Very warm playing and it has a vivid soundstage full bodied sort of speak.

I bought it used year 2000 for merly 50 pounds / Swedish 500krona and i can´t say anything bad about this player more than the cd tray sounds a little.

I originaly purchased October 16, 1998. to replace a previous player that had a bad laser pick up. Now almost 14 years later it is still going strong. I thoroughly enjoy the sound. I have it coupled with the Rotel RA-820B Integrated amp purchased in 1986 and listen to my music , mostly Classical and Jazz, through Beyrdynamic DT 990 (600 ohm) headphones, depth , clarity, soundstage is very satisfying to my ear. Over the past 14 years this has seen almost daily use. I have often thought of upgrading but don't have a good reason to at this point. Yes it does make quite a bit of noise when changing or loading cd's but mechanisim still works perfectly. Enjoy

clarity, performance, warm sound. nice bass

when changing disks it is a bit noisy but ver percise every time

I purchased this unit on ebay as a steal for $111 and hooked it up to my system (denon, speakerlab) and it sounded great the clarity was amazing as well as the distinct instruments that came onto the scene. This is an amazing player.

Similar Products Used:

panasonic-do not buy one!

Nice easy to use. WARM sound!!!!!

Noisy tray, loading

Nice sound. I upgraded from a Sony unit. I really did not think there would be much difference, but I was way wrong!!! Sounds fantastic! I am slowly going to listen to all my old CDs again. They all sound different. Warmer and heavier in bass. I basically stopped using my Sony months ago. I was using the analog outputs from my Toshiba SD9200 DVD player, which is excellent, but this blows that away. I only bought this unit because it was a demo and it was cheap. It was mostly to replace the Sony and thats it. But I think I will be using this for my CDs exclusively!!! Very impressed!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 5 disc

Excellent build quality. Warm sound. Price.

Elevator style loading mechanism

I have used this player for 2 years now and continue to be impressed.

My system consists of the following:

Rotel RSP-976 preamp
Rotel RMB-1075 amp
Carver CT-23 preamp (used only for tuner)
Kef Reference model 2 main speakers
Kef Reference C100 center
Kef K25 surrounds
I was initially going to buy a CAL ICON II, but my wife wanted a changer (and didn't want me to spend that much money). I found this at a local dealer as a demo unit. I have not regretted this purchase since then. This unit sounds much less "digital" than any other unit I have tried in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

old Yamaha and Mitsubishi players.

Associated equipment:
Creek 4330 R Integrated Amplifier
Vandersteen Model 1C speakers with stands
Kimber cable interconnects

I bought my player last week shortly after I purchased my Creek amp and Vandersteen speakers. Previous CD player was NAD 502. My prior system included a McIntosh MA6100 integrated amp and Dunlavy SC-I speakers. Through my new system, the NAD sounded bright and extremely bass shy. The Rotel very much seems to correct these deficiencies. Has a great bottom end, and a much smoother top end, although the NAD may be better on vocals.

The Rotel may also possess a greater overall clarity and be better at resolving minute details than the NAD.

Of course, this review has to be considered in light of the newness of my system. Vandersteen recommends 100 hours of break in for the Model 1's. I probably only have 10-15 hours on the whole system, in a new house to boot. So I am used to a little bit different acoustics. Overall, however, I would rate this player better than the NAD was, and would recommend it to anyone wanting a nice sounding changer.

The previous reviewer's complaints about the sound through the digital out has to be taken into context. He appears to base his complete review on this one facet of the player. I think that most people purchasing this unit will not be using a separate D/A. His low review on that account seems unfair.

Is this player worth $500.00? Probably, for a six disc audiophile quality changer? However, I purchased mine at a dealer new in box for $199.00. The dealer had stopped carrying Rotel, and was clearing out remaining inventory. He had lowered the price over the last few months, and I picked up the player when he gave me a deal I could not have refused. At this price, it was an absolute steal, and cost less than the NAD cost me in 1996.

Would I have paid $500.00 for the player? Actually, I probably would have spent another $200.00 and bought a Rega Planet or a Cal Labs.

Overall rating - 4 stars.

Price dependent (@ $200.00) - 5 ++ stars.

I look forward to hearing other review on this unit.

Clean sound, easy of use and of course...4+ hours of play time.

Disc loader a bit noisy.

I use this player for a multi room and outdoor system that consists of:
Rotel RC 980 pre amp
Rotel RB 976 multi channel amp
Cambridge Soundworks Outdoor Speakers
B&W (bookshelfs)

I really like this player. I have the Rotel RC 971 on my stereo system for a good comparison. While the 971 is superior, the RCC 945 is very good. The sound quality is natural and clean. The functions are easy to understand and program. For the money, I believe you would be hard pressed to find a better value.

I purchased mine on ebay. I have seen other advetised. My guess is you can pick one up for no more than half the retail.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RCD 971

I, like the listener below, picked up this product from a dealer who stopped carrying Rotel gear. He claimed it had to do with Rotel's remote issues with their surround sound receivers. Lucky me. I picked it up for a little less than 300 bills out the door.
This is an excellent changer. My other changer is a Sony 700ES (kind of older) which I also think is an excellent player. The Rotel is clearly better though. It sounds warmer to me; smoother. The bottom end is solid but not overexaggerated and the highs are detailed and clear without being bright. The changer does an excellent reproduction of sound for all the different genres of music I listen to (jazz, windham hill, rock, etc). I recommend this unit to anyone who is looking for a warm sounding CD changer for a reasonable price. Like the precious reviewer, I would not spend the original $550 for this unit, but for anywhere under $350, it is an absolute steal!

I owned the RCC 945 for about 8 months. Build quality is solid, with a good remote. Sound is quite nice. 6-disk shelf changer is awkward to use and noisy.
One of my criteria when choosing a CD changer was that it must have digital output. The RCC 945's digital output (SPDIF coax) sucks with a slurping noise, and Rotel knows it. Several digital devices (Tascam DA-30 MkII DAT deck, Audio Alchemy DTI 2.0 anti-jitter, Zefiro ZA-2 PC digital audio card) all indicated a poor quality digital signal from the RCC 945. All of these devices work fine with other CD players (Sony, Acurus, Rotel RCD 971). At the dealer, we found that a RCC 945 floor model had the same defective digital output.

I returned my unit to the dealer for warranty service, and they sent it to Rotel. Rotel sent it back saying nothing was wrong. When I called to ask about it, they said that it works to spec, and it works fine with their (Rotel) DAC. They basically said I was stupid to buy a changer and expect to use the digital output. In short, they refused to honor their warranty for a known defect.

The analog output on this unit sounds quite good. However, given the known defect in the digital output and Rotel's refusal to honor their warranty, I can only give this unit one star.