To the reviewer below - you silly listener. Who tries to run a surprisingly difficult 4 ohm load with a Rotel integrated? No wonder it crapped out all the time. Get yourself some appropriate amplification. This is a great amplifier when paired with speakers of decent efficiency (don't try anything under a six ohm load or 88db sensitivity) You'd need to spend more than the retail price for this Rotel to get an amplifier for those speakers. This is great mid-fi equipment. I give it a high rating because that's what it is, it doesn't pretend to be able to drive high-end speakers who present those kind of loads. Recommendations - give it a separate power outlet, replace the stock jumpers, give it relatively efficient bookshelfs or small floorstanding speakers. This is not an extraodianrily high current amplifier, so it will not be for tough speakers. Within the confines of the price, its tough to beat. Also try the Arcam integrateds. Just don't dilude yourself by believing this is a replacement for Classe, or some other serious power amp. But if you recognize it for what it is, good value for the money, you will be very satisfied with this purchase. If you want an integrated for difficult loads, you'll have to spend around the $1600 price range (retail)... consider a Musical Fidelity A300.

True 100 watts right down to the bottom end, value for money.

Stupid amount of heat created, piss poor reliability.

I''ve had my Rotel for about five years now, and while I''ve grown to love it''s warm, albeit sometimes mid-harsh sound, I''m sick and tired of it breaking. Now I must admit I beat the living crap out of it, running a pair of Seas Odin''s (A surprisingly difficult 4 ohm load) full bore every weekend, but it''s failure rate is depressingly high. Initially something got cooked from the rediculous amount of heat that the amp produces, so I installed a fan. Now I seem to blow some sort of fuse every couple of months. I don''t really know the cause of the fuses blowing, which makes me sound like a wanker, but I''ll ask the going-to-get rich-off-me tech guy what the hell is going on this time. It''s too bad, because for the money it''s really a very nice amplifier. Right now I''m running my Odin''s off a Denon 3300 av amp and it blatently just doesn''t have the balls. One other thing, the remote is a complete joke. My poorly designed battery terminals broke after two battery changes.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 2b, Denon AV3300, Luxman R-117

Clarity, Dynamics, Smoothness

Plastic knobs!

After listening to many integrayeds over the past year I decided on what gave the best bang for the buck. The Rotel combines a lot of the traits found in other amps to produce an engaging sound at all extremes.WHile I wouldn't point out one particular strength I would say that it provides clean detailed highs along with controlled robust bass and clean spacious mids. It is very powerful and can drive many speakers to loud extemes most amps under a grand cant. For $800 list it has the best combo of attributes in an integrated under a grand in my opinion.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus DIA150, Creek 4330R, Bryston B60R, AR Complete

A VERY MUSICAL INTEGRADE

REMOTE TO COMPLICATED

THE ROTEL 985BX II IS ONE OF THE BEST INTEGRADES.EVERYTHING I PLAY THROUGH THIS INTEGRADE SOUNDS FANTASTIC.I REALY THINK IF ANY OF THESE ROTEL 985BXII OWNERS, REALY OWN THIS UNIT THEY ARE PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS THAT THIS AMP OFFERS/THE PERSON THAT WROTE THE WORST REVIEW IS ALSO ON THE NAD C370 PAGE SAYING THE SAME THING HE SAID ON THIS PAGE/PROBEBLY JUST ANGRY THEY CANNOT AFFORD THIS OR ANY OTHER FINE AUDIO HI FI INTEGRADE/IF YOUR SPEAKERS SUCK, THE REST OF THE EQUIPMENT WILL NOT SHOW WHAT IT CAN REALY DO,ITS THAT SIMPLE.THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SOUND UNITS IVE HEARD THROUHG MY SPEAKERS,BEATING OUT NAD/C370 BY A LARGE MARGIN/IMAGING OF THE ROTEL IS SUPPIERIOR TO ANY THING IVE HERD IN THIS PRICE RANGE/

Similar Products Used:

NAD C370

Good internal building. Facilities. That's it.

...everything else

It is the fifht essence of HI-Fi to british magazines. For me it is the worst integrated I have heard for a long time.
It is almost unbelievable. Play some demanding CDs and you will soon find out. Music comes from a pit, deeply underground. Singers seem to have socks in their mouths or a bag in their heads. Is so capable of overbass that it cames closer to distortion.
In every respects, my Technics just smashes it. What a crap.
I cannot ignore so many enthusiastic reviews. Perhaps the problem it's myself, or some problem with the particular unit tested, perhaps...
It was not "burned", I must say, nor my Technics was when I bought it. Anyway, running in could not improve dramatically such Lo-Fi performance. One to avoid.
(I also use a Marantz CD player, a 63 KI).
As you may understand I do not own a Rotek 985BX. I visited my dealer in order to buy one. Well, I bought the Technics.

Similar Products Used:

Technics

Power and dynamics, number of inputs, surprisingly good detail and soundstage

Upper midrange crispness, busy remote, noisy headphone jack

This was my entree into audiophile amps and it proved a significant upgrade over my SONY STR-D2020, a 9-year-old receiver that values lights and echo effects over sonic purity. With this Rotel unit, I was finally able to match up the sound to go with the audiophile superlatives one reads in Stereophile.

This amp's strength is its ability to flat out rock. It packs 100 watts a side and can really move some air. It compared very favorably to the entry-level Adcom separates in power and dynamics, and was even a touch warmer sounding. The detail and soundstage, for the money, is also quite acceptable. While I noted some heat emanating from the top of the case, it was nothing compared to this amp's predecessor.

This model's main downfall is an exaggerated upper midrange that can be ear-bleedingly sibilant. The result was fatigue after about twenty minutes of careful listening. I tried taming it with MIT cables, and while that worked somewhat, I could never get it fully adjusted to my liking. Perhaps the tone had something to do with the Paradigm Studio 20's I was using, which have metal dome tweeters. Make sure this amp meshes well with your speakers, because even its tone controls can't right things once ruined. I'm imagining some laidback speakers like Sonus Fabers might be the ticket.

As for other gripes, the 100 watt-design seems to produce a fair amount of background hiss through the headphone jack that is not volume dependent. Also, the remote looks as though it was designed by the marketing department, since most of its buttons are designed to control other components.

One final note: to my ears, this amp, depite its midrange problems, tended to get pianos exactly right. Obviously, its tonal virtues are modest compared to those of the Bryston B60, but the latter costs a grand more, and the Rotel still betters it in sheer power.

So if you can control or tolerate the tone of this amp, love rock, and like to play it LOUD, this might be the one for you. This integrated, I believe, is the only 100-watter available for the price.

Similar Products Used:

(In same price range): Rotel RA 972, various Adcom separates, Parasound separates; also, Bryston B60

I have owned my Rotel 985BX for about a year now and am quite satisfied with it's performance. While it is a little harsher than my Bryston 2B-LP was, it pretty much destroys it with raw horsepower. This horsepower seems to transform into a phenomenal amount of heat, which is one of the amplifiers main drawbacks. I've had it in the shop once to repair a fried power circuit probably due to this excessive heat. I have since installed a fan which has cured the problem. For the price, ($1000 Canadian dollars) I feel it is a worthwhile purchase.

It´s a great product in this price ($900-1000). Substantial power,100 watts RMS,precise control:damping factor 400,and a high capacity power supply featuring oversized toroidal transformer and British slit foil capacitors assure high current delivery into any loudspeakers, and good control of my B&W DM603 speakers. At 100 watts per channel, this unit kicks more butt than most integrated amps. Its sound is reminiscent of that of a power amp/preamp combo. No phono stage. Remote control included.

price, power, low noise, great sound quality

I have had this Integrated Amp for about 2 months now. I bought it without listening to it based on Rotel's stellar reputation and its great specs. Its more powerful than I'll ever need and extremely quiet with no noise that I can hear. Initially I wasn't really impressed with the sonic character of the amp, but new speaker cables and time made a world of difference. After a few months of listening, it sounds great. I listen to a wide variety of music and everything sounds good. Better recordings sound better, of course. Its definitly worth an audition if you are shopping in this price range. I did find that highs sound a lot better with the Dynaudio speakers that I bought than with B&Ws that I also considered, so speaker selection may play a role in how good this amp will sound to you.
Current Equipment:

Rotel RA-985BX
Rotel RCD-971
Rotel RT-955
Dynaudio Audience 70
DH Labs speaker cables and interconnects
and an old Sony turntable and Harmon Kardon tape deck

Similar Products Used:

also audition equipment from adcom, classe, yamaha

sabotage!
the dude with the bad review 2 reviews below me saying the technics smahes the rotel says the same thing on the nad 370, telling that THIS rotel smahes the nad.
im not surprised he did the same on the technics amp, saying the exact same words.
no worries, u cant go wrong with rotel. trust me.