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Rotel Amplifier Fan Club

The Gryphon

The Gryphon

New Member
I notice that Rotel amps are not have their merits discussed here on AK .....so I thought it was time to start a thread

I run a Rotem RC 960 BX pre amp and two mono block RB 850 ( bridged ) and have done for around 25 years

I love the sound , it is clear detailed and very neutral to my ears, the bass is very extended and they never clip .I rarely have to turn them up beyond 1/4 volume and the amps will drive almost any speaker well....

Any more Rotel fans out there ?
 
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opposite end of the spectrum, but I am listening to an RX-830 right now, it's my desk system at work with some Canton Plus S.
 
I've got a pair of RB-850 bridged powering my Philips FB-821. Love these amps. Lot's of power and lots of overhead. Never open them up more then 1/4 and always full sound, even at very low volumes.
 
Bit of an oddball ....
I have connected my Rega Planar 2 to a Rotel RC-850 Stereo Control Amp and the line level output from there straight to my active Bang & Olufsen Beolab 8000s. Mighty pleased with the result. Crystal clear sound with a nice, balanced tonality. Slightly low on bass when listening at lower volumes but that is a known shortage with the Beolabs. They work best with a sub-woofer installed. Not sure how I can bring a sub-woofer into this mix. Any suggestions?
 
I run a RB-976MkII 6 channel power amp. This is, as some here will already know, the power amp for a 2 channel 3-way active system. I also still have a RB-976Mk1 which the Mk 2 replaced. I have modified the power supplies (upgraded) and also done a few mods on the power amp driver circuits. Tremendous amplifier. Crisp clear and very revealing. It's never shown any sign of struggling with anything.
By the way, the RMB1066 (which some reviewers though was better than the 976) is actually identical internally - which presumably is why there is no service manual for it.
 
keeping this old thread going... hehe.
In the living room I have an RMB-100 powering two center channel speakers,
two RB-970BX's bridged mono for the front left and right channels, and another RB-970BX powering the surrounds.
Pre amp is the RTC-965. I like it.
In my "studio", I have an RB-970BX, RTC-970 preamp , RCD-865BX cd player, RD-965BX tape deck.
 
I was a receiver person for 30 some years until a few years ago moving to separates.
First amp I bought was a Rotel RB-990BX. Quite happy with it and it powers my power (current?) hungry Infinity's just fine.
The Rotel shares main system time with a Crown XLS 2000 model.
Old school class a/b vs class D.
 
I'll join the club. I had my RA-870BX powering my B&W DM601 S3s for a number of years. They sounded great together. Then I got a RB-981 for nothing and am using the RA-870BX as a pre-amp. Even better. Now I have some new B&W 606s and am thinking of getting a proper matching preamp (RC-972 perhaps) for the RB-981, and moving the DM601s and RA-870BX into my office. That said, the 870BX functions very well as a pre-amp. I don't know how much of an upgrade I'd be getting.
 
I have an RB-1080 that has been running as main then doing bottom duty in a biamped config, now bck to full frequency.

It sounds great when it sounds great. Other times it can be a bit "hot" sounding, but that might be related to the actual source as I haven't put in the effort to sort that out.

I plan on keeping it on the bottom end once I sort out my final selection for mid/tweet duty.
 
Hi ! a Rotel owner here ... small integrateds.
  • RA 930ax ... clean sounding ... destroyed in the attempt of upgrading its power supply
  • RA 840bx2 ... good clean powerful sound Working
  • RA 960bx i... its power supply has decided me to buy it. I should receive it soon.
Regarding the last one on Youtube there is a company suggesting to replace the base plate of the cabinet with a slab of MDF with holes for ventilation.
The original one is in plastic and tends to vibrate.
It makes sense to me

436023-rotel_ra960bx_integrated_amp__simply_a_great_sound_.jpg
 
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A humble Rotel RA-820 with a pair of Monitor Audio Monitor 9's. Sounds amazing, I feel like sound stage is super wide, clean and clear when listening to my favorite Jazz albums.
 
I ran a Rotel RB-990BX in my main system for several years. With the right preamp it sounded amazing. When we moved I realized I just didn't need that much power and I wanted to reduce the footprint of my system, so i went with a receiver rather than separates. But the Rotel was darned nice. The only issue I ever had is that it had output fuses that were oversensitive and would blow easily if I inadvertently turned off the preamp before the amp (when I was using a NAD preamp without a protection circuit).
 
Roypercy said:
I ran a Rotel RB-990BX in my main system for several years. With the right preamp it sounded amazing. When we moved I realized I just didn't need that much power and I wanted to reduce the footprint of my system, so i went with a receiver rather than separates. But the Rotel was darned nice. The only issue I ever had is that it had output fuses that were oversensitive and would blow easily if I inadvertently turned off the preamp before the amp (when I was using a NAD preamp without a protection circuit).
Click to expand...
Have you seen these reviews?
https://www.rotel.com/sites/default/files/RB-990BX Audiophile Voice.pdf
https://www.rotel.com/sites/default/files/RB-990BX Audio Critic 93.pdf
Both mention fuse issues...
That said, the RB-990BX is a high current amp that I use with my Infinity RS II's, which drop down to around 2 ohms. No issues at all.
Haven't blown any fuses in my RB-990BX but I don't "give 'er hell" like I did my systems back in the day.
 
Roypercy said:
The only issue I ever had is that it had output fuses that were oversensitive and would blow easily if I inadvertently turned off the preamp before the amp (when I was using a NAD preamp without a protection circuit).
Click to expand...

I was just reading about this today in another forum. Someone suggested to add a 22ohm resistor to the base of all the output transistors to dampen the stray oscillation. Apparently this was done in the subsequent model RB-1582MKII.

upload_2022-1-27_22-51-18.png
 
hy,
I have a Rotel RA-960BX and B&W 302 Speakers, and with this combo this speakers sound reali fantastic, but amp is reali hot, I can hold my hand on it but it is really hot, not to the extent that it would burn me, but as far as I've studied, this is normal for this model.

If anyone has a solution for the problem with the balance knob not working correctly, when I turn it to one side it starts to decrease the volume on that side that I want to decrease, and when I turn it to the other side it starts to increase the volume on that side that I should be reducing.
I sprayed it with contact spray, but it doesn't help.

Thank you very much!!!
 
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