Rotel 1066 DOES have bass management on the 6.1 inputs (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Kohn]

OK folks, I did some more testing today, and there is bass management on the 6.1 inputs. Here's my setup and results:
I have tower mains that are capable down to about 35hz. All speakers are set to "small" with an 80hz x-over. I've never flashed my 1066 with a software upgrade, so I'm assuming it has the 1.35 software since the version number is not displayed in the setup menu. I was testing using my HTPC, playing WinAMP via the analog outputs. I had only the front l/r channels of the 6.1 inputs hooked up.
First, the tone controls are apparently analog, because they are indeed active on the 6.1 inputs, just like the with Outlaw 950.
Second, although you can turn CinemaEQ on and off, it doesn't seem to have any effect 6.1 outputs; additionally, although you can select various surround modes such as DPL2, DTS:Neo, etc, they have no effect and you still only get 2-channel music. If you ask me, this behavior is a bug, because if a certain DSP mode is not available you shouldn't be able to select it, and the speaker indicators should show the accurate speaker configuration for the current sound format. In other instances, the 1066 is more consistent; for example, if I feed it a 24bit/96khz PCM digital signal from my HTPC, all DSP modes are disabled (you can't even select them), and you're locked into 2-channel stereo. I think they should do the same thing when the 6.1 inputs are enabled. Hopefully they'll address this in a software update as it can really lead to some confusion.
Finally, I discovered that I am definitely getting subwoofer activity on the 6.1 inputs. So the claims that the 1066 has straight passthrough with no bass-management are not true. Since the 1066 doesn't have any type of manual switch for an analog x-over like the Outlaw 950 has, I can only assume that with this configuration you're getting "double-bass". Now the 1066 does at least have per-mode subwoofer settings, so it should be possible to lower or completely disable the subwoofer from the "Sub Level" menu for the 6.1 inputs.
I think we need to get some clarification from Rotel on how this works, exactly. Do the mains truly get a full-range signal from the 6.1 inputs when set to "small" with a subwoofer? If so, then lowering or completely disabling the subwoofer for that mode is probably OK, but I would like to get confirmation from Rotel.

 

[John Corkery]

Thanks for posting your discoveries. I'll have to experiment a little bit and see if I get the same results. I hope the Rotel isn't doing automatic bass management on the 6.1 inputs. One of the main reasons I bought it was because I was under the impression that it was a true pass-through, unlike the Outlaw.

If you ask me, this behavior is a bug, because if a certain DSP mode is not available you shouldn't be able to select it, and the speaker indicators should show the accurate speaker configuration for the current sound format.

Personally, I wouldn't consider that to be a bug, just a design decision that might confuse some people. They implemented the 6.1 inputs as kind of a "system override". That's the way I think of it, anyway. It hasn't bothered me at all, but I agree that it could have been implemented a little bit better. Maybe they could work on this for a future firmware update?

The best way to get your questions answered would be to e-mail Rotel's tech support. Tim Wyatt has been very helpful the few times I've contacted him and he's more than willing to speak to customers in person over the phone. If you include your phone number in your e-mail to him and ask him to give you a call, I'm pretty sure he would.

 

[JerryIII]

If you turn the sub down to stop the double bass, then you will not get any of the .1 track on DVD audio or SACD. Am I way off here? I hope that they can fix this with a software update.

Jerry

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I posted some detail about this issue from my conversation with Rotel here