Price Paid:  $600.00 from eBay

Summary:
I purchased the 991 to compare with the RB990 which I currently own. The 990 has great punch, while staying tight for bass and mid bass. I always felt that the high end was not as good. I am driving B&W CDM 9NT's. (Great speakers). I use a Rotel 1070 CD player and Rotel RSX1055 receiver.

My plan was to sell the amp that I liked less. When I hooked up the 991 I found that the high end was much better. However the bass no longer had the tight controlled sound of the 990. I was totally confused at this point.

Just for the fun of it I decided to try bi-amping. I use the 991 for the high and the 990 for the bass. This has worked out really well. The sound is much tighter all around. The only problem I have now is the expense of keeping both amps.

The internal amp in the RSX1055 is OK. It just lacks the strength that two 400 watt amps deliver.

Strengths:
Great high end, good mid. Lots of power. Looks great. Does not run too hot.

Weaknesses:
Slightly weak bass, not as tight as the 990. If I'd never heard the 990 I probably would not have added this.

Price Paid:  $900.00 from Intersound Melbourne

Summary:
Yes there are better amps out there but I guarantee they are all 3-4 times the price of the big Rotel and that most of them glow in the dark. This has got to be the best buy audiophile high powered amp on the market.

Strengths:
POWER!!!, control, authority, resolution, soundstaging, detail, musicality.

Weaknesses:
A bit closed in at low volumes- needs a bit of juice to really shine.

Similar Products Used:
NAD, Cyrus, Musical Fidelity.

Price Paid:  $550.00 from eBay

Summary:
I was lucky enough to find this wonderful amplifier on eBay with the original box, manual, and receipt, still under warranty :). I ordered two pair of 1m Silver Serpent interconnects from Bettercables and hooked everything up with a used Adcom GFP 565 preamplifier (using bypass for the shortest circuit path), a Denon DCM-370 HDCD CD player, and a Technics SL-1700 turntable. The sound is superb. Excellent detail and the midrange and voices are outstanding. Great compliment to my Klipsch Legend KLF-30 speakers, toned down the brightness, no listening fatigue.

Strengths:
Resolution of detail and separation of instruments, recommended by Stereophile magazine, 8-99. Low-level dynamic articulation. 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms (300 wpc into 4 ohms)of THX Ultra power, very clean. Tight bass, neutral midrange. 1.2kVA toroidal transformer, Black Gate and Wima capacitors, etc. Quality throughout. Dead quiet, no hum at zero volume. Compares favorably with amps in the $3000 to $5000 range. Should rate higher than a 5.

Weaknesses:
I want to listen to my CDs and LPs too late into the night. I am not getting enough sleep.

Similar Products Used:
Harman Kardon AVR-85, Denon AVR-3802, Amp Two, JVC, Sony, Technics, . . .

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
This thing in a word - DYNAMICS. Plenty of juice ready ON DEMAND. My speakers are inefficient (86 db Dynaudios) and this thing can drive them with aplomb. As with the 1080, though (see stereophile's review), a little volume helps brings out the best (side note my preamp - a NAD C160 could also be robbing me of a little detail, etc., and I have not auditioned different preamps). The power obviously helps bring out the shocking amount of bass my speakers possess. The amp, like my speakers, likes CHOICE equipment. The crap wires will not due. When my cables (JPS ultraconductors) broke in, it was AUDIBLY NOTICEABLE. The amp is a gem.

Strengths:
JUICE. DYNAMICS. NOT HARSH FOR SS

Weaknesses:
Not the last word in macro or micro dynamics at LOW volumes. This dissappears with a turn of the knob.

Similar Products Used:
Heard high end adcom and cary, jolida stuff.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from audioreview classifieds

Summary:
I bought this amp a little over a year ago, here, in the classifieds.

This amp worked wonders on a pair of Klipsch Legends (30s), warming-up the midrange *just* enough, and at the same time rolling off the tweeter slightly, resulting in an overall creamier-sounding presentation. I had previously powered these speakers with a 110W Onkyo receiver, and the difference is very significant.

Back around a year ago, I was putting together a system for the living room. I went through several iterations of speakers, pre-amp, amps, etc. Toward the end, my wife was just shaking her head... at some point or other I think the point of this quest was lost on her...

Anyway, about a month ago, we got digital cable, and I had to remove the transformer/isolator I had been using on the CATV cable. The result was a nasty ground-loop hum through the Rotel. So until I could get around to working (again) on isolating the CATV ground, I disconnected the Rotel, and hooked the speakers back up to the receiver. This is a reasonable mid-fi receiver, by the way, Onkyo TX-DS787. Ran the system that way for two weeks, until I had time to fix the ground. Finally solved the ground problem a couple of weeks ago, and hooked the Rotel back up.

This was on a Saturday, and after I had finished hooking everything back up, my wife asked what I had been doing. I explained, and then subjected her to a little lecture on how the Rotel improved the sound, etc, sort-of defensively thinking I had to justify the time spent, the amp, etc, but her response was words to the effect "oh good... I didn't want to say anything, but this past week I was thinking there was something wrong with the system."

Now, you don't know my wife, but take it from me, that is the highest praise I will ever hear from her for a single mysterious component that she never sees or touches. I expect that we will keep the RB-991 for a long time.

Strengths:
Warm midrange, attenuated highs tame my horns.

Weaknesses:
No 12V remote on/off

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned competitive products from Parasound, Acurus, Adcom.