General Asylum: Review of Tuners: Cambridge T500 vs Rotel RT02 by Frank Hardly

I've been going through some audio frustration over the past 3 weeks. I got a great deal on a Cambridge tuner to finish off my system. The last unit the dealer had was a floor model that they claimed they never hooked up. Took it home an went through purgatory hooking the damn thing up through my less than ideal audio cabinet. Turned it on hoping to hear the dulcet sounds of CBC Radio 2. Deadsville. Went back and got my money back. Went to another dealer and got a non-floor model (although it was black and I hoped for silver). Worked fine when I hooked it up. After an hour deadsville on the display except for a green background. Disconnected and tried in other outlets. Seemed to work again and then die after being on for an hour. Seems quality control is missing for Cambridge Audio. Fortunately the second dealer I bought from also carries Rotel. Paid $60 more for the RT-02. Styling is more up to date and I got silver. Also the pre-programming is way more intuitive than the Cambridge. The real shock came when I turned the thing on. The sound was near CD quality whereas the Cambridge sounded like a tuner - not alot of depth and that hard to pin down quality of sound stage. I ran both units with a cable hookup through a Parasound surge protector. In simple terms the Rotel sounds Hifi while the Cambridge sounded average. The display on the Rotel also features an on air station signature that is handy along with lots of pre-set buttons, while the Cambridge relies on a strange jog dial to tune in pre-sets. The Rotel is a keeper as far as lower priced separate tuners are concerned. I haven't seen any formal reviews on the new Rotel tuner while the amp and CD player have had lots of favourable reviews. It seems the good aspects also spill over into the tuner design. (ps my system is a Unico integrated with Totem Hawk speakers, Qnext 1 interconnect and Wireworld Orbit speaker cables.)