Hands On Listening Comparison Between the Two Pre/Pro's: 950 and 1066 (1 Viewer)

[carlos f]

Will/Lewis,

I may be up to volunteering my 1066 for the comparison.

I'm in Alhambra and would love to stay local but West Hollywood isn't that far for me.

Out of curiosity what kind of amps and speakers do you have Will?

Let me know if you guys still want to do this.

-Carlos

 

[Lewis Besze]

It's fine with me!

I'm in!

 

[Jeff Engel]

No one in the great 'state' of Dallas with a 950? C'mon guys let's get the shootout going.

PS I'm all for adding a flagship or two as I would like to compare and contrast those as well.

Jeff

 

[Will]

Lewis, Carlos,

No one in the great 'state' of Dallas with a 950? C'mon guys let's get the shootout going.

It would be great if there were other 950 versus 1066 shootouts. I'm with you Jeff and hope there's a Texas style shootout

when some Texan volunteers his 950.

 

[Jeff Engel]

Bueler.....Bueler...bueler...bueler...

 

[Luke_Khuc]

Minnesotan with 950. If anyone interested and has the Rotel, I'm in.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Will,so you got a 950?

 

[Will]

Yes, I got the 950. It sounds *much* better than my old Sony receiver. No surprise there. But I don't have any other modern "budget" pre/pro to compare it to. I'd like to see if it sounds about the same, or better, or worse. Also, I'd like to compare ease of use. There are some interesting (to put it mildly) hoops to be jumped through to get the 950 to do some things. For example, using the remote at night is interesting since many buttons light up showing words with no relation to their function. The ENTER button means BYPASS. The ALT buttom means Tuner, etc.
The subwoofer volume is not settable for each individual source. It's global. Another problem is that, to increase or decrease the subwoofer volume you have to hit about eight buttons, give or take. That's a little tedious. Making a macro helps but a macro that does this takes (what I consider) a long time to send to the pre/pro and even then the pre/pro is in a state where you can't adjust the subwoofer level yourself unless you first pressed another button (AUD), in addition to the macro button, etc., etc.
The 950's lack of ease of use is perhaps understandable for a *first* pre/pro by a new company. It should be interesting how the 950 compares, both in ease of use, and in sound, to the 1066, which is *not* the first pre/pro Rotel made.
Bottom line: My old Sony receiver doesn't sound nearly as good as the 950. But my old Sony receiver was much easier to use.
When can we do the 1066 / 950 comparison?

 

[Jed M]

Will, I agree. The remote is pretty lousy. A good learning clears up a lot of those problems but not the subwoofer setting. I think individual settings would have really made this thing special. Anyway, glad to hear you think it sounds much better than your old setup.

 

[Jeff Engel]

Well as far as Sub controls go , the 1066 is tops. You can adjust the sub for each input and it is memorized. Then if you are watching any source and want to change the sub setting, you have a single button that says 'S' for sub. You hit that button and you can then change the sub up or down. This is only a tempoary change and will revert to the normal setting when you change input or sound mode. There are actualy four buttons set in a square that let you change the sub, surrounds and center settings 'on the fly'. These are all temporary like I said, but makes it nice if you want to listen at a lower volume but bump the sub volume a little to compensate. Very nice in my book.

Jeff

 

[carlos f]

Hey Will,

I just upgraded the software on my 1066 and will be spending this weekend tweaking the system. I'm booked up the new few weekends so it may be a while till I can get out there for the shootout.

If you still want to do this in a few weeks let me know.

-Carlos

 

[Steven Phipps]

Jeff, am I missing something? I think the sub level is only determined by sound mode only, if you change sources, it will revert back to the level it is supposed to be. The reason you may think it does change for the input is because the sound mode for that input is memorized, therefore reverting the sub level to the sound modes preset. Follow me?

 

[brian a]

As far as I can tell that's correct, Steven. The settings are saved by mode (DD,DTS,Stereo,etc) not by input. Other than that, everything that Jeff posted is correct.

 

[Steven Phipps]

I suppose that it is almost as good this way anyways, because, most sources will probably use the same sound mode on an individual basis. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

 

[Jeff Engel]

Which settings are we talking about here? I was talking about sub levels 'on-the-fly'. If you change the sub level for one mode, on the fly, not the master global setting, then if you change modes or inputs it will revert back to original master global setting. The on-the-fly setting is good only for what you have selected at the moment. Is that clear or am I talking in circles?

Also, the 1066 saves your surround mode for each input, so technicaly it saves your setting for input, although this is more of a workaround than an actual input setting so please don't flame me... I know it does not actually save input settings.

Jeff

Edit: I just reread Steven's post, I think we're talking about the same thing here. I don't express myself well in the written context but you are correct and that's what I was trying to say in my first post.

 

[Will]

Here's the latest compilation of who is volunteering their 950 or 1066 for a hands on listening comparison between the the two pre/pro's:
Luke_Khuc in Minnesota with a 950
Jeff Engel in Dallas with a 1066
carlos f in Los Angeles with a 1066 (Available in a few weeks)
Lewis Besze in Los Angeles with a 950
Will also in Los Angeles with a 950
Any other volunteers? Have I missed anyone?
So far, there hasn't been a listening comparison since there haven't been volunteers in the same area with a 950 and a 1066, who are available. I think the comparison should be not just a listening comparison but also an ease of use comparison. Based on my initial experiences (mentioned above) ease of use could be a slight negative for the 950, and I'd like to see if there are similar or different ease of use issues with the 1066 or not.
And carlos f, if no other 1066 volunteers emerge in the LA area in the next few weeks, then yes we can certainly use your gracious offer to volunteer your 1066 for a comparison.

 

[Will]

Bumping in case anybody new who has a 1066 or 950 wants to volunteer for a hands on listening and ease of use comparison.
Sign up here. Come one and all.
Find out which pre/pro has a lower noise floor.
Find out if any pre/pro makes clicking sounds.
Find out which pre/pro is easier to use (in the various testers opinion).
Multiple tests and multiple testers are encouraged, world wide.

 

[LuisH]

I have a 49TX in Fort Worth, but the damned thing is too heavy to lug around anywhere......but if a 49TX is needed for a comparo, well....I'm sure something can be worked out.

 

[Brian Corr]

I've sent an email to the guy who has a 950 and is in the DFW area.

Luis, having the 49tx in the bunch would be great.

I do some consulting/sales for a custom install company in Plano and I'm sure I could arrange to use our showroom for a shootout. Plenty of room, different speakers/cables to try out and Plano is pretty centrally located to the guys that have the 1066, 950 and 49tx. We could also put them up against an EAD ovation which is in the showroom currently. I can bring my 3802 for comparison as well.

Maybe we can make this happen afterall!

 

[Jeff Engel]

Sounds like a plam is coming together. Awesome.