So yesterday morning I am napping on the couch, recovering from being sick nearly all week, when my fiancé awakes me with her ipad in hand, opened to an estate sale listing. "I'm sure this will interest you" she says. I look and see a stack of goodies, with an older Bryston(!!!) amp on the bottom shelf! Other pics show Arcam, Rotel, and 800-series B&W towers and center surrounding a TV. I groan and exclaim "why did you have to show me this!?" knowing I should be napping. I hop in the shower, get dressed, and we are on our way. The sale started yesterday, so I know my chances are very slim...
We arrive and they are handing out tickets, which will be used during the "half off" time, which starts in about 20 minutes (snooty town and big house = rules at an estate sale LOL). After some waiting around and doing my best to not infect too many strangers, we are finally let in. Amp and speakers are long gone. Big-ass Arcam HT receiver listed for $800... a painful price for me even at half off, and not really my thing. An old, marble-base Velodyne behind the TV... do I *really* need a sub in the spare room of our condo? I sigh and continue through the house.
We make our way to the basement.
I see an small, older-looking stereo setup on a shelf. Closer inspection shows the real item of my interest is a Rotel RB-980bx. I whip up the manual on my phone while I hook it up to the other gear. I was able to test with radio static/volume on each channel, and the manual listed the power as 120w @ 8ohms, and a peak power as 220w @ 4ohms. Also bridgeable to a 360w 8ohm mono amp!! Listed at $200... but today is half off day!
"I'll take it!" *cough cough hack hack*
I bring the amp home and give it a good dusting. Other than a single tiny chip in one corner and a few hard-to-see water marks on the face, the amp is in perfect shape. The Rotel replaced my 4 channel Adcom GFA-2535. Listed at 90w @ 4ohms, I was using it to bi-amp my Polk LSi25's. Although I lost the true bi-amp, the Rotel does give out a lot more sound. Listening levels on all sources are noticeably lower now on the volume level, and so far the sound seems to open up more at higher levels... but I haven't given it a *proper* workout yet.
Also, fiancé approved! She said the more subtle looks of the Rotel make it look "less old", and remarked that it did sound better, "more 'oomph'y". I am now tempted to insert the Adcom into system #2, which includes 95db/4ohm Mission Argonauts. I feel like this would be a lovely match. Also, my power-hungry LSi's seem to have really responded well to higher power, more-so than I would have guessed!
We arrive and they are handing out tickets, which will be used during the "half off" time, which starts in about 20 minutes (snooty town and big house = rules at an estate sale LOL). After some waiting around and doing my best to not infect too many strangers, we are finally let in. Amp and speakers are long gone. Big-ass Arcam HT receiver listed for $800... a painful price for me even at half off, and not really my thing. An old, marble-base Velodyne behind the TV... do I *really* need a sub in the spare room of our condo? I sigh and continue through the house.
We make our way to the basement.
I see an small, older-looking stereo setup on a shelf. Closer inspection shows the real item of my interest is a Rotel RB-980bx. I whip up the manual on my phone while I hook it up to the other gear. I was able to test with radio static/volume on each channel, and the manual listed the power as 120w @ 8ohms, and a peak power as 220w @ 4ohms. Also bridgeable to a 360w 8ohm mono amp!! Listed at $200... but today is half off day!
"I'll take it!" *cough cough hack hack*
I bring the amp home and give it a good dusting. Other than a single tiny chip in one corner and a few hard-to-see water marks on the face, the amp is in perfect shape. The Rotel replaced my 4 channel Adcom GFA-2535. Listed at 90w @ 4ohms, I was using it to bi-amp my Polk LSi25's. Although I lost the true bi-amp, the Rotel does give out a lot more sound. Listening levels on all sources are noticeably lower now on the volume level, and so far the sound seems to open up more at higher levels... but I haven't given it a *proper* workout yet.
Also, fiancé approved! She said the more subtle looks of the Rotel make it look "less old", and remarked that it did sound better, "more 'oomph'y". I am now tempted to insert the Adcom into system #2, which includes 95db/4ohm Mission Argonauts. I feel like this would be a lovely match. Also, my power-hungry LSi's seem to have really responded well to higher power, more-so than I would have guessed!
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From your pic, it looks like that is where it was destined to be when it left the factory.