth to speak of. This and the bass, I think, is what grabbed me initially, however, as upon A/B you think "wow!" and only after alot of listening do it's faults become evident.

Now the Rotel certainly does alot of things right, and is definitely a good performer in it's price range. It's not irritating and etched like some CDPs (my departed Cary CD308 to name), but in the end it doesn't do music to my ears. So is it product of the year? Well, maybe, as it certainly was NOT veiled, irritating, or boring. On the contrary, in fact, and lots of <$1000 CDPs are afflicted with said traits. So maybe it is deserving, although I didn't like the presentation much!

I bought this player without having heard it first as there are no Rotel dealers in my area. I had read the Absolute Sound review . . and then while I was waiting for the player to arrive, I encountered the HiFiChoice review. Ughh . . I thought. But when I got it and hooked it up, I was not dissapointed at all. This player rocks . . it has a very "black" background as some others have mentioned and it is FAR less tiring to listen to than the TEAC C-1D it replaced (the TEAC is a much less expensive player, though). I love how lively it sounds and discs that I could barely play before now sound great. For example, the opening harmonica on WhiskeyTown's Carol-Ann used to *kill* me on the TEAC. On the Rotel, it sounds harsh but no more harsh than it would if it were live. In other words, you don't run from the room. So - is it player of the year? I am not qualified to say . . . but I think I agree with Absolute Sound . . maybe HiFiChoice got a defective unit? One thing I wonder about is that HiFiChoice loved the 1070 . . . but did not like the 1072 because it is only a small upgrade from the 1070? I, for 1, love the 1072!

RCD1072another view

More gas on the campfire, Real download of RCD 1072 in a system

good read enjoy

I like to run my gear electrically stock for a time.Just to make sure all is well.But I will fashion me a 13 gauge zero crystal copper varistrand/teflon dielectric power cord.It has improved my other gear in dynamics.Check back time to time I'll post a result here.Maybe that last 3-6 feet of power cable before CDP acts like a small buffer? Not sure but the few power cable upgrades I have auditioned, yeilded sonic benefits.

I was wondering if anyone has replaced the power cord and if it makes a major difference? I have the 1072 and like it very much. I haven't auditioned it against other players. I had a dealer bring it to my house and use an extension cord and it sounded horrible at first until I plugged it into the wall.

while it's not the best CDP i've heard, i felt it had a decent amount of punch and dynamic and was very accurate for its price point. no audio flaws to speak of, clbeanz's nit-picks are pretty accurate (i actually like the small remote).

I thought that the silver looked pretty good, but I wonder why you say to "get the black"?

If you can look at both try to.If not,see if they have another Rotel~dvd or such player in black on display. Pictures of Silver finish caught my eye at first,in person I felt, black was nicer.

The Rotel 1072 that I heard (with Rotel receiver and Vandy 2Ce's) was very surprising for its price. I was struck by the amount of detail that it managed to present, as well as by the precise imaging. The most important thing about it, in my opinion, was the amount of emotion that it managed to convey with that amount of detail, something that I've rarely seen at the price point that I could actually afford. Definitely take a listen.

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2751
Read this over couple times the compare to;
http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_print.asp?ID=2093

My understanding is the new Rotel is an improvement on an established benchmark.Rotel mentions 60 parts changes and better testing ability further improving performance level mentioned in TAS review.Doesn't jive with HiFiChoice 1072 stuff?I know we are talking different places,players,people and points of view.But with wording like;Lift,bounce,real crack to percussion,energy to voice.They on one hand allude to Foward,bright?"brings the music to you rather than inviting you".Then rolled off?"All the ingredients but lack of imagination"or"Top orchestra with a dull conductor" Are they saying too clean? The close suggests preproduction samples proved superior. Are they saying they did a preproduction review on early unit? Why wouldn't the review offer more details then? I just found for me the TAS nailed it more.Unit is lively and extended,late at night our rural powergrid is clean and the sound emerges from blackness,instruments appears like fireworks blooming in a pitch black sky.1072 out of box was somewhat flat,foward,lean but after 40-60 hours(I don't stopwatch a break-in)about 2 dozen cd's played it just got really good in all areas. I have not run many HDCD's through it,but Ref Recordings Big Band Basie was ok.Playing James Taylor's"October Road"(not hdcd) gave me one of those, glad I got off the fence and bought this, just great.All the Patricia Barber discs starting with "Distortion of Love" sound atmospheric,I say that becuase HiFiC's review mentioned Lucinda Williams sounded foward,and spaciousness normally provoked by reverb(overdamped listening room?)For me the walls drop away when the recording has it. My set-up of Soliloquy 6.5's in 20x12(slight angled ceiling)errs to pushing image foward a tad.So far I would say for definite it is clean,quiet,musical,micro-dynamics real good,the big stuff may be held back some(stock cord still)I am getting great low-end but the Sol 6.5's show what the 1072's got down below,control is good but not overdamped.

My list of nits;
stock feet crud plastic(yank'em and use roller blocks~mine are diy but well made)BTW I only had it on stock feet 1st few hours.

No display dim or off~display in bright in darkened room.

Remote is very lightweight/cheap~works great though.

summing it up at $699 retail(actual $560plus tax regular audio store)you have to put this one on a audition list.

My attempt at humor if you will...

Black sounds better, silver can be bright...

Clbeanz, I too am interested in this player after reading the TAS review. I thought that the silver looked pretty good, but I wonder why you say to "get the black"? Any other comments?

those 2 seperate views played on me while I was buying it,waiting for it to arrive at dealer(12 days)and through roughly 3 weeks of various playback.Now I am in the TAS camp on this player.Musical CDP.Get the Black.Player of the year?

I bought one for my 2nd system based on the TAS review. I don't think the review misrepresented the unit at all-- it is great at that price.It is so easy to listen to though not as punchy as my Cary 308. Still, it has a certain something that is hard to put into words,I just keep listening to it hour after hour.Maybe it's that super low distortion level.

I own one and have to agree that it is pretty awesome. I'm tempted to upgrade, but think that for the money, it is very hard to beat. I put it up against my friend's Electro EMC1 UP. His comment after we compared the two was "it does everything right". The elctro was better, but it should be at five times the cost.