rotel v. arcam v. marantz

i've had the arcam for about a month now and am mostly happy.it truly functions quite well as a cd player which i enjoy,even though i have beaucoup dollars in my stereo it's fun to listen to something fully orchestrated like the living elvis and burt bacharach chicago symphony in full flight through five great speakers and a sub.i'm very satisfied with it's very crisp imaging quietness and looks with my other equipment.what's maddening as you may have read are it's truly poorly designed remote control units for both the avr100 and the dv88dvd,they are not backlit which is inconvenient and the control buttons are so so small;to truly tune every thing in you usually will end up having to use both controls . i am using my audio hifi to power the front main speakers and the diva to power the center channel and rear speakers .the diva delivers more than adequate power for this set-up and my high rise digs(hales t series front back and center).so i guess i'm pretty happy and will purchase the improved remote when they come to their senses and make ONE. arcam was suggested to me by several people that are quite close to what's new groovy and coming down the pipe and are quite serious audiophiles.it's upgradable for dvda but there's so little content out there that i don't mind waiting for that function.can't tell you about the others because i did not look any further on the advice of my strereo gurus.

Just a few thoughts froma Rotel nut. Take the stuff home and listen to it in your house, with your speakers.... I just Purchased a Rotel RB985 mk II and three different dealers in my area are selling off the demo's of this five channel amp because it was just replaced by a new model in the Rotel line. You might be able to get seperates for about the same price, although I haven't compared models. Good luck

I've spent some time listening to all three in the same room, with the same source and the same speakers. You've got them in the right order..for me. But "there's no accounting for other people's bad taste:" You've got to listen for yourself.