Special Editions – Rotel Electronics of Japan launch special editions of their A11 integrated amplifier [$799] and CD11 CD player [$599] as tributes to their collaboration with the late Ken Ishiwata. The A11 and CD11 were two of his favorite products. He was widely admired for his ability to identify the best products for modifications to take their performance to new levels with often just a modest price increase. For these two models Ishiwata offered an initial appraisal to Rotel's engineering team but sadly passed away before his mods could be completed. In his memory, Rotel worked to finish them. The 50wpc integrated upgrades 10 caps and two resistors in the output stage and over 50% of the parts in its preamp section. The machine still has an MM phono stage, TI 24/193 DAC, apt-X and AAC Bluetooth, 4 line-level inputs and remote control. The matching CD player benefits from similar parts upgrades and offers a coaxial output to double as pure transport if desired. Both are available in black or silver.
