When we think of Japanese companies, we usually imagine huge corporate multinationals like Sony, Matsushita or Hitachi. Rotel, on the other hand, is a more compact yet long-established family business with a complex lineage. Founder Tomoki Tachikawa was Taiwanese Japanese, and the company has manufactured in Japan, Taiwan and then China over its sixty-plus years. During this time, it has specialised in making fine sounding products aimed at value-conscious audiophiles.

Apropos of that, Rotel’s new A8 is a slimline Class AB integrated amplifier that’s aimed at two-channel music fans on a budget. It has no fancy fripperies like DACs or streaming boards, just a pair of tone controls, a balance knob and a basic moving magnet phono stage. Its quoted power output of 40W RMS per channel into 4 ohms is modest by modern standards, so you’ll need to partner it with efficient loudspeakers of over 90dB sensitivity for best results.

In the flesh, the Rotel feels spookily timeless. To my eyes, it could easily have been launched in 1995 or any time since – as there’s little that visually ties it to one era or another. Indeed, the black finish of the review sample – silver is also available, by the way – gives a retro touch, as does its spread of analogue fascia knobs and buttons. The brushed aluminium front panel and pressed steel chassis are classic Rotel, too, as is the high-current toroidal transformer that’s been a hallmark of the company’s amps for decades.

Round the back, you get a set of RCA phono connectors for aux, tuner and CD, plus moving magnet phono inputs with a companion earthing point. Also present is an IEC mains socket and reasonably sturdy speaker binding posts. As with many bargain-basement amps, front panel bass, treble and balance controls are fitted; this is because first-time separates buyers tend to fine-tune the sound from their sub-par sources. The bundled infra-red remote control is a proper job with multiple functions. A front panel 6.3mm headphone socket is fitted.

THE LISTENING

The most impressive aspect of Rotel’s A8 is that it never sounds cheap and nasty. True, it’s a long way from a Michi X3 Series 2 at fifteen times the price, but it isn’t on a completely different planet. To all intents and purposes, this budget integrated is a decent performer that doesn’t give away its humble origins. Normally, life in hi-fi’s cheap seats is pretty grim – with entry-level amplifiers sounding either tediously boring or razor-sharp and piercing. Yet this is neither, and instead delivers a surprisingly balanced sound with far more detail and get-up and go than you’d think.

The A8 has no obvious rough edges, then. It is slightly ‘light and bright’ in tonal terms but not excessively so. It has a crisp, dry character that doesn’t flood recordings with warmth and body. Yet, at the same time, you would never say it’s not house-trained, as it refuses to misbehave. The result is that well-recorded progressive rock music like Going For the One by Yes comes across with life and brio but doesn’t screech at you. Singer Jon Anderson’s distinctive high pitched vocals can be a headache with some low rent stereo amps, but do not trouble listeners’ ears here.

Instead, the A8 sounds surprisingly smooth and sophisticated. It lacks bass weight in absolute terms but is taut and tuneful nonetheless. The synth-pop of New Musik’s Churches – played on a Rega Planar 6/Carbon turntable via the built-in phono stage – proves to be great fun, as the Rotel really gets into the groove and shuffles the song along. This track showcases this amp’s decent stereo imaging, too, which is as good as you’ll get at the price – to my ears, at least. Images are accurately rendered, with Tony Mansfield’s vocoded voice sounding clear and vibrant, and the recorded acoustic is surprisingly expansive left-to-right. Depth perspective isn’t so good, but still perfectly acceptable at the price.

The A8’s only question mark is its speaker-driving ability, but that’s fair enough as it never pretends to be a muscle amp. With the volume control close to the 4’o’clock position, it gets breathless when playing muscular modern music like deadmau5 & Kaskade’s I Remember. Via its CD input, and driving a pair of tiny Monitor Audio Radius 90s, this track’s pulsing electronic bass drum sound is hard work for the wee Rotel. Swap in a more efficient pair of floorstanding speakers like Cambridge Audio’s Aero 6 however, and it’s much more at ease.

THE VERDICT

According to Rotel’s Daren Orth, "Our policy of designing and manufacturing all key components in-house has given us the opportunity to sell the A8… to a whole new audience of passionate music fans." Even though I personally am not the company’s target demographic, I still found myself rather charmed by it. An essential audition then, if you’ve got more important things to spend your money on than hi-fi…

Visit Rotel for more information.