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Equipment Report
inflections—characteristics that
play right into the Rotel's greatest
sonic strengths. But for me, per-
haps the greatest treat of all was
hearing how the Rotel handled the
dark, reedy sound of Klaus Ges-
ing's bass clarinet. As it happens,
the instrument's range falls right in
the sweet spot between the bass
and midrange—a frequency region
that the Rotel handles particularly
well. That bass clarinet sounded so
vibrant and so right that almost felt
like I could reach out and touch it.
If there were any drawback to
the Rotel's performance on this
beautifully recorded track, it would
be that the usual sense of treble
"air" and openness I normally ex-
pect to hear was diminished to a
slight (but audible) degree. But per-
haps this is the small price to be
paid for the RSX-1550's overall tre-
ble smoothness.
Bottom line:
Rotel's RSX-1550 is a beautifully
made A/V receiver that can—when
matched with the right speaker
system—sound highly expressive,
with rich, well-defined bass and
sumptuous mids. Highs are very
good, too, though they do not offer
the last word in sonic transparen-
cy as compared to the best Rotel
components I've heard. The power
produced by the RSX-1550 is very
clean and conservatively rated,
though I suspect some prospective
buyers might wish that there a few
more watts/channel on tap. Two
caveats are that the receiver does
not provide an automated speaker
set-up/room EQ system, and is rat-
ed to drive 8-Ohm speakers only.
Apparent build quality is very high,
but so, too, is the price.
SPecS & PRicing
Rotel RSX-1550 5.1 channel A/V
receiver
Power output: 5 x 75 Wpc @ 8
ohms
Decoding formats: Dolby TrueHD,
Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital EX/
Digital 5.1/2/0, and Pro Logic IIx
Music/Cinema/Games; DTS-HD
Master Audio and High Resolution
Audio, DTS 96/24, DTS Discrete
and Matrix, and DTS Neo:6; Ro-
tel XS mode; four proprietary Rotel
music surround processing modes.
Video inputs/outputs: Composite
video (3 in, 6 out); S-video (3 in, 3
out); Component video (3 in, 1 out),
HDMI (4 in, 1 out)
Audio inputs/outputs: Stereo ana-
log (7 in, 6 out), 7.1-channel analog
(1 in), 7.1-channel analog (1 out),
digital audio (4 optical in, 3 coaxial
in; 1 optical out, 1 coax out), HDMI
(4 in, 1 out), AM/FM Radio tuner (1)
Other: IR output (2 out), Remote in-
put (4), 12V trigger output (6), Eth-
ernet (1 RJ-45 jack)
Dimensions (HxWxD): 6.38" x
16.97" x 17.13"
Weight: 37.48 pounds
Warranty: Five years, parts and la-
bor
Price: $1999
Rotel of America
(800) 370-3741
www.rotel.com
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