Rotel RA-1062 and RCD-1072

By Matthew Masters

June 2008

Rotel RA-1062 Integrated Amplifier and RCD-1072 CD Player. $1499 each.

Rotel RCD-1072 CD player (click for larger image)
Rotel RA-1062 amplifier (click for larger image)

Dogs. Hate ‘em. Noisy, smelly creatures that need constant supervision to keep them from wrecking the house and emptying themselves on the floor.

In the great pet schism, I can’t exactly be described as dog-friendly. Which is odd really, as a child I adored them. We had a huge dopey Labrador called Bodger that bounded around the house either barking at things or licking them. Usually both. He wasn’t the brightest dog in the world, but he was fun. Poor old Bodger’s fate was sealed when he gained a reputation for devouring tennis and soccer balls. My parents made the mistake of compensating the first couple of victims and ever after they became the local cash dispenser. Knock-knock – “Your dog ate our ball” – kerchingg – “thanks mister”. After a few weeks of this Bodger was sent away to some canine gulag, and like a Soviet dissident written out of history, never to be mentioned again.

It was about the same time an early Rotel integrated amplifier appeared at home. Like Bodger, it didn’t last long, though I suspect that was more to do with its shouty performance than eating sports equipment. And that, I’m afraid to admit, was my only experience of Rotel until last month.

More Dachshund than Dane

The 1072 CD player and 1062 amplifier sit at the upper end of Rotel’s range of otherwise ordinary two-channel audio components, and probably suffer an unfairly poor image for that reason alone. The aesthetics don’t really help here, with a plethora of knobs and buttons that eschew the arch minimalism of most similarly-priced components. Then there are poorly thought out details such as a CD player display that’s green while all the other LEDs are blue.

The 1072 CD player uses a modified Sony transport and boasts HDCD compatibility, a Burr-Brown DAC and huge PSU. There’s a plethora of pointless programming functions available from the front panel and annoyingly, that green display can’t be dimmed.

Maybe a Boxer

While superficially similar, the 1062 amplifier is a far more substantial and well thought-out piece of equipment.

There’s a massive, custom-made power supply that helps deliver a claimed 60w per channel. Then there are a tone (or contour) control, balance control, independently selected tape loop and headphone output. Of rather more importance are two sets of speaker outputs and what turns out to be a surprisingly competent phono stage. So, maybe not best of breed when compared with the more obvious pedigree pooches, but certainly up there with the multi-talented Wonder-dogs.

So the first impressions are mixed. No obvious pedigree, average aesthetics but could be easy to train. Worthy, but uninspriring.

Golden Retriever

Slotting a CD into the Rotel’s drawer and giving a firm instruction to go after some music quickly challenged the worthy but dull view.

That first CD was an old faithful, John Eliot-Gardiner’s jaunty interpretation of Handel’s Messiah (Philips 434 297-2). It’s a decent recording but can be trying for many mid-range systems. Surprisingly, the Rotel pair just bounded through even the busiest passages, faithfully retrieving the intricate detail of both the Monteverdi Choir on top form, but also the authentically sparse orchestration. It could have been simply aggressive, but there was real body and dynamism too. Clearly there was more to the pair than I had suspected. Gardiner’s pacy performance romped along, driven by a convincing sense of rhythm from the CD spinner and powered by those 60, rather large, watts from the 1062 amplifier.

Jack Russell

With more contemporary music it as a similar story. Listening to Morcheeba’s Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day from the Fragments of Freedom album, the fabulously seductive voice of Sky Edwards is rendered in all its breathy glory, existing on an almost tangibly different plane from the brass section and ludicrously infectious bass.

If I have a criticism it’s that the Rotel pair does tend to reveal the production habit of recessing brass and drums to avoid overwhelming delicate vocals. It’s fine for lesser systems, but not needed here.

In fact, whatever I threw out there, the Rotel was bouncing around and retrieving all manner detail and fun I hadn’t noticed before. There was a seemingly limitless energy to the presentation that just made me want to play more and more music. The Fratellis’ Chelsea Dagger, hardly a subtle piece and possibly a little raucous, but just plain fun with the Rotel jumping up and down to the chunky rhythm like a yappy little terrier desperate for a game or trick.

The real achievement is that the enthusiasm and drive is achieved with no apparent compromise in subtlety. Dagger is just another quickly-produced indie rock number, but it sounded richer and more complete than I’d ever suspected.

The best kind of mongrel puppy

The Rotel 1062/1072 combination is a bit of a dog. But it’s the kind of dog that’s really hard to dislike. A bouncy, loveable puppy that just wants to play. It’s old enough to be house-trained and (relatively) controllable but big enough to knock you over if you’re not paying attention. You’ll be a bit shaken, but you’ll just want to play more.

It’s a grown-up version of Bodger; the only kind of dog I’d let into my house, and I’ll be very, very sorry when it has to go.