Roypercy
Super Member
Hi all:
I recently acquired a Rotel RB-990BX amp along with some other items, from the original owner. The amp is in great cosmetic shape, and he said it worked fine but it was not hooked up and I couldn't audition it. Since the price was right (50 bux) I decided to give it a try.
Hooked up at home with a pair of Minimus 7's and a couple of portable sources (ipod, a cheapo portable CD player I keep around for the purpose) it sounded fine, no hum, no issues at all. When I tried hooking it to the pre-outs on my Hitachi HA-610 integrated, the only unit I currently have with pre-outs, there is a nasty loud hum that won't quit. I tried disconnecting various sources from the Hitachi, tried different interconnects, all to no avail.
Now, the Hitachi is not entirely healthy. It has a protection issue that sometimes (not consistently) causes a loud thump on power-off, and I sometimes have to fiddle with the pre-out/main-in jumpers because one channel will drop out or it'll start humming by itself. Can I assume that the problem is the Hitachi, and not the Rotel? Should I be looking for a decent preamp, or at least a healthier integrated? The Hitachi sounds great when it's all running smoothly, but it was clearly abused in its previous life, the DIN connector on the back was removed by the previous owner for some reason, and I suspect its days in my home may be numbered.
Any thoughts?
I recently acquired a Rotel RB-990BX amp along with some other items, from the original owner. The amp is in great cosmetic shape, and he said it worked fine but it was not hooked up and I couldn't audition it. Since the price was right (50 bux) I decided to give it a try.
Hooked up at home with a pair of Minimus 7's and a couple of portable sources (ipod, a cheapo portable CD player I keep around for the purpose) it sounded fine, no hum, no issues at all. When I tried hooking it to the pre-outs on my Hitachi HA-610 integrated, the only unit I currently have with pre-outs, there is a nasty loud hum that won't quit. I tried disconnecting various sources from the Hitachi, tried different interconnects, all to no avail.
Now, the Hitachi is not entirely healthy. It has a protection issue that sometimes (not consistently) causes a loud thump on power-off, and I sometimes have to fiddle with the pre-out/main-in jumpers because one channel will drop out or it'll start humming by itself. Can I assume that the problem is the Hitachi, and not the Rotel? Should I be looking for a decent preamp, or at least a healthier integrated? The Hitachi sounds great when it's all running smoothly, but it was clearly abused in its previous life, the DIN connector on the back was removed by the previous owner for some reason, and I suspect its days in my home may be numbered.
Any thoughts?
