Rotel Michi – behind the scenes of the “mad science project” and the rebirth of the hi-fi legend
Back in 1993, Rotel gave its engineers the license to be wild and design an uncompromising range of hi-fi electronics that was above and beyond anything the brand was offering at the time.
This line is known as Michi. The Japanese “way” or “way”, Michi was originally intended for the Japanese domestic market, but beyond all expectations, it went worldwide.
According to Daren Orth, CTO of Rotel, the range “added technology and raised the bar above the standard Rotel products of the time. It elevated the brand to premium hi-fi – and then it disappeared.”
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Why, you might ask? Daren continues, “The Michi technology introduced in the 1990s was quickly incorporated into Rotel products and this was compounded by the challenges of redwood side panels on Michi machined parts. Hence, the short product life”.
After a 26-year hiatus, the brand returned to the scene in 2019. And, seven years later, it’s fair to say that Michi is back in business and looking to grow.
And What Is Hi-Fi? invited to experience the new range in person at Rotel’s headquarters in Zhuhai, China (the company was originally founded in Japan but has moved several times over the years).
While there, I sat down with Daren to discuss the road to Michi’s revival and how he sees the brand evolving in the future…
Pushing the boundaries
I start by asking Daren what was the catalyst for bringing Michi back…
“In 2016 I started a project with my engineering team – just a conversation: how do we do something better? Is there a better platform, a better set of technologies, is there something we should look at and consider doing?
“There was no product, no, no name, no series, no price, it was an internal skunkworks project. I told them to look at DACs, look at things, power supply technology… They just started engineering, and there were no limits – it wasn’t like ‘I need a distortion of xyx’, it was better let’s do something.”
“So they spent the next two years in R&D and engineering, prototype boards — they had three different manufacturers of DACs, five different DACs on the boards, swapping them, measuring them, listening, and working with them. It was kind of a mad science project.
“The engineers were doing their day jobs, but finally it felt like we had found something.
“It was cool – and expensive, because there were no limits. And now it was a matter of what are we going to do with it? Obviously, there was no plan, but we wanted to know how far we could push our limits. We weren’t trying to compare ourselves to anyone else.
“Inside it was called Rotel’s 30 Series because we have 14 Series, we have 15 Series.
“We went to the UK and hired a design company and said, ‘Look, we built this, what are we going to do with it?’ So we spent two years working with them on design and replication and looking at heritage and history, trying to make it beautiful but clean and simple.”
And it wasn’t cheap. Daren explains, “This was millions of dollars in tools and investment and prototypes and samples.”
He says it was six months before they released the trigger on the 30 Series – the brand still says Rotel on the front – and then the penny dropped.
“We realized that we did what the engineers did 35 years ago. So it had to be Michi. So we started everything over and had to revise all the documents.”
Daren thought his team was onto something, but there were still questions that needed to be answered. How many would they sell? He felt there was a market, but he was also nervous about how it would be received and that it would be considered a price point too far for Rotel.
He didn’t need to worry. “We brought this to Amsterdam in 2019 in a private suite. We had a P5/S5 (pre- and power-amps), and we had a mono block, and it was a true moment. I had just spent three years, and a lot of our owner’s money to build this and put it up there on the plinth. So we brought the vendors in, and they were amazed.
It started and, in Daren’s words, “took off”. “Then it was a matter of what to do next, so we went back and spent the next 18 months building the X3 and X5 integrated amps.”
It turned out that Michi had found himself in a very sweet spot. “We launched series 2 (of Michi) two years after launching the original, then we launched the Q5, which we just released last year. It was very scary because who launches a $5000/$6000 CD player? But it was well received.”
Indeed, our review of the Rotel Michi Q5 concludes that it is “well made and delivers a tempting combination of insight, power and fun”.
What is a Michi roof?
I ask Daren how far he thinks Michi might go, especially when you see the prices of some of the top hi-fi demands.
“If you had asked me that last year, I would have said I think we are there. I asked this year, and I think it’s still 25%, some more than that.”
Daren seems afraid to set his sights too high, but he shows confidence in what Michi can bring, too. “I think we have a $14,999 product, and I think we can do it.
Come back in three years, and I’ll want to say the ceiling is $19,000. But it’s that step where you want to add value, but you don’t want to be so eccentric that it becomes absurd. That is disrespectful, I think, to this brand.”
But it’s not all about being expensive, as Daren continues. “I think there’s an opportunity to elevate and elevate Michi, but I also think there’s an equal and greater opportunity to reach a less accessible audience.”
Where does Michi Prestige fit in?
And this, it seems, is the thought process behind its new Michi Prestige series, a new range of more affordable Michi components priced between £3599 / €3999 / $3999 and £4499 / €4999 / $4999 that sits above Rotel’s 15 Series.
It sounds like a potential recipe for conflict between the two brands – but Daren has clearly thought this through.
“This was dangerous. If we do this wrong, we have a big problem because I’ve alienated the Michi customers I have today. We want that second life market that doesn’t want to get into that expensive Michi range.”
So what did they do with the Prestige Series in terms of design, engineering and sound?
“It’s a little bit different from the usual Rotel, the bent, painted steel, the way it’s folded – these are standard assembly techniques.”
After seeing the new Prestige Series in the flesh, I can confirm that it has a very different and superior look and feel compared to Rotel’s current range.
Daren says: “There was a lot of discussion. Are we just using Michi parts? Are they the best parts?
“We didn’t have the same budget, but the engineering team looked at it, challenged themselves at every level and said how do we tune this to be a 2026 model and not just a 2019 refresh on a different chassis.
“So there was a little bit of work involved, but we think you get the same purity of Michi and the same feeling as Michi.”
It’s not all smooth sailing, however – the Q430 runs slightly behind the X430, and Daren explains why.
“This is my fault. I was here in December, and we were listening for the last time. I said that sounds really good; but I want it to sound good. So we hit the reset button and installed the whole product. We updated it with a different DAC, electronics and a different structure.
“We were getting ready to build it in three weeks, but we said we need to stop and rebuild the entire product.”
Daren is confident they made the right call, “Now it’s running strong, incredibly.”
He also said that the retesting did not change the price of the Q430, but added costs to it. If the new Prestige Series can have as much impact as its more expensive siblings, it will be money well spent.
MORE:
Rotel’s Michi Prestige Series hi-fi electronics starts with a stereo amplifier and CD player
Hands on: Rotel Michi Prestige X430/Q430 review
Read our full Rotel Michi X3 review and ours Mickey Q5 review
