During my 30 day trial period of the CIA D-200 I also bought a pair of Rotel 1091 amps from the Home Theater Store. Someone might be interested in why I kept the D-200s and returned the Rotels.
Well, the D-200s sound better, are constructed better, look better (IMO), need less space, and cost less.
I was having a hard time before to find the right words to express why they sound better. I still do. I might as well repeat what I wrote earlier. Below is an excerpt of an email I sent to Dusty after I had returned the Rotels.
"This has been an interesting week. I bought a pair of Rotel 1091s because I felt I really needed to experience an ICEpower 1000ASP based design first hand, considering those rave reviews. The Home Theater Store have a 7 day return policy. Which I used, and the Rotels went back today. (I told them I was evaluating before I bought, with a 50-50 chance of the amps coming back. They had no problems with that, and gave me no grief at all today when I returned the amps. I'll be back there if I need something they carry.)
The Rotels are nice amps, but at one grand more (due to sales tax) they did nothing better than your D-200s. On the other hand the D-200s give me a feeling of excitement and enjoyment the Rotels simply could not provide. If Rotel sold two 1091s for the price of one, the price/performance ratio would be more adequate. But if it is true that the D-100 are D-200s with less power, your amps would still be the better choice.
So, the D-200s are keepers."
The next quote is from something I posted over at the Martin Logan club:
The Rotels "are probably great for HT. Listened to on their own they are nice amps for stereo, too. However, the D-200s involve me in a way the 1091s can not. They did not call to me from the other room like the D-200s. They do not tie me to the listening chair the same way the D200s do. When I listened to the Rotels I wondered what I was missing. Switching over to the CIAs it was then clear that something had been missing although it was not clear what. Switching back to Rotel and listening to the same record then showed that what had been missing before was now found, but not quite right. This happened all the time. The CIA showed me something which I could then find in the Rotels, too, but not as complete.
The two amps do sound so similar at the surface, but the D-200s let me enjoy the music and unwind. Listening to the 1091s was not as rewarding, nor as relaxing. It is hard to describe. It took about 3 minutes each time I switched from one pair of amps to the other. My acoustic memory does not seem to be very accurate. I'd make a poor reviewer. When pressed I'd say that (a) I'm making all this up subconsciously because the CIAs are cheaper and I could use the 1k price difference towards Vantages etc., or (b) I really tried to like the Rotels but they just left me cold. The D200s sound more natural, are more transparent in the highs without being any brighter, have a more vibrant midrange that seems to load the room more, and a more contoured bass. They have slam and kick and an in-phase-ness the Rotels lack. (c) A bit of both.
Anyway, the D200s stay. I can go back to listening without having to try to be analytical, or feeling guilty for listening to the CIAs when I should be evaluating the Rotels."
Is there anyone else here with a similar experience?
