![]() Also, in keeping with the back-to-basics theme is the lack of a remote control. Rotel's Chief Technology Officer Daren Orth told me that, “processing audio is entirely in the analogue domain” for maximum performance at its price point. The lack of digital inputs is quite deliberate. Thankfully this is located on the front fascia, where it's nice and easy to access. There's even a moving magnet phono stage (2.5mV sensitivity), which is a handy thing to have these days, plus a 3.5mm line input that suits many mobile devices. Whereas that old RA 820 had just a few inputs, this has seven – as befitting our brave new world of multiple sources. Indeed it appears very well screwed together and has a lovely finish at the price – which comes in a choice of silver or black. With no gimmicks, fripperies, DACs or streaming functionality, the emphasis is very much on offering the highest sound-per-dollar ratio, so says the company… The (AUD) $719 Rotel A10 you see here embodies this very tradition – a simple, slimline Class AB integrated putting out a claimed 40W RMS per channel into 8 ohms, with just enough facilities to get the job done. Its mid-eighties successor, the RA 820BX, took the formula further still – with fewer facilities and specially selected components. This was a stripped-down, no-frills entry-level product that proved a great success, even up against the class-of-the-field NAD 3020. ![]() But then, in the early eighties, it surprised the hi-fi world by launching the neat, slimline RA 820. Rotel spent most of the nineteen seventies making large, brash, gadget-festooned integrated amplifiers that were totally in keeping with the spirit of the age.
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