Rotel RA-05 SE Amplifier
The amplifier is assembled in a slim-case with a height of 7 centimeters. On the front panel, in addition to the mandatory attributes - volume knobs and input selector, there are treble / bass and balance controls, as well as a Tape / Source recording switch. There is a bypass of the tone block and load control in the Off/A/B/A+B modes. Of the additional amenities, it is worth noting the ability to listen to music through headphones with a 6.3 mm plug. The device is clearly designed for listeners of different generations - a mini-jack socket for an mp3 player on the front panel is combined with a built-in phono stage. The paradox is that both of them are an urgent requirement of the present time. There are other features that a modern amplifier cannot do without - a 12-volt trigger and a pre-section output. If you connect an additional power amplifier to the latter, you can sound a room of a much larger area. This is not an extra precaution, since the power of the RA-05 SE is not too high - 2 x 40 watts.
Included with the amplifier is a full-size RR-AT94 remote control, also designed to work with tuners and Rotel 06 series CD players.
Now for the benefits of the Special Edition. All components for this version are more strictly selected, and some of them are ordered specifically. These are primarily low-noise metal-film resistors manufactured in the USA and a handmade toroidal transformer. It says "Custom designed and manufactured by Rotel" on it. A pair of Nichicon 6800 uF x 63 V capacitors is used as a smoothing filter. 100-watt 2SD1047 / 2SB817 complementary transistors mounted on a milled heat sink are responsible for power amplification of the signal. The phono stage is based on the low-noise operational amplifier NE5532A. The amplifier is built on a motherboard with symmetrical wiring, it is optimized to make the signal path as short as possible.
The new amplifier does not need a long warm-up to get the sound back to normal, it only needs half an hour of operation at a slightly above average volume. To be honest, I thought forty watts would be not enough for our not too sensitive Monitor Audio, but the fears turned out to be in vain. Classical music is interpreted by the amplifier absolutely freely, without bandwidth or dynamic range limitations. Only at the peaks of orchestral tutti do the timbres become somewhat harder, which indicates an increase in non-linear distortions. The timbre resolution is quite adequate for a device of this price. Individual instruments are perfectly distinguishable, the spectrum of brass and percussion is correctly transmitted. The top is bright, sparkling, but sometimes with a characteristic "transistor" color. However, it is possible to completely get rid of it only in amplifiers with a four-digit dollar price tag, and even then not always.
The lower case will surely please fans of rock music - the bass is tight, powerful, with a good infra-low component. And with sensitive acoustics, about 90 - 91 dB, the sound will be no worse than a concert one. Apparently, the amplifier has an optimal damping factor - the speaker cones are controlled confidently, but what is especially valuable, the sound is not "dry" due to overdamping. In general, the RA-05 SE has a very lively, sometimes even unbridled (in a good way) character, which immediately attracts the listener.
The tone block works correctly within ±5 dB, with deeper adjustments, obviously due to phase shifts, the scene flattens out, and the localization of imaginary sources is lost. So it's best - and this applies to all amplifiers - to listen with equalization turned off. The only point is that the RA-05 SE allows you to cool down the bass and thereby avoid problems in a room with poor acoustic properties.
