Rotel RA-1592MkII Integrated Amplifier Front View

Not long ago, “integrated amplifier” was enough of a description to illustrate a combined pre and power amplifier - arguably the first step in Hi-Fi separates - the only exotic addition being an MM phono stage if required.

Lately, this has become blurred, with manufacturers adding a plethora of digital inputs - Bluetooth, optical, COAX, HDMI ARC. Rotel themselves refer to the RA-1592 MKII as their ‘flagship all-in-one'. A little confusing as this is a description reserved for products that often include speakers in one box, such as the Naim Mu-So 2nd Generation, but then Naim call the Mu-So is a 'premium wireless speaker'. But then there are also solutions like the Marantz MCR612 - 'a network CD receiver' or the 'streaming integrated'‘ Roksan Attessa. Nomenclature rant over - The RA-1592 MKII is a very interesting proposition. an 18KG class A/B 200W powerhouse with 16 inputs and two pairs of speaker terminals. at £2,295*, this is an enormous amount of amplifier and connectivity for the money.

Background

Rotel have been designing and manufacturing high fidelity, high quality, high performance audio products for over 60 years and was started by Tomoki Tachikawa in Tokyo Japan in 1957 as a hi-fi electronics manufacturer. It is currently run by his nephew, Peter Kao.

The flagship model of the series is this RA-1592 MKII with "over 33 component changes in acoustic capacitors, filter capacitors and the power supply". Rotel manufactures a lot of their own components including the in house oversized toroidal transformer delivering 200W of class AB at 8 Ohms. The digital side of things COAX, optical are handled by the Texas Instruments 32bit/384 DAC which also supports MQA, aptX™ AAC wireless Bluetooth and PC-USB. It would have been nice to use an HDMI (arc) to complete the set, but the optical option still allows for TV connections.

I must testify to owning a 1994 Rotel 930AX, built like a tank and still going strong. I remember about 15 years ago the tone control switch went. Opening it up, it was a simple layout, signed by Graham in a white marker pen, it turned out to be an inline fuse. This RA-1592 MKII still feels well built with it's machined Rotel logo linear volume control and source button layout all having a familiar firm and robust feel to them.

Competition

The Roksan Attessa Streaming Amplifier (Bluesound BluOS) or the Marantz Model 40n (HEOS) Streaming amps offer a complete - JAS solution (Just Add Speakers - I made this acronym up, hopefully it will catch on) as they include the dedicated streamer with app control in the unit. However, if you do not wish to be tied to a platform, then the Rotel is the way to go.

System Setup

Sources

Bluesound Node - Qobuz Streaming
Rega Planar 3 (Exact cartridge) - Turntable
Linn Selekt DSM - Streamer
Rega Saturn R MKIII - CD Player

Speakers

Accessories

Chord Odessey X Speaker cable,
Audioquest Cinnamon Ethernet,
Chord Shawline Interconnects

Listening

Tone controls, considered by some the work of the devil, others look for that functionality. However, as with Mum jeans, flat caps and turn-ups they are making a come back. What can't be argued, is that they give the option to balance the sound characteristics of different music genres especially in difficult rooms. Tone controls off or bypassed felt overall the better experience, however on classical recordings lifting the bass by 3db and treble by 2db created a fuller sound for our particular dem room.

I revisited CD recordings of Ibraham Ferrer, Buena Vista Social Club - great control by the Rotel and a real sense of room space in the single take recording made by Ry Cooder. The soaring trumpets sat back from the choir revealed the perfect size of instruments. Pairing the Rotel with the Harbeth C7ES-3 XD brought the best out of the amp. The ATC SCM11 proved a little too revealing with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue sounding a little dry . A bit of fiddling with the tone controls smoothed this out a little. Moving on to a little pop - The Verve underground - opening track handled the wall of sound with impressive depth, regardless of the speaker choice. Taking the digital out from the Rega Saturn MkIII and using Rotel onboard DAC confirmed that the onboard DAC is very capable.

The MM phono stage using the Rega Planar 3, was more than adequate, not an afterthought or convenience and a good match with the Rega Planar 3 Exact - revealing the nuances of the Rega deck.

Overall, there is a Rotel house sound that I recognise - even from the ‘90s. It is fuller, darker, more forceful and perhaps sweeter than the other options at this price range. The connectivity, accuracy and sense of fun make this a compelling choice at this price. Book a dem to experience this for yourself.

Thanks for reading - Max, James, Justin - Audio T Bristol

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