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Submitted by
Audio Expert
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: November 10, 2010
Bottom Line: It´s often emphasized that these amplifiers sound very good in bridged mode. Granted, but there´s an even better way of doing it, namely "pseudo-balanced" mode.
You´ll of cause need two RB 971 power amps, and then you short-fuse one channel on each of the 971´s by the help of a shortfused jack. Then connect each channel of the cable connecting the pre-amplifier to the remaining channel on each of the 971´s - and the power amplifiers are now in pseudo-balanced mode.
The result is an astonishing amount of control, because the transistors on one side of this stereo-amplifier are now dedicated to dampening the signal when needed. The noise-floor comes down to virtually nothing and the dynamics are amazing, even compared with using them in bridged mode.
WARNING: You should NEVER pseudo-balance an amplifier that is in bridged mode. Make sure, that it is in the normal stereo mode before you try this trick. You can´t do this with a Class A or tube-amplifier either, but you can of course do it with any normal solid state amplifier.
I have listened to my combination of two pseudo-balanced 971´s for years and wouldn't dream of changing them for anything else. Well - not at this price at least. They are an incredible amp and easily knock spots off many of the much more expensive power amps on the market, even today.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2002
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
GrahamB
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: May 30, 2003
Bottom Line: I bought this amp and a NAD C160 pre-amp to replace my faithful old mid-80's college-era Harman Kardon integrated amp a few years ago. A single amp sounded good, but 70 wpc were a little underwhelming for my Mission 704's. I've just picked up a second, used RB971 MkII in fine condition and am now running the two of them in bridged mono mode, bi-wired. The soundstage is clear and the mids and highs are especially transparent, and jazz sounds great. Bass is tight. I was concerned that bridging these amps might result in increased distortion, but I can't discern any.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2000
Price Paid:
$265.00
Purchased At: Steve's TV (Waterloo
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
James Grainger
a AudioPhileDate Reviewed: January 16, 2003
Bottom Line: I have this power amplifier bridged with another, being fed from a RA972 preamp. for the money this is an excellent amp and I would consider no other at the price. The combination in total is about £700 (English pounds, no American crap as is usual on audioreview) and has a much larger power supply than is common at this price point. This allows the dynamics in a musical signature to be reproduced realistically. Under-powered amplifiers do not have this capability that is common in high-end amps.To reproduce music realistically you need a wide bandwidth (10Hz-70KHz), Also large well designed loudspeakers are required to reproduce this frequency range. Though back to the point. These amps, as I have them in bridged mode will power almost any speaker above 4 ohms to its limit. I can't recommend these enough.
PS. At the date this literature was written, new replacement products were already released. Trust rotel.
B&W Loudspeakers are now distributing Rotel components. Since B&W are the best loudspeaker manufacturers in the world, I think everyone should trust their judgement!
Used product for: 3 Months to 1 year
Duration Product Used: AudioPhile
Product model year: 2000
Price Paid:
$120.00
Purchased At: 225
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
TonyS
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: August 21, 2002
Bottom Line: I have had this amplifier for a couple of months and I did not appreciate how good it is until I acquired a considerably more expensive amp and listened to both side by side. The midrange and highs are very brilliant. It does not have the last word in bass extension but even then the bass is very clean. In my opinion you will be hard pushed to find a better amp for this kind of money. Note of caution it requires a very decent preamp to sound at it's best. I went through three preamps before settling on my present preamp.
The reported system
Preamp: Rotel rha - 10
Source: Sony SCD XB940
Speakers: Kef 35.2
Interconnect: TCI Tigers
Speaker Cables: Shark silverplated high caps
Used product for: 3 Months to 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2001
Price Paid:
$190.00
Purchased At: London
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
pigcome
a AudioPhileDate Reviewed: August 15, 2002
Bottom Line: I bought the RB971 after reading tons of positive reviews about this fabulous amp. It was nominated as one of the best value amplifiers under $1000 in both Europe and Asia. I pair it up with the Pre-amp RC972, they work perfectly well. What really stood out the voice of this amp is its warm, open midrange. And this is what I prefer since I love to listen to female vocal and Jazz. It sounds very sweet and musical with Jazz and acoustic instruments, also giving you sufficient dynamic on low frequency. I have not discover the needs to use it in bridge mono to gain 180W per channel considering I only have a small 10’x 15’ room. Here’s my setup:
CD: AMC CD8b
Pre: Rotel RC972
Amp: Rotel RB971
Speaker: B&W 602 S2
Interconnect: Audience Au24
Speaker cable(Bi-wired): Audience Au24 (high) and Kimber 8VS (low)
Used product for: 3 Months to 1 year
Duration Product Used: AudioPhile
Product model year: 2001
Price Paid:
$400.00
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