Rotel RB-1070 or Acurus A250? HELP ME OUT PLZ.... (1 Viewer)

[JohMabe]

I'm to buy my new amplifier in a few days. It'll replace my Roksan Kandy, and I'm gonna use it to power a pair of Dynaudio Audience LR120+. These are 6ohms speakers. I was wondering what would be better for me, the Rotel RB-1070, newer version 130w per channel 8ohms, or the Acurus A250, which is a slightly older model, but with a hefty 250w of power at 8ohms.

I think some things have to be taken into account, is the Rotel able to drive low impedance speakers better than the Acurus?

Or is the Acurus power better for me in the long run?

Please help me out, nobody in Brazil could give me that info. I hope you guys can.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

The Rotel 1080 is a better comparison to the Acurus. There is a review of the 1080 on Stereophile's site. You can read about how it malfunctioned during testing. If you PM me, I can get you a review of the Acurus from Stereo Review. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice, but I personally think the Acurus is a better choice. I can also send along an interview with one of the head guys from Mondial Designs, and that he describes how all Acurus and Aragon gear is manufactured according to military/medical specifications. Glass epoxy circuit boards, discrete components, etc. The Acurus is a lot more powerful than the Rotel you are considering, but it does not give up any performance to get there either. In general, the more powerful amplifier will be able to drive lower impedance speakers.

 

[JohMabe]

I read somewhere, that the main difference between the Acurus and the Aragon is that the first does not have the DC that Aragon has to drive low impedance amps... That puts me off a little. But 250w is tempting, that's for sure.

 

[Craig Robertson]

difference between the Acurus and the Aragon is that the first does not have the DC that Aragon has to drive low impedance amps

i'm not sure what you mean, could you elaborate?

 

[JohMabe]

Got this from Audioholics:

http://www.audioholics.com/FAQs/Aragon2.html

"According to Aragon Engineering:

"The 3000 series amplifiers are based on a scaled down design on the original 8008 series with the removal of the DC servo for space conservation, and additional tweaking for ‘improved’ IMD distortion. It should be noted that the enhanced cosmetics and THX certification does come at a cost penalty. The 8008X5 was a great performer, however it was an enormous and unwieldy product that none of our dealers had space in their showroom for, wouldn't fit in a rack, and most of our potential customers could not justify the room it required. The 3005 was designed to address those problems while still performing at a top notch level. “


If memory serves, one of the primary differences between Acurus and Aragon amplifiers was the inclusion of the active DC servo which allowed the Aragon amplifiers to play down to DC levels of frequency into low impedance loads. "

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Believe it or not, but the latest line of 200x Aragon amps, has actually more in common with the Acurus line than the older (but better IMO) Aragon 8008 series. Acurus amps are 2 ohm stable. Not a lot of manufacturer's can say that. PM me. I will send you the Stereo Review article with the results of the testing that they did.

BTW, "DC levels of frequency" doesn't make any sense because the V/I characteristics that are fed to a speaker are AC not DC.

Oh yeah, one more thought is: if you get the Acurus and don't like. No biggie. Just turn around and sell it for more or less what you paid for it. If you get a new Rotel and sell it as used (even if barely used), you'll probably lose 10-20% of what you paid for it.

One more thought: there is any active forum over on the Klipsch web site about all things Aragon and Acurus. You could ask any questions over there as far as differences.

But to me, sounds like you want the Rotel and that you're trying to talk yourself out of the Acurus...

 

[JohMabe]

Kevin, could you send me this review?

My e-mail is [email protected]

Thanks in advance...