This Affordable, Old-School Amplifier Harnesses 60 Years of Hi-Fi Heritage

If there is one “frill,” it’s that it does have a 3.5mm jack and can work as a dedicated headphone amplifier, so you can put on your favorite wired cans and listen to your records in private.

High Performance, Low Cost

With the A8, Rotel is leveraging over 60 years of expertise in making high-end audio and home theater components. According to Daren Orth, Rotel’s Chief Technology Officer, the A8 is “a high-performance integrated amplifier solution targeted at an entry-level price point.”

One of the things that has enabled Rotel to keep the price down is that it’s very much a low-power integrated amplifier. It has a Class A/B design and can drive 30 watts per channel (into 8 ohms) or 40 watts per channel (into 4 ohms) — it’s a good match for most of today’s efficient and affordable bookshelf speakers.

The A8 is a fairly bespoke integrated amplifier — designed to look clean and be dead simple to use. It has a slim 60mm chassis, control dials (bass, treble and balance) for tuning the sound, and four input buttons for switching between your analog sources. There are LED lights integrated into the volume knob to add a bit of flair.

Rotel