Vocals vs. Instrumental. Cheap Rotel vs. Aragon???


I have recently been doing a lot of AB'ing with my friend.
He is newly into quality sound.

Music used for comparison was Natalie Cole - "Unforgettable"

The mix of pertinent gear includes:

B&W 802 Series 80 Floorstanders
Aragon 8008ST 200W power amp
Monarchy 18b DAC/Preamp
Home depot speaker cable

I have:

B&W P4 Floorstanders
Aragon 2004 MKII 100W power amp
Rotel RC-995 Preamp (upgraded PC)
Rotel RCD-971 (upgraded PC)
Rotel RB-981 130W power amp (just arrived today)

IC's used with both systems:

Ecosse Conductor
Signal Cable Analog2

Other cables used:
Homemade CAT5 biwire speaker cable (the winner by a long way)
Biwire - not mentioning the name (no good in my setup)

Various very high end cables used at friends house.
Also auditioned a Pass Lab Aleph 5 at friends with 802's

What sounded best I hear you ask?

Well the Pass sounded best at friends, but my Aragon 2004 sounded much better than his setup (same source RC-995/RCD-971 used throughout)

Tha absolute winner IMO was the rotel RB-981!

My system (B&W P4's/RB-981) sounded better compared to ALL the other amps/speakers combos, how can this be?

My speaker cables make a big difference I know, but how can an Rotel RB-981 beat out an Aragon 2004 MKII + 8008ST and the PASS class A????

I think I know the answer, the little Rotel favors vocals over instrumental and seems a little warmer IMO

The Aragon does seem to have more finesse but just does not sound as "musical" and definitely not as foot tapping.

Aragon: Instrumental seems too forward in relation to vocals, the little Rotel (130W) whipps the ass of the Aragon 8008ST/2004 MKII in my system.

And my cheap sytem sounds better in any configuration than my friends 802's/8008/Pass Labs!

Can this just be speaker cables or is there more to this such as room synergy?

Anyhow the Rotel sounds amazing perhaps a little grainier than the Aragon but 100x more enjoyable...

What's going on??

Cheers,
Josh

joshcloud9
I guess it's just system matching, but somehow I just prefer the little rotel's warmer less clinical sound???
Alot can be contributed to cabling used also.

I just went through it with my system where some cables made the back to forward presentation,vocals,soundstaging and air around instraments different.

OTOH I auditioned the top Rotel reciever,Rotel CDP,B&W CDM1NTs with Transparent cables which cost more than all the components combined and there was still a masking of the vocals which to me I cannot live with.

I use a Modified B&K ST-202,FT Audio Passive Pre,Phillips CD-80\smART DIO and Modified NEAR's and my system still out did that setup.It's very particular to what I insert into the line.Cables are a real pain to get correct in a setup to make it bloom the way it should.

JMO
Today I took the Rotel RB-981 to my friends and hooked it up to the 802's using the Monarchy 18b as a preamp.

Previous listenning had been done with the RC-995/RCD-971 on both systems.

Well the 981 sounded worse on his system! None of the warmth or forward vocals.
I presume that the reason is the easy to drive P4's vs. the hard to drive 802's (85db sensitivity).

The 802's definitely need Aragon power.
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Thx for the ideas, I think I will suggest my friend tries out the Monarchy mono's. I being on a somewhat more limited budget will happily stick to the little Rotel for the time being...

I also have a Musical Fidelity X-Pre which sounds nice with Aragon power but is not very revealing...Perhaps a tube upgrade will help it?

Upgrade fever continues...
(This might be the male version of girls shopping for clothes/shoes etc!?)
Aragons like a tubed pre. Replace the ss rotel pre with a tubed pre such as AI,CJ or AR. Then compare the rotel to the aragons and you might find what all the fuss has been about.
Just my 2 cents.
IMHO it does not take much to get warmer than the Aragon. I have tried Aragon amps in the past and in general found them very dry and cold. If you are looking for an amp that maybe a bit better than your Rotel, I would look at Monarchy monoblocs (SE100 or SE100 Deluxes). They are some of my favorite amps used for $1k or so.

KF
What's goin on?

I have no idea but I used Rotel some moons ago and found it to be very good for the $$$ too in a completely different set up.

Sincerely
I remain,