Rotel 1095, Sherbourn 5/5210 or B&K 7250 (1 Viewer)

[BrianKR]

I decided I am going to go for an amp instead of a new receiver and use my current receiver as a pre pro. Which of the 3 amps above do you feel would work best with B&W Nautilus speakers?

other suggestions?

I got the bug now!

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I love the Rotel's looks and its a powerful warm sounding amp as well. I'm sure any of those would be a substantial upgrade so its unlikely you'd be unhappy with any of them but I've come to find that there's very few companies that take care of their customers like Rotel does.

 

[Kevin. W]

I'll second the vote for the Rotel.

Kevin

 

[Haris Ellahi]

Rotel.

 

[Charles Gurganus]

All 3 are very good. You can't go wrong with any of them, IMO. Go by price.

 

[Yogi]

My vote goes to B&K simply because I love warm laid back sound and out of the three no one does it better then B&K. B&W speakers are fairly neutral and so if you like warm sound go with B&K. OTOH if you like neutral to slightly warm sound Rotel would be your best bet. I have no experience with Sherbourn so cant comment there. I think you would be happy with either amp as they all are well built with a great sound to them. If you have no particular preference in sound then go by price/looks etc.

 

[Dan Driscoll]

I'm not familair with the B&K, but the Rotel and Sherbourn are both excellent amps, so it depends on your personal preferance. I perferred the Sherbourn (5/1500A) over the RMB-1095, but I have Paradigm speakers, which have a very different sound than B&W.

 

[Sihan Goi]

Rotel, but I'm biased, since I own the RMB-1095, and its sweet

The fact that B&W used to pair up their speakers with Rotel says something about their "synergy" too

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Brian it should be noted that B&W and Rotel have a working relationship where both companies use the other's to evaluated their products which means your B&W speakers were designed with the Rotel amps in mind

 

[BrianKR]

That is "very" good to know Andrew!

 

[Stephen M]

Sherbourn. Liked it better than B&K. Have not heard Rotel 1095, but heard the 1075 about a year ago and thought it too warm and muted with my Martin Logans. YMMV.

 

[Jaime B]

Brian;

You won't be accused of selecting three mediocre amps, all are excellent amps!

Point here is matching to the B&W's/ room acoustics/personal taste. This is the critical issue here. I recently heard the THETA Intrepid with Energy Veritas 5.1 set-up, and was definitely a more musical set-up than the same speakers with Aragon (I've owned 4 Aragon amps in the past). Later heard the Intrepid with an all M-L 5.1 set=up, delicious!

Can you get these 3 amps in your home for audition? That will be better than any opinion we can give you. We don't know what your sonic bias is, its something very personal, not to mention room acoustics.

JaimeB

 

[Jaime B]

Forgot to add to your list:

Aragon 2005/3005, Parasound Halo A52, ATI 1805 (ATI manufactures the Outlaws and the Sherbourn, but Sherbourn has slightly different circuitry).
Theta Intrepid (but the Intrepid could clip at reference levels with you B&W's).
Used EAD PowerMaster 1000, used Krell KAV-500, used CinePro, etc.

I'm missing dozens of other options, look around. Make sure your dealer is professional enough to stand by what he sells.

JaimeB

 

[Jaime B]

Brian;

You've got me going here - if your budget is as big your upgrade bug go for the Ayre V6x, the Theta Dreadnaught II, or the Krell Showcase.

Interest rates are at an all time low...

JaimeB

 

[Sihan Goi]

I know that ATI has a hand in the Outlaws, but I wasn't aware that it does the Sherbournes too?

 

[BrianKR]

Jaime, I don't want options, options, options add nausea! :b I was looking at the Aragon, Parasound and ATi as well. I was even considering the Outlaw 770 & 755 (leary of how cheap they are price wise). I was leaning towards the Sherbourn or Rotel but I am also considering the ATi 2505.

I am also looking for a decent FP so I have to get the best price I can on the amp.

 

[dpippel]

Brian - I compared the Sherbourn 5/1500A, Parasound HCA-2205AT, and Acurus 200FIVE in my system and chose the Sherbourn. To my ears it had more dynamic range, better bass, and more headroom than the other, also fine, amplifiers. It just had that wow factor, enough so that I said "Whoa" (Keanu) when it was fired up. YMMV.

If you decide on the Sherbourn and are looking for an authorized dealer, drop me an email. I can help.

 

[BrianKR]

YGM Doug

 

[Jaime B]

Brian:
Ad nauseam. Sorry, got carried away. I re-read your initial post and you are asking which one of the three aforementioned amps was better for your B&W's. The local dealer has B&W's with Rotel. A few of the smaller set-ups with Arcam did not sound like the Rotels.

BTW the new ATI's are better sounding than the older series, including the 2505, and may (repeat - may) sound slightly bright with the Nautilus.

JaimeB

 

[Dan Driscoll]

(ATI manufactures the Outlaws and the Sherbourn, but Sherbourn has slightly different circuitry).

There has been a lot of mis-information going around that the Outlaw and Sherbourn amps are the same, which is completely wrong, it is only the 950 and PT-7000 pre-pros that are similar. And those aren't built by ATI either, they are built by Eastech, who also builds versions of the same pre-pro for ATI and Fosgate.

This is the first time I have ever heard that ATI manufactures the Sherbourn power amps and completely contradicts the information given to me by Ron Fone, the president of Sherbourn. Additionally, while Outlaw and ATI amps do have similar designs, the Sherbourn is completely different and has absolutely nothing in common with the Outlaw/ATI design, other than being a power amplifier. The Sherbourn is much closer to the Bryston 9B in design. Please provide evidence to support your claim that Sherbourn amps are built by ATI or have a similar design as the ATI and Outlaw.