I bought the Sunfire Ultimate Receiver about a month ago, replacing a Denon AVR 5700. I haven't demo'd the Rotel.
I was under some space (wife) constraints and needed more than the 140w that the Denon delivered to fill a rather large room (25'X 25' with 16' ceiling) and find the Ultimate's 200w to be more honest than the Denon's 140w and the Ultimate is smaller and lighter than the Denon. The receiver is so clean that I didn't realize how loud the music I was playing one night was until I was in between tracks and heard the tea pot in the kitchen whistling away. I can run the reciever at 100% and have no audible distortion.
Even though I was impressed with the power, I'm more impressed with the video processor-I didn't realize, visually, what I was missing until I hooked it up.
The amp is also very intuitive and recognizes various input signals, automatically turning the receiver on and selecting the correct input. My wife is a doll, but complains when things aren't easy to use and this receiver is a snap when set up properly; it has a very nice l.e.d. programmable remote.
I've always read about and drooled over Bob Carver's creations. He makes compact, light, cool-running, powerful and, previously, very expensive stuff. For the price (I paid less than $3200.00), I consider this reciever to be the best value in my system.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
Jim Mays
I was under some space (wife) constraints and needed more than the 140w that the Denon delivered to fill a rather large room (25'X 25' with 16' ceiling) and find the Ultimate's 200w to be more honest than the Denon's 140w and the Ultimate is smaller and lighter than the Denon. The receiver is so clean that I didn't realize how loud the music I was playing one night was until I was in between tracks and heard the tea pot in the kitchen whistling away. I can run the reciever at 100% and have no audible distortion.
Even though I was impressed with the power, I'm more impressed with the video processor-I didn't realize, visually, what I was missing until I hooked it up.
The amp is also very intuitive and recognizes various input signals, automatically turning the receiver on and selecting the correct input. My wife is a doll, but complains when things aren't easy to use and this receiver is a snap when set up properly; it has a very nice l.e.d. programmable remote.
I've always read about and drooled over Bob Carver's creations. He makes compact, light, cool-running, powerful and, previously, very expensive stuff. For the price (I paid less than $3200.00), I consider this reciever to be the best value in my system.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
Jim Mays