***Official*** Rotel RSP 1066 Fact and LOGICAL discussion thread (1 Viewer)

Well folks, I hope all the BS could stay in the other thread, feel free to keep it alive if you wish, but I won't even give it the time of day any longer (PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS STATEMENT)...that being said:

This thread I hope will be an actual "about the 1066" thread!

For those who are interested, I have received an e-mail from Mike at Rotel and I expect the parts regarding the designers are not discussed in this thread as I am afraid it will lead to the same problem as the original thread, feel free to comment there if you like.

Mike wrote:

"Dear Steve,

We really appreciate you working with us during your problem with hum and I can assure you that the units we are shipping do not exhibit any problems of this kind. I am not claiming that we have resolved your issue because until we can place a new unit in your home we won't know exactly where we stand. But I've tried every which way from Sunday and can't find the problem in these new units.

....you might like to consider posting some of the following.....It's getting so ridiculous with somebody claiming to know the designer! We know the designers and they are all pretty good guys they drop by from time to time and they are very committed to making a good product....we all are.

Misinformation breeds misinformation and here are a few factual points that are probably worth you posting. You may say they are in a reply to your questions if you wish.

The CD input is an analog pass through if you don’t want the sub woofer to perform turn it off either unplug it or use the OSD setting to minimize the level. Signals from the analog side are passed to the digital circuit to activate the sub-woofer…..owners of sub-woofer generally want to hear them operate and often have smaller speakers that they cannot conveniently rewire.

Rotel does use AKM DAC’s and ADC’s and they seem to be pretty good. AKM is a primary producer. As far we understand Crystal has bought components from AKM and other companies. One person in the discussion group hit-the-nail-on-the-head when he commented that component decisions are often made way out and it’s difficult to re-engineer and use another part. Mind you there’s a lot of postulation about spec numbers on these chips but the reality is that they are not always as relevant or as important towards the final performance as perhaps assumed.

Multi-channel 5.1 input is required to be compatible with SACD and DVD-A. There is an industry move to establish an unbreakable digital format however so far there is only proprietary digital formats available for DVD-A to processor. There will need to be an alternative design for SACD and so what will this added digital complexity gain the buyer now? Will these formats be supported long term and will they survive?

Remote control RR 969 is a full learning remote this means you can teach it another 9 products and use to control the entire system and it’s fully back lit. Names are programmable for inputs and sources so it works in many languages, it has a timer, a clock, cloning and macros…..these are a lot of useful features.

As I understand it during the design of the remote control a decision had to be made whether the source buttons for the processor/receiver were on top or the page selection buttons. Of course there could be more buttons exposed however the idea is to minimize the button confusion for the inexperienced user. The source buttons were covered and in practice we have seen the majority of normal users prefer this arrangement…..It’s only the techies who can’t cope however load some DVD codes and TV codes and then use the remote and you may conclude the lay is more than acceptable.

All electronics need time to break in……the industry experts have been saying this for years, speakers and electronics perform better after a period of use and electronics always sound better when not turned off at all.

Rotel SP 1066 can have it's software be upgraded via the RS 232 jack. This means that new editions of formats can be added as can operating functions be changed.

Atlantic Technology/Outlaw Audio have a good idea to beta test units…..maybe Rotel should do the same?

Best Regards,

Mike Sheehan

Customer Support Specialist"

I guess they are listening to us after all! They seem to be open to new avenues according to the last line.

Would that mean that the full range signal is sent to the mains as as well as sending the signal below the lowpass to the sub?

"Would that mean that the full range signal is sent to the mains as as well as sending the signal below the lowpass to the sub?"

When running full-range mains and you get the option to send a signal to the subwoofer, usually the processor sends a full-range signal also. Maybe the 1066 allows the use of its' crossover for the sub in this situation, maybe not.

Michael

Sure, I understand that in normal operations, but I'm specifically asking about the analog pass through. It appears that it will send an analog signal straight through the unit, which appears to mean no bass management on that signal. At the same time it sends a copy of the signal to the DSP to do bass management and send info to the sub. At least that how I read it. If it's doing bass management in the analog realm, why send the signal to the DSP?

How could you test it?

yep.

I will try and contact Mike for a definite answer today on the cd input question, and will get back to you all when I have a free minute.

I am waiting for delivery of a 1066. Is there any way to know whether it is a new "fixed" unit or an older stock unit (with hum potential) before I go through the labor of hooking it up?

From what was in the e-mail, it appears they are unable to even confirm a consistent problem.

Nobody has this unit in stock right now, therefore, you can rest assured if you have one on preorder, you will be getting one with the "fix".

I also spoke to Mike about the lingering question of analog passthrough...the analog signal is split before the DAC to allow the signal to be sent true analog in 2 Channel mode. The only signal then passed through the DAC will be the sub, or if a DSP is being used. This goes for ALL analog inputs. The 5.1 input is not split like this.

Steven,

This "parallel processing" sounds quite interesting.

So let me see if I understand correctly:

The 1066 analog input (stereo) destined for analog pass-thru is split at input with one path a complete full frequency signal through the 1066 volume control only, to the 1066 analog outputs. The second path is sent to an ADC stage and converted to digital, while in the digital domain bass management is applied, then only the low-pass digital bass signal is sent to the DAC stage, converted to an analog bass signal and that bass is available at the 1066 sub-out.

The above scenario is always on, and the recommended way to control analog pass-thru sub-out signals is to physically turn the sub amp's output control down/off, or use the 1066 sub level control, correct?