AV Receiver Group Test in Magazine-Clarification on Rating/Rankings

[admin_exported]

Hi WHF Team,

In the latest Group Test, the Rotel is rated ahead of the Pioneer and the Yamaha. However, when you look at the individual star ratings which have been broken down, the Pioneer and Yamaha both get more stars than the Rotel in the features category while they equal the Rotel in all other categories.

Therefore, shouldn't the Rotel be ranked behind the Pioneer and the Yamaha?

Thanks.

 

[Clare Newsome]

This is one occasion where the nuances of the star-rating system need to be supported by the text. That text, just above the ratings panel in question, clearly states that the Rotel sounds second only to the Sony.

Yes, it may not have the features of the Yamaha and Pioneer - something we made clear both in the First Test of this product, and again in this Group Test - but in the key matter of sound quality, we think it outperforms them.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the clarification, Clare. Since all three amps got the same rating in the sound category, I thought that the differences were not significant enough to warrant the amps receiving different sound ratings and hence I thought that the superior features in the Pioneer and Yamaha would therefore outweight the marginal sound quality edge that the Rotel had.

So, am I right to say that in terms of sound quality, the Rotel is marginally better than the Pioneer and Yamaha but on balance taking everything else into account, it is overall equal to the Pioneer and Yamaha and hence all the 3 amps end up with 4 Stars overall rating?

 

[Clare Newsome]

seakingadvice:Thanks for the clarification, Clare. Since all three amps got the same rating in the sound category, I thought that the differences were not significant enough to warrant the amps receiving different sound ratings and hence I thought that the superior features in the Pioneer and Yamaha would therefore outweight the marginal sound quality edge that the Rotel had.

Again, that's why the verdict text spells out our preferred order - again, it's OUR preference to put sound-quality top of the pile, but we can understand why the more comprehensive specs of the Yamaha and Pioneer would be of appeal.

seakingadvice:

So, am I right to say that in terms of sound quality, the Rotel is marginally better than the Pioneer and Yamaha but on balance taking everything else into account, it is overall equal to the Pioneer and Yamaha and hence all the 3 amps end up with 4 Stars overall rating?

Yep, that's about it.