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The best of Rotel amplifiers

mandryka

pfm Member
I’ve just bought an RA 840 BX4, it’s with some Spendor SP1s at the moment.

Too early for me to make any detailed comments, other than that it seems well balanced, it’s very able to “grip” the speakers, the sound stage is certainly not 2D - far from it. How refined it is in terms of expressing partials, textures and timbres, I can’t say yet. But I can say this: I like it!

I wonder if anyone has any good experiences with Rotel amps, power, pre or integrated. I wonder what the cream is, in audio terms.
 
My 90's RB-981 was a beast and is recommended.
971 is a cracker as well, just less power.

Effortless grunt and current delivery.
 
Very happy with my RA1570, built in DAC is handy too. Had it 4 or 5 years, no desire to change until I can move significantly up the speaker ladder.

Cheers BB
 
My working from system has an RA-1062 and it does a fine job. Lots of power and grip, tone contours, 2 sets of speakers (handy for me when I'm in a swapping mood) and remote. Getting on a bit I suppose but so am I so it doesn't matter.
 
I wonder if anyone has any good experiences with Rotel amps, power, pre or integrated. I wonder what the cream is, in audio terms.
I have an RA-980BX which has been a decent audibly neutral amplifier although I have only used it in secondary systems or when messing about. It is currently in a box in the spare room. I think it cost about €150 second hand 15 years ago and hasn't failed or gone noisy so a decent buy.
 
Clearly lots of Rotel owners are very happy with their
If I ever win the lottery I rather fancy an RC 5000 + RB 5000 combo.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/rotel-RB-5000.html

This amp looks the business. What's lacking for me is a serious thoughtful review online which would make me feel happy about taking a punt on such a thing. It's as if the community of hifi connoisseurs have just ignored Rotel.

Rotel is a real dark horse brand.
 
currently listening to a Rotel RA 05SE blew me away only rated at 40w yet sounds a whole lot more I tried a regular 05 and wow the SE sounds so much more open and works my speakers well.
Hands up I overlooked this amp and only just realising how good it is now
 
Yes well Michi is clearly a different ballgame. Are they "better" than the vanilla branded amps? Who can say?

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

rotel-rhb-10_38146.jpg
 
I have an RA840BX and and RB850.
The 840BX has a pretty decent MC/MM phono stage.

The two amps use a very similar power amp design which has some interesting features. There seems to have been some thinking along the lines of Naim power amps: no local decoupling, no output inductor, although the Rotels have an unusual frequency compensation scheme.

In terms of sound they do sound quite "80s", with a slightly ragged but punchy upper midrange and lean lower bass with slightly prominent upper bass. Much like Naim!
Impressive in the short term, but a bit wearing in the long term.
Excellent VFM!
 
Got an RB-1070 which from pictures of innards, seems to be similar to the RB-981 from the previous generation. It's a great amp and for the money these things are a bargain IMO.
Also got a 6 channel RB956 for AV duties and can't fault it.
If you can't find a Michi then try the RB-991 which was an awesome beast when I heard it with my RCD-991 D player. I suspect the 1090 is similar if not closer to the Michi.
 
I got hold of an RA-870 integrated as a stop-gap amp which I'm using with a Chromecast Audio and a very old ratty pair of Proac Tablette IIs in a nearfield setup. It sounds great.

Perhaps this is common with only spending 100 quid on a simple setup but I haven't been listening as analytically as I would with new kit but just enjoying everything I've played. I'm looking forward to getting a TT connected but that's a while off.

It can take a minute or so to come out of protection-mode (the only amp I've seen with such a feature) and it does hum slightly - Perhaps it needs serviced but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
 
Can someone explain the difference between RA, RB and RC?

Are all RAs fundamentally the same -- just more power, more bells and whistles? Similarly for RB, RC . . .
 


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