Very musical

none

This amp sounds almost when i had connected a Krell KSA 200 on my FOCAL Expresion loudspeakers.
Very musical. and impressive amp more so than the Krell for the price.

Similar Products Used:

Krell ksa 200, Acuphase

Power and Clarity

Could use a Remote to switch on and off

I really like the sound that is produced by the Rotel RB-991. It gives music a brand new life, as if I am listening to my favourite songs for the very first time. If anything, it shows up the poorly recorded material. Well recorded music is absolutely breathtaking. My wife must be getting sick of me asking "did you hear that?" everytime I hear something new on one of my favourite songs (that I couldn't hear using lesser amplifiers). The RB-991 makes listening to music and movie soundtracks a whole new experience.

Really solid build, lots of power on reserve, and nice fins.

For an amp in its price range it has a pretty low-quality power cord. It is assembled with virtual slave labour in China.

I was originally looking for a 5 channel set up, but became frustrated with the ever-changing formats and poor music-reproduction found in surround receivers. So I elected to go two-channel and sold my other speakers, then leaving me with enough to invest in some solid separates. I looked at some B&K, a big integrated Denon, and some Arcam. I settled on the Rotel on a cost/quality basis, and just happened to like the sound best of all. On Christie's period instrument recording of Mozart's Requiem the full dynamcs of voice, strings and percussion came through. Over the others, including th 981 and a pair of those 125 watt monoblocks that Rotel made a few years ago, the 991 gave me the most moving timbre of all.

My speakers are Mirage bipolar units with integrated subwoofers, so there is no shortage of bass. This leaves the 991 to power verything above 90Hz, which has done wonders for the clarity of the midrange. The impedance curve is a bit irregular through the 1.6-2.0 kHz range (or so I've been told) but the Rotel is happy to drive right through those.

My one gripe has got to be the power cord. I would expect an iec socket and cord for what I paid and am considering having the unit modified.

Otherwise, if you're hesitating, get someone to pry the lid off and have a look at the beautiful craftsmanship of the circuitry--the symmetry of the layout and the sheer mass of the four slit-foil caps and torroidial transformer will convince you that this unit is built to rumble. And if that doesn't convince you, just hook it up and listen to it.

To my ear it beats many components that are much more expensive.

My system:
Mirage 1295is loudspeakers
Rotel 972 pre amp
Denon DCM 360 5 disk carousel (must replace!)
Old Marantz TTB and nearly-as-old Sony tuner (must replace)
MIT 4 interconnects (would like to bi-wire)

5 for value, price is good for quality
4 for overall because of damn power cord

Similar Products Used:

Smaller rotel, some B&K, assorted crappy Denon, Sony and Yamaha receivers over the years.

I purchased the 991 two weeks ago to replace my adcom 5300. The sound ofthe rotel 991 is such a potent amplifier do to it's high current flow.
Not only does the 991 blow my adcom away in terms of driving my B&W 602's
but it does not make my ears bleed at high volumes, where the adcom used to overwhelm me with high detail and a nasty mosfet hiss. My tweeters just roll
with smoothness and detail. My adcom used to make certain cd's really cold and antiseptic and the rotel really brought some warmth back to by system. even
though the detail was not as abrasive as adcom it brought back little nuances that I've been missing since the days of analog

I just hooked up the Rotel 991 to my system this weekend and I can't believe what a difference it makes. I use it with a Rotel CD player, Sony9000ES pre, and NHT2.5i's. I paid $900 at a retailer who gives 10% off of Rotel. You can't get Rotel through mail order legitimately.
This unit was reviewed in the new edition of Stereophile Guide to Home Theatre and received an excellent review. I highly recommend this amp, its a great value for the money.

Power and Control.

Tends to get very hot.

On value for money alone it rates 5 stars. The fact that it sounds so GOOD is a bonus. This is an excellent amplifier that is both dynamic and full of control. An excellent addition to any serious system.

A best buy for $1000 range.

Front panel "grill" style is unattractive. I doubt the grill is nreally needed for cooling.

I picked this amplifier after auditioning a dozen other models. Goes great with my Vanderstein 2Cs. Accurate sound at low and normal volume.

My search for a new amp ended with this Rotel. I've recently had Adcoms, Sunfire, B&K on trial in my home. They all went back for one reason or another (see my Sunfire review). I most recently auditioned Conrad-Johnson MV-2200, Krell 150a, and the Rotel. As a reference point, I don't like the "tube" sound; to me solid state amps (in $1-$2K price range) trying to duplicate this sound put all effort in the midrange and everything else is miserable. The CJ had this problem. The Rotel is brighter and has much better bass than the CJ, and thats my preference. At home, the Rotel continues to impress me and I feel quite comfortable having spent only $900. The Krell 150A did sound better (tighter, I'd say) than the Rotel, but not $1100 better.

I've had several amps now (adcom, classe, etc) and just got my rotel 991 a few weeks ago. I must say it is one powerful amp. It drives my NHT 2.9s without breathing hard. Very musical. Detailed and impressive. Not the best of the bunch. But, fantastic sound for the money.

I recently upgraded to the RB991 using balanced connectors from a RTC972/RB981 combo. Immediately, I noticed how much nicer this amp was for long listening sessions. Very pleasant.
The mid-range and high frequencies are very lively with warmth, smoothness, bass does seem to be deeper and tigher than the 981. Overall, the DETAIL, soundstage, bass slam, vocal reproduction is significantly better.

I have only had this amp/preamp a month and more breakin could be required. It does however run warmer than the 981 and to be picky with features, Rotel amps don't have 12v on/off switches for us remote users. I am overall impressed with the musical improvements for a considered budget priced amp.

Equipment:
Rotel 995 pre
Rotel 991 amp
Rotel 975 cd
dh labs wire
BW 803 s2