There is plenty to love about Rotel. That's why we are taking the time to write this blog for you, as an insight into what makes the brand tick.

Below, we will explain why the Rotel story is so unique; giving you some interesting facts you may not have known.

Tomoki Tachikawa    &    Peter Kao

01. FAMILY OWNED

No small feat in this day and age, Rotel is still privately-owned by the original family that founded it in the 1960s. The current owner, Peter Kao, is the great-grand nephew of the company's original founder, Mr. Tachikawa (also known as 'Tac').

Because of this unique family heritage, upholding Rotel's reputation is a very personal passion for our brand. 

The famous Rotel toroidal transformer

02. THE TOROIDAL POWER SUPPLY

Renowned for their ability to power speakers that are difficult to drive, Rotel amplifiers have a fantastic reputation. One of our key selling points is the fact there is a stunningly low failure rate of the on-board toroidal power supply. Daren Orth, Chief Technology Officer at Rotel, attributes this reliability to the fact Rotel are one of very few companies to still build their transformers in-house, guaranteeing the manufacturing process from the get-go. 

Because of this, at Rotel, we can be certain of the purity of steel & copper materials as well as the number of windings that each power supply receives, ensuring that these transformer are in fact, over-engineered.

Marketing, design, logistics, production & warehousing all live under one company owned roof.

03. ZERO OUTSOURCING

Extremely rare in this industry, the Rotel headquarters house all aspects of the brand in one place. The company-owned building facilitates the entire gamut of company employees and production - from the CTO and CEO through to the marketing team, production-line technicians and warehousing.

The Rotel company is well-known as a family run business in the most fundamental definition of the phrase. Fostering a collaborative environment where everyone's ideas are heard, and the entire company can work seamlessly under one roof as one greater team.

 

FUN FACT: Each and every Rotel amplifier and component is hand assembled and stress-tested in-house by a small, dedicated team of skilled technicians.

 

Components from within a Rotel designed product

04. BALANCED DESIGN CONCEPT

Emblazoned on the box of every unit, Balanced Design Concept is the founding principle behind every Rotel product design. Famously, Rotel pride themselves in removing unnecessary fluff from their products, instead opting to make informed choices on each and every internal component.

Rotel have found the balance of spending money where it matters most. In turn saving the customer by giving them performance that is not usually attainable at the price point.

This is based on how each component's acoustic characteristics marry within the signal chain, rather than how cheaply something can be produced, or at the other end of the spectrum, spending money on the most expensive of everything.

The Balanced Design Concept is the embodiment of audio performance, sleek design and exceptional value, combined.

Inside the Michi P5 preamplifier

05. ACOUSTIC SIGNATURE

The acoustic signature of the Rotel brand is thanks to a hand-picked international team of Japanese and UK based sound designers.

Acoustic choices like capacitors, resistors and their PCB placement are meticulously scrutinised by the team, with each new product receiving up to a years worth of conception tests before hitting it's official production run.

FUN FACT: Rotel amplifiers are voiced using Bowers & Wilkins speakers, likewise B&W speakers are voiced using Rotel amplification.