Rotel A8

Introduction

In the last few years, hi-fi equipment has been getting rather cleverer. Where not too long ago, products would have rather fixed roles; amplifier, CD player, etc, it is now the case that amplifiers in particular can do rather more than just amplify things.

In no particular order, some devices that are described as ‘amplifiers’ that I have reviewed for Trusted Reviews have featured Bluetooth, HDMI inputs, on board streaming and room correction. In short, they’re a far cry from the old school ideal of an amplifier.

Enter Rotel. The A8 that you see here is the most affordable amp that the company makes and it is notable because it really is ‘just’ an amp; featuring a specification that would not have seemed out of place to me when I was getting interested in hi-fi in the nineties. It feels like a genuine blast from the past.

The thing is though; it might be just what you need. The argument goes that splitting the budget to build something over fewer functions, you can spend more on those functions than would be the case when you try and cram more in. At a point where affordable digital sources are also startlingly good, this might be all the amplifier you ever need so we need to crack on and see if it is.

Price

The A8 is available in the UK for £400; a very keen price that undercuts a number of other amplifiers I have looked at. There is a useful spread of dealers and both online and traditional retail options.

As ever, there is a slight risk quoting any US price as ‘final’ but the A8 seems to be available for $450 which is pretty keen if so. The Australian retail price is $650 AUD.

Something that you need to allow for should you choose the Rotel is that you will need source equipment of some description for it to do anything. Where a WiiM Amp Pro at the same basic UK price will work the moment you attach a pair of speakers to it and even a Fell Amp has Bluetooth as a get you started thing, the Rotel will need something connected to it in order to work.

Design

• Simple and elegant…
• …but with some useful details
• Metal chassis is lovely, captive mains lead less so

The Rotel couldn’t really look much simpler if it tried. The chassis slim, largely unadorned and completely timeless – it looks much like Rotel amps have always done and has a layout that was once basically a type standard for integrated amplifiers.

There’s little you could legitimately describe as ‘styling’ but the result looks rather elegant, largely because it’s so simple. There’s an elegance that stems from nothing on the unit not needing to be there.

Look a bit closer and there are some neat details though. The neat ring of LEDs that denotes the volume looks smart and gives at least a quick nod to the 21^st century. There are also some clever touches too.

The power button has two position settings; meaning that the A8 can be put in standby but also turned completely off depending on the use case. The inputs have direct selection on the front panel and on the gloriously retro remote control (it genuinely could have been made in 1995), which is something some rather more expensive amplifiers don’t offer.

It’s also really rather solid. Rotel has always been fastidious in how they bolt things together and the A8 is no exception. The chassis is made of metal and feels solid and well-engineered for the asking price (and also does the unusual thing of coming in black and silver).

All the controls feel sturdy and tactile and as well as being a retro delight, the remote feels pretty chunky too. About the only less than stellar thing about the A8 is the captive means lead which feels a little cheap and might be a pain if you want to put it a longer distance from a mains socket.

Specification

• 40 watts into 4 ohms
• Three inputs and a phono stage…
• … and absolutely nothing else

The A8 is a class AB amplifier and Rotel quotes the power output as 40 watts into 4 ohms. This set some tongues wagging when the A8 was launched because this is different practise to how the company operates.

Rotel power figures are usually quoted at 8 ohms with a 4 ohm figure as a secondary; indeed every other amp on the Rotel site quotes at 8 ohms. Quoting into 4 ohms is done to make something that isn’t very powerful seem like it has more power than it actually does and some people were a bit disappointed that Rotel had chosen to do this.

40 watts into 4 ohms is not a huge power output; we really shouldn’t be in any doubt about that. Rotel has gone on to clarify that the A8 can generate 30 watts into 8 ohms which is still not a vast figure but one that should not limit speaker choices too significantly.

Affordable speakers are generally pretty simple to drive and the reality is that 30 watts (or even less) is going to be quite enough for most requirements. When we also take into account that most source equipment has crept up from 2v to 3v, delivering still more gain, the ‘problem’ becomes even more insignificant. Volume control itself is via a rotary encoder rather than a more classic potentiometer.

The A8 is absolutely analogue in what it does. Where even the A11 Tribute which this amp partially replaces, had Bluetooth as a nod to modernity, the A8 does without even that. This means you get three RCA line inputs which are supported by a moving magnet phono stage; something that Rotel has never stopped fitting to their amplifiers and is rather proficient at. This is made available to a single set of speaker terminals and a 3.5mm headphone socket. 

As noted earlier, this means that the Rotel is not an all-in-one system pretending to be an integrated amp. In order for it to do anything, you will need to own (or budget for) source equipment of one form or another. If your budget doesn’t stretch to this, it means that the A8 really won’t do anything so, over and above most of its near rivals, this needs to be taken into account.

Performance

• Enough real world power to deliver good sound
• Impressively transparent
• Phono stage is good… most of the time
• Respectable headphone amp

When I test amplifiers at this sort of price point, I reach for a pair of Q Acoustics 5020 speakers I keep on hand for just this sort of situation. Because they are used with everything at this sort of price, you can very quickly get a handle on what the amplifier is doing at any given point. The good news for the Rotel is that what it demonstrates is very positive indeed.

First up, that 30 watt output is enough. If you’re reading this with a barn to fill, you might reach the limits of what the A8 can do but everyone else should be absolutely fine. The Rotel is able to ensure that a lively rendition of Night Life by The Horrors is something that sounds convincing and potent.

The deep and menacing basslines that Horrors albums excel at are convincing and controlled and there is a speed and agility to what the Rotel does that engages you at an emotional level.

The tonal balance is good too. This is a fractionally ‘dark’ sounding amplifier which means that some treble energy that you might note on other amplifiers is less present here but this isn’t something that comes at the expense of treble detail. Instead there is a focus on the midrange and upper midrange that ensure that vocals sound potent and believable and it further feeds into the perception that this is a lively and exciting amplifier.

Something else that becomes apparent quite quickly is that this is an admirably transparent device too. I did plenty of testing with a Bluesound Node Nano because it takes up very little room and is unconditionally stable.

When I did a little bit of testing with a Chord Mojo 2 DAC; a device that has a slightly different presentation to the Bluesound, the Rotel did an impressive job of reflecting these little differences. This is an admirably transparent device that reflects changes in the system without in turn doing much to change things beyond that slightly dark tonal balance.

The phono stage is a good one too. At the core of any phono stage is a need to have a reasonable amount of gain and introduce no unwanted noise while it adds this gain. The Rotel deals with the admin part of the brief well. So long as the moving magnet cartridge has a reasonably decent output; more than 3.5mV or so, it can relied upon to have enough headroom that the amplifier section won’t struggle.

This gain is delivered with commendably low noise levels and the A8 does a fine job of maintaining the same overall tonal balance as the rest of the amplifier while it does so. I did have one issue when I connected the (equally brilliant) Pro-Ject Debut EVO 2 to the A8; the combination generated a great deal of noise and unwanted hum.

It only happened with the Pro-Ject and Rotel has struggled to repeat it since so it could be an aberration but it might be something worth checking.

The headphone amp is extremely good too. You ‘only’ get a 3.5mm socket and the amount of gain on offer might struggle with some planar magnetic designs but when I did some listening with a pair of Focal Hadenys headphones, the performance I secured was genuinely listenable.

The Rotel can take something that combines scale and delicacy like Agnes Obel’s Myopia and ensure it still makes sense in nearfield which is no mean feat. It never feels like an afterthought and is something you could rely on for some serious headphone use if you wanted.

Should you buy it?

FAQs