Despite the comments below regarding the suspect quality of the Rotel receiver, based on its performance during several hours of auditioning, I purchased this product nonetheless. My receiver was manufactured in Korea (according to packing cartons) and has operated flawlessly. I was attracted to this piece because of Rotel's excellent reputation for producing high quality, reasonably priced gear. If you want 42 DSP options, this product is not for you. If you have a huge room and require 200 watts per channel, this product is not for you. If however, you have a small to mid-sized home theater, want excellent movie sound reproduction (DTS, DD and DPL), upgradability and the option of adding higher powered external amplifiers, this product deserves strong consideration.
My system consists of Denon's DVD 5000, Velodyne subwoofer (GS series), and Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkIIs in front and in rear and the matching Contour Center channel speaker. By the way, these speakers are not the most efficient available, yet the Rotel unit drives them wonderfully. I believe that 75 watts per channel is more power than most people realize. Finally, I also seriously auditioned the Denon AVR-5700. This is a wonderful piece, but it seemed brighter sounding than the Rotel unit. I could not justify the additional cost for this piece (given size of my listening room, etc.). I recommend that you listen to the RSX 965 and make your own decision. For the price, I believe that it is an excellent performer.

I have owned Rotel RSX 965 for more than a month. I have tried to different connections. At first the setup was B&W CMD 7 SE(front),CMD 1 SE(rear),CMD CSE(center),Velodyne subwoofer. It worked great, in both home theater mode or two channel mode. The sound is warm, very musical. Later, I changed speakers to Tannoy High Definition D-700(front), D750(center), Tannoy Saturn S8SCLR(rear). I was considering to change to Denon 5700 to match Tannoy speakers. But Rotel sounds better with the upgrade of speakers. I do not have a reason to pay extra $$$$ for Denon. Besides, Rotel is a British, it is good match with Tannoy.
I would give it five stars, no problem at all. As for speakers, I think Tannoy is much better than B&W for the same price. Its sound is very open, natural; you can hardly feel the speakers. B&W is good too, give me a kind of luxury feel, but it put too much pressure on my ear, it tweeter tech is great, high frequency is clear and precise, but Tannoy is the speaker you want if you spend long time with it. It is like what kind of women you want, spice is exciting for a while, but you may want a traditional woman as wife.

I've heard the 965 and the Tannoy Definitions: excellent performing and built products. But, as they are merely material objects, as it is that they are simply "PROPERTY", they are not things a sensible mind likens to the "chosing" of a wife; she is a woman, a free being, not an object to be compared to electronic equipment that is -bought- and -sold- at men's whim, Mr. Wencao!I'm sorry for the tone of this post, but someone must respond.

I bought this unit in January this year. The first one was dead out of the box, and it was replaced with a fully functional unit. I must say that I love the warmth of the sound, and the intuitive function of the unit. I have played both DD and DTS. Frankly, I favor the latter as it has a richer sound and puts more sound through the rear speakers.
I use 4 BMW 601's, a BMW CC7 center speaker, and a Paradigm subwoofer. I have also used good quality wire and bi-wired all BMW speakers. I am very happy with the setup.

Well, I bought this receiver after trying out everything I could find in the same price range, and it BLEW ME AWAY. Then I rewired my main speakers and sub with higher quality cables, and now its even better!! Better bass definition and focus, deeper soundstage, and all-around more enveloping sound. Before it was five stars, how can I give it a six??

I purchased the ROTEL receiver after extensively listening to several receivers in a similar price range. The RSX 965 outshined the Sony 50ES, SONY 30ES, and YAMAHA 2095 in 2- channel stereo mode. There was simply no comparison. The warmth of this ROTEL receiver clearly differentiates this unit from most of the competition. The detailed soundstage is very impressive and rivals seperate components costing much more.
Dolby-Digital was surprisingly good thought not as realistic as the YAMAHA 2070.
The unit works well and I can report that I have had no problems to date with this receiver.

I just purchase this unit about a week ago after months of researching which is the most "bang for the bucks" if you will(around $1000-1200). It came down to the Rotel, Nakamichi av10 and the Yamaha 995. I do 50 HT and 50 mucsic. The three perform fairly the same on HT. However when it came to music it was not so close. I didn't think the Yamaha compare to the Nak. or Rotel. Between the Nak. and the Rotel it was very close, I choose the Rotel for reasons that I was matching this reciever with some Definitive Pro Cinema and they tend to be a bit on the bright side,and that the Rotel had a more smooth sound IMO as well as a 5.1 input for future upgrade if necessary. Initial setup was more tedious than usual due to the remote, but once thing is hooked up, WOW!. The dealer said that the sound will get better when the amp is broken in can't wait till that happen. Definite five stars.

Pertaining to comments posted about RSX 965:

Some RSX 965 models from the very early production runs were flown from the factory to the U.S., and then to dealers, exposing the fragile nature of the design. The problems experienced were random and most manifested themselves after, and as a result of, shipping. This meant they took a while to surface, and regrettably, many units had already gone into circulation by the time they were discovered.

Since these early circumstances, steps have been taken to ensure the RSX 965 travels better. In every case, Rotel has supported it's consumers and dealers to resolve the problems as quickly as possible. Rotel does not abandon it's consumers.

The RSX 965 represents Rotel's first venture into the ever-growing home theatre receiver arena. Unlike some manufactures who seem to come and go, Rotel has been designing and building fine audio equipment for over three decades. We believe the RSX 965 to be the best sounding receiver in it's class, but don't take our word for it. Compare, and we're confident you'll agree. The RSX 965 also boasts a five year parts and labor warranty, backed by a 33 year old, family-owned company which stands firmly behind each and every product we build. As to the country of manufacture, Rotel believes the strength of a company and a product's sound quality is more important than where it is built. Products break regardless of where they are made. The question is, will the manufacturer back the product in the event of a problem, and will they be around for the duration of the warranty?

There is no need for misinformation about Rotel products. Consumers are welcome to e-mail questions to Rotel directly at www.rotelhifi@aol.com. We appreciate your feedback, and as this message demonstrates, we listen. To those who own the RSX 965 and have stood by us, thank you for your continued support. By the way, we were required to post a rating in order for our message to be accepted, otherwise, we would not have done so.

Rotel of America, N. Reading, MA.
Technical Support Department

I finally went back to visit my dealer this week to swap out my unit. Mostly, it took this long due to me not getting around to it. Now on to the good stuff. YAHOO!The receiver is awsome! The same great sound and more. No bugs! Video jitter is gone, sound drop is gone and I'm a happy camper. I even stumbled on an unexpected surprise. The original units would not allow you to activate the sub in any of the DSP or stereo modes. Rotel said it was a limitation in the crystal chip set and was looking into changing it, if possible, due to consumer demand. Well, I was goofing around last night and noticed that the sub was set to yes in the stereo mode and it was playing. So I checked all possible modes and you can say yes or no to the sub in all modes. I love it! Now if you have or prefer small satelite speakers you can have bass in those modes too! I can't say enough about the quality of the sound and the new unit. All of you guys out there looking for great unit but were shying away from Rotel because of the bugs, buy on because they've been exterminated! And if you haven't tried DTS yet, you ought to. In my opinion, it blows DD away, at least with this unit.

I started out with a Technics Pro-Logic receiver about 5 years ago, which did the job, until I got a DVD player. I stepped the receiver up to a Sony RTE-835, which was ok. I talked to a few people, and one suggested the Rotel 965. I was planning on purchasing Paradigm speakers (all around) and he said buying these speakers with a Sony 835 was like buying a Porsche and putting a Yugo engine in it. So i held out on the speakers (except a PS-1000 sub; the rest are Technics fronts, and pioneer rears and center) hooked up the Rotel 965 and was absolutely blown away. What a difference, especiallf from Pro-logic, but even between the sony DD and Dts receiver!
I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with this receiver, although I haven't had it for long. The only thing lacking in it is the manual, which has lots of room for improvement, but who buys a receiver for the manual?? I highly recommend the 965 if you have money to spend (consider a B-stock, you won't know the difference, and still has the 5 year warranty on it). My appreciation for music and movies has significantly increased since I purchased this, way to go Rotel!