I went to my local high-end dealer to get a look, and listen, to the Rotel. I thought the piece looked well made and sounded very good. Like most upper end equipment, it was a little light on features but seems to have quality where it counts.
I noticed they had three boxed units sitting behind the counter, so I inquired about what kind of deal they could make. I was shocked to learn that they were not available at all! The three units were all defective! This Rotel receiver has major manufacturing problems with the main circuit board. New models will be out shortly resolving the problems, but the main problem has not been addressed. This is one of the first pieces by Rotel to be built be subcontractors! They are no longer made in England. They are assembled in China by entry level unskilled semi slave labor!

I fear Rotel may be on the verge of selling out! Why would they abandon years of quality and pride to save a couple bucks? Will we see Rotel at Circuit City next year?

I’m afraid that Rotel has compromised the core of the product. With quality control like this, what might we expect in the future! For the $1000 price range you might be better off going with the Newcastle, Yamaha, Marantz, or even the SonyES. At least you know what you’re getting!

It is a sad day indeed when I find myself recommending Sony over Rotel. Come on Rotel, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!

I too went through the bad experience of reliability on the RX965.The first one went dead on me. The second one provided no sound on the front speaker, and the third one has a hissing sound on the right front speaker at high volumbe. It is no doubt that when this unit is working, it sounded excellent and the image and sounds it produced is first rate, but reliability and durability is unacceptable. I brought the unit back one after another to the store and the shop owner literally got mad at me, and he thought that I had somehow misused and abused his products. He even recommended that I change to an Onkyo or a Golden Theater system!!!
Only when the shop owner opened one of the bad unit that I brought back did he find out that all the slot cards were loosed.
I even called Rotel to complained and the tech support there admitted that there are multiple "bugs" on this unit.
DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT, check out the Yamaha or the Denon first.

I took this Rotel receiver home as a demo. I also had a Nakamichi and a Yamaha at home to compare it against. The Rotel looked good and had all the features, knobs, and connections. However, the Nakamichi definitely sounded better and the Yamaha might have sounded better. I'm not sure about the Yamaha/Rotel comparison because the Rotel shorted out. Pffft. Smoke. Burning smell. Rotel is now made in China. After reading the previous review by Tim S. in Florida, I am convinced that these Chinese receivers are junk. Who cares if they are "designed" in England. The sound, when it was working, was good and was worth 4 to 4 1/2 stars. The features rate 4 to 4 1/2 stars. The reliability and quality rates 1 star. Reliability is the governing factor here.

I purchsed this unit because it had everything I was looking for: Prologic,Dolby Digital,DTS,6-channel inputs,4 digital inputs, and it sounded exceptional. Unfortunately, this product suffers from extremely poor quality control on Rotel's part. The first unit I received sounded great but had video problems. I returned it thinking it must have been a fluke, Rotel wouldn't guarantee a product for 5 years without some pretty serious quality checks. The 2nd unit had the same problem plus there was a hiss in the right main at higher volumes that wasn't present in the first unit. The store I purchased from called Rotel and they said that they had just found out about the video problem. One night when I was surfing around the web I found another audio/video bulletin board and looked through it. It seemed that every person who had purchased the RSX 965 had returned at least one unit(one guy said his went completely dead within 24 hours). In my opinion releasing a product with this many problems is UNACCEPTABLE. I won't be purchasing any other products from ROTEL any time soon(i.e. 70-80 years).

Sounds great, 5 year warranty

Problems, problems, problems, problems, problems

Ok, I've given up. I posted a couple of other reviews talking about being patient with the receiver because the bugs were being worked out. I guess I was wrong. The second receiver that fixed most of previous issues (DD sound disappearing, video jitter) started having issues with the tos link to my Satellite receiver. Loud hiss or white noise. If you change the input to another device and back the noise went away or you could just turn the unit off. The tuner would also mysteriously quit working. If it was unplugged for several days it would start to work again. Well, I took it in and my dealer got a reset instruction from Rotel that solved the problems for about 3 days. I finally took it in again and they sent it to Rotel and Rotel replaced it. Last night I got the new one home after 4 weeks of no receiver and had problems. The switched and unswitched power outlets didn't work and the white noise appeared while watching Satellite TV again. Three units, 5 trips to get it worked on and I'm done. I talked to my dealer about what they could do to get me out of it this morning. I still love the Rotel sound, but don't love this receiver anymore. Maybe, they'll give me credit toward an upgrade.

Value, soundstage, flexibility

Button placement on remote

This was an upgrade to a 12 year old Onkyo receiver and 10 year old Surround Sound Incorporated surround sound processor. The difference is astounding.

When comparing to other brands, this unit stood out above the rest. The Dennon sound was bright and fatiguing. The Arcam was the best looking unit and comparable in sound to the Rotel, but the number of inputs and outputs on the Rotel won me over. The Rotel has 4 digital inputs, s-video galore and inputs for my trusty turntable. I like the uncluttered front panel of the Arcam. The Rotel has more buttons and more features (which I don't necessarily think is better -- these features sometimes degrade the quality of the sound).

The onscreen menu feature for the Rotel is nice also. It is the heart, soul and brains of my home theatre.

My main video source is through a satellite receiver, I plan to add a DVD (hopefully an Arcam DV88) and a Sony PlayStation 2 (yeah, it's for the kids -- most of the time). Throw in a VCR and I needed 4 video inputs. I don't think the Arcom could accomodate this. Besides, the Rotel was 20% less expensive.

I think I would be extremely happy with either of the Rotel or Arcam. I selected Rotel for the price and expandability. I am extremely pleased with my choice. Saving Private Ryan on VCR is incredible. The digital broadcast of Toy Story II is superb, I may never go to the movie theatre again.

My modest system includes:
Rotel RSX 965
Onkyo 5 disc carousel CD player
Hitachi HiFi VCR
Mordaunt Short MS35ti front speakers
Mission 735i rear speakers
B&W LCR3 center channel speaker
PSB Alpha Subsonic 5 powered subwoofer
Zenith IQB55M92W TV

Similar Products Used:

Arcam, Dennon, Yamaha

Every type of possible input. Clear, crisp sound from cd's. 30 station presets

Goes silent when the input signal (DSS satelite, radio especially) becomes distorted. When a radio station does not come in that well, the unit essentially blocks you from hearing it. Also, when I try to really crank up the volume, the unit turns off when a level of about 70(i dunno how they come up with the levels) is reached. kinda sucks when you really wanna bump.

Overall, this has been a pretty good reciever. It has a great power amp built in (the thing weighs a ton) and i dont think i could ever run out of input jacks. However, there are a few issues that need to be attended to. Sometimes, i press a button on the remote and an icon pops up on the display, and i cant figure out how to turn it off. i have no idea if it is affecting the sound in any way, but it is kind of annoying.
also, the speaker output plugs are very difficult to use. my speakers(anthony gallo acoustic nucleus micros) came with solid core wire and it took me about 30 min. just to plug them in.
the last problem is with the volume. first of all, i have no idea what the levels are related too, but when pushed passed 70, it turns off after a few moments.

Similar Products Used:

none

Clarity, Clean sound....warm

power.....

Excellent Sound. No problems encountered yet. Remote blows...like the blue display though.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha..NAD....Denon....

Excellent Product that did have some flaws in the beginning. But well worth the $$ now! IT has so much room for expansion, there is no way this can become obsolete in the near future. The remote is ok, a little confusing, but does the job of expensive allin one remotes. The sound is rich and dynamic, even with low-quality speakers. This is really a great receiver/control center that does alot for you and does it well. A great all in one unit that sounds beautiful

quality

HISS/WHITE NOISE

well nothing to say except it`s my 4th unit and they all have a loud hiss and white noise, white noise accures when u pass 65, hiss is there all the way (and a LOUD HISS)
it`s in all the receivers i took
now if rotel wont reply back i`m gonna take yamaha 2095 as this receiver is the only 1 that comes near the quality of the rotel, too bad the guys build that so poor :(

as for now i rank overall to 1 star, when/if next unit comes without a hiss/white nois i`m gonna give it 5 stars


btw if anybody expirience this hiss/white noise please start posting reviews, cant be it`s only me (it hiss even at the store, so nothing wrong in my house)
oh, and somtimes when u play with OSD it even clipps

i use the rotel with paradigm monitor 9 (fronts)
monitor 3(rear) and cc-350 center, as soon as i`m done with the receiver i`ll be taking the ps-1000 sub

Similar Products Used:

yamaha 2095/hk/denon/onkyo