I'd say the rotel sounds dry

LIcustom,

FYI Rotel IS a Japanese owned company. I bet you thought it was a British owned company as did I.

I have Axiom M60ti floorstanding speaker in all Rotel setup:

Rotel RB-1080 power amp
Rotel RC-1070 pre amp
Rotel RCD-1072 cd player

Rotel is the way to go, way above any mass market brands, it is actually an entry level to high-end equipment. I am happy I went with Rotel in the first place, and will buy Rotel only in my future HT setup...

I think sound is very much a personal preference. What appeals to some ears, may not be so appealing to others. That said I find Harman/Kardon's range of receivers seem to offer the best balance between music sound quality, and home theatre perfomance.
Have a read of some review magazines, decide on your budget, and then narrow your choices down to 3 or 4. Then audition them with a cd and dvd that you are familar with.
I did it this way, and came away with a Harman/kardon AVR8500. It just seems to offer a much warmer, detailed sound, plus that effortless power delivery. The AVR8500 has now been superceded, but the new AVR7300 and AVR635 are getting rave reviews, and the lower cost units also seem to offer alot. Remember when your talking Harman products your benefiting from a company that also make's Lexicon (hence the appearance of Logic 7 on Harman's receivers) amongst other hi-end equipment. My next choices after the Harman/Kardon I ended up getting were Rotel and NAD, which weren't far behind, with Harman just offering a little more in sound quality.
Anyway just remember to research your purchase first, and go into the store's with an open mind, as each store will be pushing different products.

Goodluck

This message was edited by wilso17aus on 07/02/05 04:55 ET.