This is perhaps the most subjective category of all. When you buy a new car, you can look at hard data to aid you in your buying decision. Things like fuel economy, repair history, resale value, crash tests, owner satisfaction, average repair/maintenance costs, and other factual information can prove invaluable. But when it comes to interconnects, it is not as easy.

Rotel does not recommend a particular brand of cable (read: speaker wire) or interconnect for use with its products (there isn't one that's "best"), but we can assist you with some basic pointers. This is really where your local dealer can be very helpful, as they have more experience with using different brands, as well as getting feedback on what their customers have had success with. Of course, what one person thinks sounds best may not be what you think sounds best, so you may want to see whether or not you can get some cables on a "loaner" basis to try out. It is a very crowded field...there are a plethora of cable/interconnect manufacturers, each with their own philosophy on what makes good cable, each having their own price points, and each sounding different from the other.

Cables and interconnects are more important than you might think. If you were to remove all of them from your system, it would be rendered useless. Typically, those that come boxed with the components you buy are quite basic, intended for people who haven't any cables at all. These should be treated the same way you treat that spare "donut" tire in your vehicle's trunk... it does the job temporarily until you can get a new tire on. And when you put that new tire on, you notice the ride, handling, traction, fuel economy, and noise are much improved. Like new tires, but maybe not quite as dramatic, better interconnects allow you to take full advantage of what your equipment can do.

Generally speaking, you should keep your cable/interconnect runs as short as practically possible. Speaker cable should be the same length to each speaker and at least 16 gauge. They should sport durable jackets, be well shielded, and employ high purity copper. Gold-plated connectors will prevent corrosion. When installing your cables, be sure the connections are snug. Keep power cords away from your interconnects, and separate digital and analog interconnects from each other.

These two terms are often confused as they both utilize two pairs of speaker cables that are connected to one speaker.

Bi-amping involves the use of two separate amplifiers however, which deliver separate voltage and current to the bass drivers and midrange/tweeters. To do this, the speakers must have two pairs of binding posts that can be physically separated, usually by removing connecting wires or a metal bridge. This will separate the bass section from the midrange/tweeter section. There are definite sonic advantages to bi-amping that we can't go into great detail here, but damping factor increases and intermodulation distortion goes down.

Bi-wiring requires the same physical separation of the bass and midrange/tweeter circuitry as bi-amping, however, you are only using one amplifier, so both pairs of cables are attached to the positive and negative binding posts on the receiver or power amplifier. In some cases manufacturers have supplied additional binding posts on the receiver or amplifier to help simplify this type of hook up. Bi-wiring has more subtle performance advantages than bi-amping, but it is also less expensive to do than bi-amping.

In order to compare power (in watts) between surround receivers we have to assume that everyone is measuring the power of their amplifier section the same way - which they currently are not. As of the writing of this FAQ, the FTC has not mandated a standard power rating for multichannel receivers and amplifiers, like they did with stereo receivers and amplifiers years ago. The old standard was that a manufacturer must publish its power rating with all channels driven, from 20Hz to 20kHz, into a standard load (8 ohms usually.) This is not happening today, and what we at Rotel would specify as 75 watts per channel, another manufacturer might specify as 120 watts. It depends on how it is measured. Many companies today are rating the power amplifier output by driving only one channel, and often into a lower impedance to show a higher rating. Is this fair? No, but it is being done all the time.

Rotel has been designing, manufacturing, and refining class AB amplifiers for over four decades now. These designs have proven to be extremely reliable and have won many significant awards for their sonic excellence. Part of our reputation is due to the extraordinary amount of attention we devote to the power supply, especially the single most expensive component, the transformer. In order to ensure that this critical element meets or exceeds all of our specifications, we custom build and test all power transformers in-house. For some audio enthusiasts, class AB power amplifiers remain the preferred choice because of their proven performance over several decades.

Many of today's home theater and multi-room audio applications however, require components that not only perform to the highest sonic expectations, but also fit into smaller enclosed spaces such as custom cabinetry or equipment racks built into walls and closets. Electronic components in these close quarters generate a large amount of potentially harmful heat, most of which is generated by traditional analog amplifiers. In this situation, class D amplifiers make the most sense. Whether or not you choose traditional class AB or the newer class D amplifiers, you can be assured that all Rotel amplifiers will provide you with great sound and reliability for all your audio video needs.