Worth changing from Rotel RA-971 MKII to Cambridge Audio CXA60?

SidZoot

Hi everybody. Could a Cambridge Audio CXA60 amplifier considered an upgrade from my actual Rotel RA 971 MKII integrated amplifier?

I have Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers. Changing from Rotel RA 971 mkII to CXA60 would give a better sound? Or should I keep the Rotel and think of upgrading to a Dynaudio Emit M20 or other?

Thanks in advance.

SidZoot

bump

muljao

I'm imagining not to many have experience with both amps so the quiet answers. If you look around the web, a lot of people still look for and like the rotel, which seems a very highly regarded amp.

Is there is something in particular you need to improve, or do you fancy just an upgrade.

I have the bronze2s and like them, by all accounts the Dynaudio are in a different class, but I have read they like a lot of power. 60 wpc on the rotel and indeed the Cambridge audio is lot lacking but might not get the best out of them either

Mark.Yudkin

If the 20 year old Rotel is performing to its original specification, I'd suggest that it wasn't your bottleneck and that a speaker upgrade might well yield more.

Since we only know about the amplifier and speakers and not the sources, I can't be all that specific though.

Ned Senior

I stupidly left the same model Rotel with a previous hunni grrrrrrrr
Fantastic amp really rocked

SidZoot

My two audio sources are Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, and laptop connected to HRT Music Streamer II DAC.

I used to have an AE1 mkIII speaker, which I liked, but never thought it was detailed or had enough bass, compared with my Yamaha HS80M powered monitors that I use to mix. Since the AE1 became defective a month ago, I bought the Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers, since it got good reviews on some websites. I only got them a week ago, maybe they need more burn in. I like it's overall sound, more detailed than AE1, but maybe the bass is over pronounced, but are clear, and the mids are not so full. Or maybe I have to get used to them.

Ned Senior

Sid I reckon hifi kit is bound to sound different from studio stuff, in all my 48 years listening to live bands ( my dad gigging)
And various home hifi kit there is a very real difference

SidZoot

I am noticing that If I keep the Rotel and upgrade to Dynaudio Emit 10 or 20, would be not the best option, due to Emit lower impedance and sensibility, so it seems a powerful amp would ne needed. Altough I've read some post recommending Rega Brio R for use with them, but I noticed that Rega has also 60w. Is there another speakers options to go with my Rotel? I've just read that Dynaudio X14 has 8ohms. Maybe that would be a better match to my Rotel?

muljao

I have not tried enough or familiar enough with other speakers to make a good recommendation. If you are not overly happy with the bronze 2s it might be worth while opening a similar thread in the speakers forum about different options for your Rotel and indeed better options for running Dynaudio

However, if you prefer the sound from studio monitors why not get them. You could sell your Monitor Audio and your Rotel, get monitors you want and pick up an av receiver that has preouts for the front channels (I recently got one for 40 pounds without hdmi second hand). This way you use the receivers inputs/dac/tuner, but the preouts send the sound to the monitos that do the amplifying. I set up a system like this recently for about 300 pounds using a Marantz SR4400 and a set of Mackie MR6 MK3s

Mark.Yudkin

The Rotel's 60W (that is a real figure, unlike so many exaggerations) is quite sufficient to drive almost any speaker to levels well above what would be considered dangerously illegal in a work environment. Also as a neutral amplifier, there is no such thing as speakers that are better or lesser suited to it, and you can happily select speakers on their own merit.

Both the Acoustic Energy AE1 MKIII that you liked but felt a bit weak in the bass and the Monitor Audio Bronze 2, which are too new to judge, are bookshelf speakers and therefore suffer from the compromises that all bookshelf speakers necessarily take. In effect, to achieve a high quality bass you need more volume in the speaker enclosure, or an active subwoofer (translated from Hoffman's Iron Law). An corollary is that a Dynaudio Emit M10 or M20 won't help you. Perhaps it time you looked into floorstanders as an option?