Pioneer 45TX reciever or Rotel 1066 pre/pro? (1 Viewer)

[David Barteaux]

I can't decide which would be better. I would use the 45TX as a pre/pro with Rotel 1095 amp. I wonder if the Elite 45TX would be a better pre/pro than the seperate Rotel 1066.

 

[Jeff Engel]

I would go with the 1066. It's an awesome piece of equiptment and I love mine. I have not compared mine to any receivers used as pre/pro's but I could not imagine wanting anything more. I have the 1075 rotel amp paired with mine but I know a bunch of people have the 1095 with theirs and they all love it.

The question to ask yourself is what do you think you would be getting from the 45tx that the Rotel can't do?

 

[Andrew_Ballew]

I have owned both,and currently use the Pioneer. I would go with the Pioneer. The 1066 sounded great, but I considered many things about it to be annoying. It was extremely slow to auto-detect signals. I like being able to hear the first few seconds of chapter changes, menus changes, etc. It had a tendency to pop and click performing various functions. I also found the 1066 to have noisy multi-channel inputs, and my particular version did not have the necessary bandwidth to pass HDTV through its component switching.

The Pioneer in comparison is more refined, in my opinion. It has a lower noise floor, especially on its multi-channel inputs. No annoying pops or clicks at any time. It will passthrough HDTV on its component switching with no degradation. It has very, very quick auto detection- much improved on the Rotel. It also is more feature packed, having the THX processing modes, true THX Surround EX decoding, as well as DTS 96/24 decoding. It also has the acoustic auto-calibration function, which depending on your level of expertise, or just your personal preferences or predjudices, can be either a novelty or an outstanding feature that adds flexibility not found in any other receiver or pre/pro in the price range, save the other Elite models. And on top of that, the Elite 45tx contains two of the LATEST Motorola processor, the Symphony DSPC56367. This is the same processor in the B&K Reference 50 and the the Proceed AVP2. WOW!


On a final note, the Rotel does win with two channel performance. The 45tx also cannot be used to drive speakers with nominal impedances of 4 ohms or less, but if you are using it as a pre/pro, of course this is not an issue.


Bottom line- I have owned many receivers and dedicated pre/pros. For home theater, the Pioneer is a WINNER!

Cheers

Andrew B.

 

[Daneel]

Andrew, sounds like you love the Pioneer for HT, but what about stereo music and DPL2 music?

 

[David Barteaux]

Andrew,

Do you use the Pioneer as a pre/pro? If so, what amp do you use? Do you get less hiss or buzzing out of your speakers from the 1066 or the 45TX when used as a pre/pro? I use M&K speakers which meet THX spec and I am still wondering if the 1066 uses the same sub crossover slope as THX uses, even though the 1066 is not THX certified.

 

[Dalton]

I also have owned both and kept the 1066. It easily beat the Pioneer in music and in HT it had a wider and more detailed sound field in IMO. I had both of the these units in my home for 2 weeks and did extensive comparisons. Sure the Pioneer has some features the 1066 doesn't have, but it is no match for the 1066 in the sound quality area IMO. You might want to look at using the Rotel 1055 as a preamp. It supposedly has the same preamp section as the 1066 and is less$$. Also the amps are reassignable if you need to power the back 2 for a 7.1 setup.

It will passthrough HDTV on its component switching with no degradation.

All new 1066 processors have 200MHZ bandwith for componet video switching, more than enough for HDTV (they did have only 10mhz switching originally). I did like the auto-calibration feature of the 45tx, but not enough to keep it. The 45tx is a fine receiver, but it can't beat the 1066 as a pre/pro IMHO. If you are going for pure sound quality, the 1066 is the better choice IMHO.

Good Luck,
Dalton

 

[Mark Paquette]

Sure the Pioneer has some features the 1066 doesn't have

Dalton, can you elaborate on this? I've been on the fence for a month now trying to decide between the 49Txi and the 1066/1075 combo.

 

[Dalton]

Mark,
A couple of things off the top of my head are THX certification(no biggie IMO), Auto Calibration(nice feature but i am happy with the manual job i did with the 1066), and the abilities to change channel levels and other settings without going into the onscreen display. I have had the 1066/1075 for 4 months and after trying several $1000 range receivers as pre/pros, none matched the 1066 in sound quality IMO. I know some people don't like the double bass issue on the Analog multi ch. inputs but i have had no problems because of it. In fact, DVD-Audio has never sounded better in my setup than it does now. I am extremely pleased with the musical performance of the 1066. I have never heard a receiver that could match it musically. It more than holds it's own in the HT dept too(i'm 75% HT 25% music). Very detailed sound. Not trying to sound like a commercial for the 1066 but i am very happy with it after a long search for a pre/pro.

Dalton