ROTEL RC 03 pre + Rotel RB 1080 power amp or Roksan Kandy III integreted amp?

malvai

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Hi there! I am very very confused at the moment. And I am quite new to the world of modern hi-fi (I usually only buy 70s gear).

But now, I want to upgrade. I was looking at used amps. I believe that for audiophiles the pre-power combo's are better.

Hence I started looking around. I found a combo that has been discontinued (thankfully not too long ago...) The ROTEL RC 03 pre and the ROTEL RB 1080.

The Rotel RB 1080 is 200 wpc. And has an incredible damping factor of 1000.

One audition later I was bowled over. Especially since the pre also had a MM phono inlet. That, being very useful for me, as I listen to most of my music only on LP.

Then, I found a friend selling his 3 year old Roksan Kandy III. It too has a MM phono inlet. It too sounds great.

The price diff for me, between the two deals is roughly 10k INR.

What do I do?

Also, does anyone know the diff between the Roksan Kandy III and the Roksan Kandy LIII? Apparently, both are variations on the same theme, but there is virtually no write ups about the Roksan Kandy III on the net.
 
Hi - I am too looking for a 150-200 wpc used good power amp. Pls me in case something is available but you are not buying.
 
Hi there! I am very very confused at the moment. And I am quite new to the world of modern hi-fi (I usually only buy 70s gear).

But now, I want to upgrade. I was looking at used amps. I believe that for audiophiles the pre-power combo's are better.

Hence I started looking around. I found a combo that has been discontinued (thankfully not too long ago...) The ROTEL RC 03 pre and the ROTEL RB 1080.

The Rotel RB 1080 is 200 wpc. And has an incredible damping factor of 1000.

One audition later I was bowled over. Especially since the pre also had a MM phono inlet. That, being very useful for me, as I listen to most of my music only on LP.

Then, I found a friend selling his 3 year old Roksan Kandy III. It too has a MM phono inlet. It too sounds great.

The price diff for me, between the two deals is roughly 10k INR.

What do I do?

Also, does anyone know the diff between the Roksan Kandy III and the Roksan Kandy LIII? Apparently, both are variations on the same theme, but there is virtually no write ups about the Roksan Kandy III on the net.


Hi

This depends very much on the speakers you are using. Both a fine amps with pros/cons.
 
Hi there! I am very very confused at the moment. And I am quite new to the world of modern hi-fi (I usually only buy 70s gear).

But now, I want to upgrade. I was looking at used amps. I believe that for audiophiles the pre-power combo's are better.

Hence I started looking around. I found a combo that has been discontinued (thankfully not too long ago...) The ROTEL RC 03 pre and the ROTEL RB 1080.

The Rotel RB 1080 is 200 wpc. And has an incredible damping factor of 1000.

One audition later I was bowled over. Especially since the pre also had a MM phono inlet. That, being very useful for me, as I listen to most of my music only on LP.

Then, I found a friend selling his 3 year old Roksan Kandy III. It too has a MM phono inlet. It too sounds great.

The price diff for me, between the two deals is roughly 10k INR.

What do I do?

Also, does anyone know the diff between the Roksan Kandy III and the Roksan Kandy LIII? Apparently, both are variations on the same theme, but there is virtually no write ups about the Roksan Kandy III on the net.

Hi Malvai,
Please mention ur speakers.
Both are very different sounding amplifiers. The Roksan has sweet tone and the Rotel has the power but pretty poorly voiced IMO.
The RC 03 is NOT the matching preamp for this power amp. In fact its from a different series. The pre amps that match are RC 1070, RC 1082, RC 1090.
I had this Rotel power amp for a while and used two of the above preamps alongwith.
The Roksan Kandy is a decent amp amd if ur speakers are sensitive enough u wont need the additional power that the Rotel offers. I dont know the SPL u desire or the size of your room but for most users the kandy seems enough.
Regarding the theories of what is better : Integrated or pre/power, well as u have said the 'audiophiles' have told u to go for a pre power as they are seperate components with seperate power supplies and one notch higher in the chain BUT there are tons of integrated amps that will give similarly priced Pre powers a run for their money and there are some that will even beat them.
IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO YOUR REQUIREMENT. There is no one size fits all.
Rgds
 
Hi Dinyaar,
very sound advice (pun intended!)

And espn the bot about the Rotel RC 03 not matching the 1080....

Thanks a lot!
 
The Rotel RB 1080 costed me about 30k....

If you want one I can give you the number of the gentelman who has another pre-owned piece...
 
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