This year's big story is the resurrection of Rotel as a major force in the amplifier category of the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2024. The Marantz PM6007 has been a serial winner of our budget amplifier Best Buy since 2020, and it looked primed to keep up that formidable winning streak until the late arrival of the new Rotel A8 (£399/ $449/AU$649) changed things.
Don’t get us wrong, the A8 isn’t a radical product in any way, but much like the company’s great affordable amplifiers of the early noughties, its simplicity is the key to its success. The Rotel focuses its limited budget on getting the fundamentals right. The A8 isn’t luxurious but is solidly made and assembled with care.
There are no digital inputs; including them would have detracted from the quality of the analogue circuitry, and Rotel didn’t want to do that. Instead, there are three line-level inputs, a decent moving-magnet phono stage and a headphone output. Sure, that's hardly a lavish array of connectivity, but it's acceptable for the kinds of systems this amplifier is likely to be found in. The A8's 30 watts per channel claimed power output is modest too, but there is enough grunt here to drive a surprisingly wide range of speakers.
Then there is its sound, which is clear, balanced and as precise and insightful as they come at this price, leaving the otherwise excellent Marantz PM6007 sounding a little soft and blurred in comparison. This isn’t a showy amplifier, preferring to leave the spotlight on the recording and the music.
Elsewhere, Arcam continues its dominance at next-level price points with the exceptional A5 (£749/$699 /AU$1495) and A15 (£1099/$999/AU$1995) integrated amplifiers, retaining the Best Buy status they gained last year. These are beautifully made, sensibly equipped and have the kind of sound that wouldn’t be out of place a couple of price classes above where they sit. The A15, in particular, is surprisingly capable when partnered with far more premium sources and speakers.
Move up the price points and we have repeat wins for the Naim Nait XS3 (£2499/$3999 /AU$5450) and the mighty Rega Aethos (£3300/$5395 /AU$6999), too. Both of these integrateds are exceptional performers at their price and talented enough across the board to be at the heart of some truly capable systems.
MORE:
See the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2024 winners in every category
Which amplifier will be our Product of the Year? All will be revealed in November
The longer list of the best stereo amplifiers you can buy
