The reliability is a good point. The things never seem to go wrong or go off. Even really old ones sound fine and work perfectly.
The best of Rotel amplifiers
- Thread starter mandryka
- Start date
The reliability is a good point. The things never seem to go wrong or go off. Even really old ones sound fine and work perfectly.
Tim Jones
pfm Member
Yes, essentially. Also anything with an "AX" suffix is a bit more budget than something with a "BX" suffix.
Not tried the matching Pre James,
Had read reviews of the combo where it said they felt the Pre let the side down a bit, and you could eek more out of the power amp with a better pre.
Didn't let the team down with my PS Audio BHK pre put it that way.
When my mate wanted me to upgrade his system for him (70s budget Rotel tt and NAD 3020B) I set him up with a Pro-Ject 2Xpression, an RC870 & pair of RB871s which he runs, bridged into KEF Q55s. He is chuffed to bits with the sound, it also surprised me. The 3 amps only cost £300 in total.
Since finding out how good they are for the money I've picked up an RB06 which I use as a summer amp in my main rig as the 845 monos kick out to much heat to enjoy long listening sessions. I would say the RB06 gives me 80% of the IA monos performance, which is, damn good for something that cost me £140 delivered.
Since finding out how good they are for the money I've picked up an RB06 which I use as a summer amp in my main rig as the 845 monos kick out to much heat to enjoy long listening sessions. I would say the RB06 gives me 80% of the IA monos performance, which is, damn good for something that cost me £140 delivered.
The Bish
pfm Member
Rotel is aimed at the midrange of HiFi, the sweet spot, but the Michi stuff is very much “high end”, in price as well as performance. I know a happy RHB-10 owner, a true statement amp. Interestingly came with a matching passive pre, quite rare in the 90s.
http://www.thevintageknob.org/rotel-RHB-10.html
Super amp that and lovely looking. Had the passive pre for a while which was a really well engineered and great sounding big empty box!
Bob Edwards
pfm Member
Rotel, to me, is similar to Honda's cars.
Rotel is, in my experience at least, the most reliable of the entry level high end brands and provides high quality sound with well-judged (in my opinion, anyway) musical tradeoffs. It's also not pretentious (thinking here of Schiit and Emotiva) in its marketing. You get a well-made and good sounding piece of gear that is usually very competitively priced.
I don't know where the Michi line falls competitively today, but in the mid 1990s it could compete sonically with just about anything bar extreme exotica (like the On-Gaku, etc.).
Rotel is, in my experience at least, the most reliable of the entry level high end brands and provides high quality sound with well-judged (in my opinion, anyway) musical tradeoffs. It's also not pretentious (thinking here of Schiit and Emotiva) in its marketing. You get a well-made and good sounding piece of gear that is usually very competitively priced.
I don't know where the Michi line falls competitively today, but in the mid 1990s it could compete sonically with just about anything bar extreme exotica (like the On-Gaku, etc.).
jtgofish
pfm Member
Yes that is probably a fair comment.They can sound slightly mechanical but a lot of SS amps sound like that and that includes many expensive ones.If you match them with warm sounding speakers they can sound very good.A friend has one matched with old B&W DM2s and that is just a lovely sounding system.
AnilS
pfm Member
RA 870BX I used a few years ago, blew my Cyrus 1 out of the water so convincingly that that I retired it to a box in the loft! It's still up there. 
I later moved onto Arcam but the Rotel still shone with more power and detail. The Rotel is now in a redundant second system, as I'm trying a dedicated headphone system due to hearing loss
One of the best features of the Rotel is the CD direct circuit with it's own volume control.
When my ears were good, I could hear the difference. Also used as a pre. Was great.
Has great power output too and controlled my Monitor Audio S8 with ease.
I later moved onto Arcam but the Rotel still shone with more power and detail. The Rotel is now in a redundant second system, as I'm trying a dedicated headphone system due to hearing loss
One of the best features of the Rotel is the CD direct circuit with it's own volume control.
When my ears were good, I could hear the difference. Also used as a pre. Was great.
Has great power output too and controlled my Monitor Audio S8 with ease.
mandryka
pfm Member
The problem with this idea for me is that I think of Victor Meldrew, boring late middle aged, and the Rotel I have isn’t that. It’s been very impressive for the spacious firm image with my Spendors. There’s air between all the players in a string quartet. Where it seems weak is texture and timbre, colour, the way that some amps let you hear all the overtones so naturally when a bow brushes a viol string or a lute is plucked - this could be what jtgofish meant by mechanical. It’s a tall order to find kit which can do that!
All the positive comments on this thread seem to be from experiences with amps from the late 70s and 80s. And it’s all consistently positive - without anyone saying that they compared and found interesting differences between one Rotel amp and another, other than power. It looks as though no one has heard earlier or more recent Rotel amps.
I've always thought of Rotel as baby Naim. Years ago I used a Rotel in place of my regular amp while it was away getting serviced and, at low listening levels, you couldn't really tell the difference. I'd like to hear the bigger Rotel amps against some Naim ones as I think the results might be surprizing.
say it as it is
pfm Member
dunno about baby Naim but currently have a tweaked Rotel RCD-955 playing with a Rotel RA-05SE and wow it works maybe not quite as fast and punchy as the Nait5i but what it does do is give that open width that makes it seem wider than the speakers if that makes sense.
I can honestly say I don't know what Rotel did to turn it into the SE model (reputedly hand build transformers and better quality caps and resistors etc) but it certainly works i have tried the meant to be better RA-04 and this one just sounds better in every respect might just be synergy and a really good CD, or perhaps Rotel just gels with the Tannoy DC6Ts but its rather pleasing.
Being silver it doesn't match my old black stuff tho lol
I can honestly say I don't know what Rotel did to turn it into the SE model (reputedly hand build transformers and better quality caps and resistors etc) but it certainly works i have tried the meant to be better RA-04 and this one just sounds better in every respect might just be synergy and a really good CD, or perhaps Rotel just gels with the Tannoy DC6Ts but its rather pleasing.
Being silver it doesn't match my old black stuff tho lol
I haven’t heard the older Rotel amps, but I have an RB-1552 mk2 (power amp) running into some DM2s. I use a Dacmagic Plus, fed from Audirvana on a Mac. Sounds good to me, or at least the reference tracks I like to use all passed muster upon testing. I’ve had this setup for a couple of years now, and I’m starting to wonder about a change - for change’s sake. Was very tempted by the Peachtree amp that was for sale here recently, but wasn’t sure how much of a difference it would be. Might try some actives one of these days (an itch that needs scratching), but I’m enjoying not having the sense of urgency of “needing” a change.
S-Man
StrivingON
Totally agree (also with mandryka).
I have transplanted a couple of different (DIY) power amps into the RB850 chassis, using the Rotel transformers. They sound remarkably similar to the Rotel's own amps and different to how one of them sounded with different transformers in a different chassis.
Makes me think that the power transformer(s) are one of the most important components in a power amp and that this slightly mechanical sound (at least partially) results from the Rotel transformers.
Maybe, but they don't use the same transformer types in all their amps. The plain vanilla ones might get a square one while a BX gets a fat, round one but they all sound like a Rotel.
tuga
Legal Alien
I was in my mid-teens when I bought the RA-810A, my first amplifier, used to drive a pair of Wharfedale Diamond IIIs.
I’ve had the RB981 twice now. Both times I was amazed at its absolute effortlessness: things just got bigger and bigger and louder and louder without ever sounding strained at all.
However both times I was also put off by things just being a bit too bright: I’d end up with a headache after a couple of hours.
Really unfortunate because without that I’d have kept them forever: it’s that kind of a reassuring piece of kit that you just can’t contemplate anything else being in any way any better.
However both times I was also put off by things just being a bit too bright: I’d end up with a headache after a couple of hours.
Really unfortunate because without that I’d have kept them forever: it’s that kind of a reassuring piece of kit that you just can’t contemplate anything else being in any way any better.
vinylslug
pfm Member
I’ve been listening to a Rotel RA 932 for the last few weeks while my Primare i32’s being fixed. It’s been very pleasant for an amp that’s a 10th of the cost of the Primare. It’s really made me question where hifi money is best spent - as there’s not much between the Rotel, my Naim 5i-2 and the Primare. Each step up is certainly a step up, but it’s subtle.
I had my Primare back briefly (before it failed again!) and there was no “Wow!” moment after three weeks with the Rotel. A bit of an eye (ear?) opener.
I had my Primare back briefly (before it failed again!) and there was no “Wow!” moment after three weeks with the Rotel. A bit of an eye (ear?) opener.