need to decide which AVR to get and i have narrowed it down to the ARCAM 300 or the Rotel 1067...thoughts, i have a pair of Nautilus 804s and want good two channel as well as surround sound. Thanks and happy holidays.
I would definitely go seperates if youre driving B&W Nautilus speakers. They are extremely demanding speakers and only sound there best with top notch amplifiers and sources. The Rotel and Arcam are great products but not for driving the Nautilus line.
Yes. But that has nothing to with things. It's power thing. The receivers stated are not capable of driving the Nautilus line properly. Seperate amps such as the RB 1080 or larger would be needed. Possibly 2 RB1070's in a passive bi-amp situation could work as well.
Biamping the 804s with the Arcam would make an enormous difference. The Arcam should cope in single-amped mode, but biamping would give a lot more headroom to the system, and I would feel more confident of a good result.
Of the two receivers mentioned, I would choose the Arcam over the Rotel because of its musical ability. The Rotel has far better power and drive but doesn't get to the heart of the matter so well.
The biamping will help. But you still will not realize the speakers full potential with a receiver. Seperate high powered amps IMO are the only way to go with the Nautilus line.
Indeed you can. The top of the range monoblocks from Arcam (the FMJ P1) make a big difference. They have loads of power with refinement - real chain mail fist in velvet glove stuff - but then you'd expect that since they cost mosre than the AVR300 itself!
The beauty of the system is that you can add any amps as and when you need them. It's best to stay within one brand to keep timbre-matched of course, hence my suggestion of the Arcams. The P1s would certainly make your 804s work for a living.
It has been suggested on this forum that if you add external amps to a receiver that it isn't much of a receiver. I disagree and think that the Arcam with external amps (not necessarily Arcam) would sound very nice indeed.
I'm not a big fan of Rotel myself. If I had to choose between Rotel and Arcam it would be no contest.
Why are you only considering just Rotel and Arcam? There are so many other brands that make comparable products.
I never see anyone mentioning Anthem on these board and am just curious if any has owned or used them. I have listened to them and think they are very fine products.
i did not consider Anthem and simply narrowed the universe based on what was on hand at the various higher end Audio Vid stores in NYC. Truth be told, i looked hard at the Outlaw 1070 but was not happy withe the power (65 Watts per channel).
i listened to the various receivers and thought that the ARCAM had superior 2 channel sound. That being said I liked the fact that I could bi-amp my speakers and that the Arcam allows you to bypass the surround sournd circuitry on two channel sound.