Audiolab 8200a or rotel 1520

Vortex160

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Nov 15, 2011
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Im looking for integrated amp to drive my canton bookshelves .

The audiolab and rotel are pretty much what i can afford budget wise.

I know there is no subsitute for auditioning but they dont carry audiolab and rotel at the same place here in toronto.

Personally im leaning towards the rotel 1520 features wise.There are mixed feelings about the audiolab , whathifis review suggests that the audiolab is on the brighter side where as techradar says its a bit mellow.

I listen to experimental , left field , ambient ,some drum n bass so i need a deep soundstage and a laid back sound.

And i need an amp which is the least sensitive to the quality of source components , basically nothing too revealing .

Any ideas mates ?!!!
 

Thompsonuxb

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Feb 19, 2012
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The Rotel 1520 is a far superior amp.

It does lack bass depth, real low frequencies, but at normal levels its a clean listen, good top end and midrange. The sound stage is good if not very deep from front to back. at volume ( pass 10'oclock on the dial it does sound harsh though, so if you like your music loud..... ) it does have tone controls so if you're willing to tinker you may just get the sound you like out of it

The Audiolab 8200a is not a very good amp at all. I had one for a month or so before getting the Rotel, even after a month of constant play it sounded awful. Its loud and will impress in a demo. But at home its an unpleasant "listen". My feeling is it was designed as part of a bigger system - pre/mono configuration. As a stand alone amp it is very poor. The what hifi review was generous....to sum up the sound it lacks everything, making most ......I may have got a friday afternoon unit, but i was not impressed, not for the money.
 

whiskywheels

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I'm certainly pleased with my RA1520. It's very detailed, transparent and refined for classical music, and with contemporary stuff it's solid, thumping, with great prescence and bass. Mind you, my comments have to be taken in the context not only of the quality of any given recordings, but also the other parts of the system, in particular the excellent PMC DBi speakers.

As ever the best advice is to audition and compare, but like you I find it very rare to be able to find a dealer who can either do side by side comparisons of what I'm interested in, or even demo the combination of amp, speakers etc that I want to hear.
 
A

Anonymous

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I don't often post on here, and then twice in one day. I've had the Audiolab 8200A for 4 months or so now and I think its great. Matches my Epos Epic 5's very well. Can't fault it really. I listen to some dupstep and electronica and it all sounds fantastic with my CD player or Sonos (more the former, the amp/speakers show the difference or are a better match). Deep bass, treble doesn't irritate after extended listening, probably more mellow than bright, but neutral would be a better description from my personal experience, good soundstage.

When I listened to it at a demo, paired with 8200CD and a variety of stand mount speakers I didn't really like it much either, sounded a bit flat, but on reflection I think it was probably the speaker choices. I picked my amp up several months after that almost on a whim on Ebay for <£400...

As with anything I guess the other components are crucial, and I've never heard the Cantos speakers or the Rotel, which is meant to be very good as well.
 
Vortex160 said:
Im looking for integrated amp to drive my canton bookshelves .

The audiolab and rotel are pretty much what i can afford budget wise.

I know there is no subsitute for auditioning but they dont carry audiolab and rotel at the same place here in toronto.

Personally im leaning towards the rotel 1520 features wise.There are mixed feelings about the audiolab , whathifis review suggests that the audiolab is on the brighter side where as techradar says its a bit mellow.

I listen to experimental , left field , ambient ,some drum n bass so i need a deep soundstage and a laid back sound.

And i need an amp which is the least sensitive to the quality of source components , basically nothing too revealing .

Any ideas mates ?!!!

Hi Vortex160

What model are your Canton speakers?

What amplifier, source component/s and cabling are you using?

So, what features do you want the amplifier to have (tone controls, headphone socket, MP3 input, etc)?

The size of your room?

Your general listening level?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft
 

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