Having lived with home theatre, albeit a decent HT system. I just made a return to the realm of 2 channel.
My old system was the rotel RSP 1068 pre amp processor into Sphinx monoblocks from denmark and a rotel Rmb 1075 multi channel amp. Into B&W speakers.
And cold out of the box, this pre amp made the RSP 1068 sound like it was broken,,, In terms of over all dynamics, space, all of the things that make something BETTER. Too often in audio, people get caught up in making changes without actually moving forward.
this piece for what was paid for it is wonderful, and if you are looking at purchasing a home theatre receiver, think twice, as without all the whiz bang boom of Home theatre, the sound tracks through this piece in 2 channel are more engaging, and dialgue is more coherent etc.....

I would have easily paid more money for this piece, and still been satisfied.

good job Rotel on buliding solid products at real world prices. no small feat.

Price Performance, Soft Sound , Tonal Balance , Imagination

Cheap Remote Control

I have purchased the Rotel RC-972 about six months ago . The preamp is very well built . There is a toroidal transformer inside and a motorised volume control with the red light on the front panel . The remote control is very simple and look like a cheap one.The amplification of the preamp is quite low , very similar to the todays passive preamps . Tonal balance very well set, the sound is very well balanced. Bass, Mids and highs are never fatiguant. The sound is quite soft. As a summary what you demand from a preamp exist on the Rotel RC972 .

I strongly recommend this preamp if you can find one

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RC 971, Yamaha C-85

Price, build, large power supply, remote, light up volume notch (good for in the dark!)

Tone controls...but hey they can be bypassed

I have just recently bought the RC-972 and have to say it's an absolute amazing pre-amp. I bought it for £100 plus £10 postage on ebay, but if I'd had the money, I would have paid £350 for it new without a doubt. My System:- Rotel RCD-971 Rotel RC-972 Rotel RB-981 JMLab Chorus 715 Van Den Hul The Bay C5 Interconnects Van Den Hul MC D352 Speaker Cable The Rotel is a pre-amplifier that you can rely on as it conforms to Rotel's "balanced design" concept. This basically means that every single Rotel component has been designed with the components price point in mind. This reflects in component quality, signal path clutter, casework...but basically it is individually designed with simpicity and ultimate performance as top priority. Hey, some may call me biased, but I dont want a £350 pre-amp that is designed my some sony (yuk) mass market money graber. When you buy this pre-amp, you know by the build quality alone that it's not some rubbish that you buy in dixons. Anyway, ive said my thing :0) So it's down to how it sounds, and I have to say it sounds as good as it's weight in gold. The 972 has a fantastically rich and accurate sound and really handles the input from the cd player and the output to the power amp really well - everything is kept together tightly and the music has a detailed edge that just makes you want to listen. What more do you want from a pre-amp!

Similar Products Used:

Arcam 9C, Naim NAC - 62,72,102,112, Rotel RC-971, Linn Kolektor

This is a follow-up on my previous message. I contacted the European Rotel distributor in the UK to ask what they recommend in terms of burn-in time. They were very responsive and told me to burn-in the Rotel for 170 hours. I wanted to share this info with you. After 40 hours of burn in time the unit seems to sound a little more rounded or mellow, so I can't wait for that week to pass. As I said, you can do burn-in with Stereophile Test CD 3 - turn off your amp, set the volume on the pre-amp to max and set track 20 on repeat. But there are other methods. The guy from Rotel actually said he used BBC Radio 1 (!) for this purpose. Now that's a recommendation with a double edge isn't it :-)

PLEASE ALLOW THIS CORRECTION. I DID NOT MEAN TO IMPLY A REVIEWER SAID THERE WAS NO REMOTE. IT WAS THE BALANCE CONTROL BEING DISCUSSED. WHEN I OWNED THE UNIT IT DID HAVE A BALANCE CONTROL. (LEFT AND RIGHT) HOPE THAT CLEARS UP ANY CONFUSION I MAY HAVE CAUSED.MY REVIEW STAYS THE SAME. JUST NOTE THIS CORRECTION...

Solid construction, Tone Defeat switch, smooth, warm sound and good sound stage presentation.

None yet

I purchased the Rotel to replace an old Counter Point SA-7 tube pre-amp. I loved the smoothness and warm sound of the tubes, but age and worn out electronics forced me to retire it. I don't have the budget to replace the old pre with a new tube pre so I searched high and low for a budget replacement.

The Rotel surprised me with it's over all sound. The sound stage opened up and gave new life to my system. I was very sceptical at first that a sub $400 pre-map could replace my tube pre, but I'm now a believer.

Speakers - Mission 782
AMP - Adcom GFA-555
CD Player - Rotel 9 something
Speaker cable - Audio Stream
Interconnects - Monster Cable

Similar Products Used:

a very used Counter Point sa-7 tube pre-amp

This preamplifier is _really_ good. I compared it with some Yamaha modelsand this one beats them all hands down. The sound stage is great and
the music sounds really natural. The remote control is good too
(if only a bit too bulky), and you can control other Rotel equipment
with it. It has a motorized volume control, and has defeatable tone controls. It's strange that it doesn't include a balance (left/right)
control since the cheaper RC-971 does.

I purchased the Rotel RC-972 Preamp from Tom Dewar's Audio in Ottawa to replace an ageing Audio Design (Co. now defunct) preamp that I had been running for years. I am still running it with my 100WPC/30amp Audio Design power amp into a pair of subwoofered Pyramid Futuresonic Speakers (Robert Seguera design). My old preamp was really showing its years, so naturally the difference is simply astounding. I AB tested the RC 972 with the higher priced RC 995 and equivalently priced Harman Kardon products. The RC 995 was the winner with the RC 972 close behind. For the money ($500Cdn), the RC 972 is a great sounding and smoothly operating unit. I like it alot. The sound stage is open (but not quite as lively as the twice the price RC 995) and the highs are beautiful, not shrill at all. On the downside, there is no phono board (the RC 995 has one) so I am still using my old pre amp between my Linn table and the AUX as a step up. Dewar's offers an incredible trade up program so I plan to trade this unit up in a year to the RC 995 after I invest in a new power amp (which will probably be a Rotel too). In the meantime this little unit is great! If you are looking in this price range, you will not be disappointed.

I HAD THIS UNIT FOR AROUND 1 YEAR. I GRADUALLY HAVE UPGRADED MY WHOLE SYSTEM SINCE BUYING IT.
THIS PRE WAS VERY GOOD, EVEN OUTSTANDING FOR THE VALUE.IT WAS A GOOD PERFORMER ALL AROUND. I HAVE SINCE UPGRADED TO A BRYSTON BP-25 PRE AMP, BUT PRIOR TO THE BRYSTON I WAS REALLY PRESSED TO FIND SOMETHING I LIKED AS WELL AS THE ROTEL.

ROTEL MAKES SOME FINE GEAR, AND LIKE I SAID THE VALUE IS EXCELLENT. DEPENDING ON HOW WE WANT TO RATE A PRODUCT, I COULD GIVE IT A 4 FOR THE PERFORMANCE AND VALUE. THIS WOULD BE COMPARING IT TO PRODUCTS IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE. OR I COULD GIVE IT A 3 FOR THE BIG PICTURE. I WILL SAY 4. ITS A GOOD LITTLE PRE AMP.

UNLESS YOU GET SUCKED INTO THIS EXPENSIVE HOBBY, THIS IS A PRE AMP YOU COULD KEEP FOR YEARS AND BE HAPPY WITH.

PS. I NOTICED ONE REVIEW SAID THERE WAS NO REMOTE CONTROL. THERE IS A REMOTE.

Solid build, Remote, add on phono card option, amazing value

goofy looking remote

Finally got the 972 to compliment my 6 channel Rotel amp, was using an old Sansewage pre for years.
Well to me its worth its weight in gold........hooked it up and wow! Very open and large soundstage. It disapears totally and even makes the lousy anologue cds sound like DDDs. Have many hours to burn it in and am very much looking forward to that. Its like I have a new stereo again and since all I use it for is straight music its fantastic.
My system is complete just need to pick up some Kimber connects in the next few weeks.
I am for sure a hard-core Rotel dude and with the 6 channel amp I can bi-amp my speakers very sweet......120 watts to the woofers and 60 to the tweeters.
I highly recomend all Rotel products I mean like hey they don't even make a reciever, wonder why?