rotel rsdx02 and B&W VM1's

[ericc]

http://www.rotel.com/products/specs/rsdx02.htm


Any thoughts on this product? A local HT store is offering this receiver and a set of B&W VM1's with the sub for $2000.. Is this a good deal? What about the quality of the speakers?

[topspeed]

Wow, I didn't realize Rotel made such an animal. Interesting. The problem with combo units like this is what happens if the dvd player breaks? Now you're SOL because you have to send the whole thing back for repairs. Also, the more junk manufacturers try to squeeze under the same hood, the more wary I become. Something, somewhere is going to give. Now, Rotel is one of the better manufacturers out there and generally offer a lot of bang for the buck. Still, I'd rather have a separate receiver and DVD player than be wedded to this thing.

As for the speakers, I've never heard of VM1's. Are you sure they weren't CM2's or FPM's? If you could give us a breakdown of what the dealer want's to charge for each, we'd have a better shot of telling whether or not you're getting a fair price. Also, whatever the speakers may be, make sure you listen to them first and compare them to others. A "good deal" isn't very good if you find better sound can be had.

Good luck

[ericc]

Link from B&W http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.models/label/Model%20VM1

The rotel has a 5 yr warranty. As for the speakers he qutoted me $200 each and $250 for the sub.






Wow, I didn't realize Rotel made such an animal. Interesting. The problem with combo units like this is what happens if the dvd player breaks? Now you're SOL because you have to send the whole thing back for repairs. Also, the more junk manufacturers try to squeeze under the same hood, the more wary I become. Something, somewhere is going to give. Now, Rotel is one of the better manufacturers out there and generally offer a lot of bang for the buck. Still, I'd rather have a separate receiver and DVD player than be wedded to this thing.

As for the speakers, I've never heard of VM1's. Are you sure they weren't CM2's or FPM's? If you could give us a breakdown of what the dealer want's to charge for each, we'd have a better shot of telling whether or not you're getting a fair price. Also, whatever the speakers may be, make sure you listen to them first and compare them to others. A "good deal" isn't very good if you find better sound can be had.

Good luck

[topspeed]

Thanks for the link. I always thought the LM's were computer speakers which is why I was thrown off. My bad.

My first question would be "How does it sound to you?" $650 for two standmounts plus a sub (does that price included stands btw?) seems reasonable, although I have to seriously question how good a $250 sub could be. If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. At this price though, I'd be looking mighty hard at a pair of used Von Schweikert VR1's instead. These speakers equal, and in some respects exceed, the abilities of my B&W CDM 1NT's, which aren't exactly slouches. They won't have the bass a sub/sat system will but I can attest to their ability to play confidently down to 40hz, which should be enough for most music. Just another option...
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1099105383
http://vonschweikert.com/vr1.html

As I said, Rotel is a good company. However, at the prices you're quoting, that's a $1350 receiver combo. Hmmm, I'm not so sure about that one. You could pick up a Denon 3805 w/ 125watts X 7 & auto room eq, pair it with a 2200 universal player and have a very competent hi-rez system that also sports state of the art video processing.