- I confidently state this is the best you will get at this kind of price range. Definitevely a great buy!

- The only weakness here is the price bracket we are in. Add 600$ to your budget in your quest for an amplifier and you'll see how thing start to spice up. - Nothing to fault at this price! If you don't want to spend more on your amp don't think twice: BUY IT!

At this price point there's nothing out there to compete with this little wonder. True, it is a budget amp, so it has its limitations. True: at higher volumes it has a very strained sound. I agree with the other reviewer on this, but at this price range, what do you want? Bass is punchy fast and articulate (remember the price range we are talking about...). Voices are natural, just borderline with a hint bright (still ok, not in yer face kind of stuff!), and stereo imaging is ok for the money. This can really be the Best Base for a cheap HIFI system! Just add a marantz cd player, and some high sensitivity speaker with bags of bass like the Monitor Audio Bronze 2 + some quality interconnects and bi-wire cable to really get those babys singing and you have the Best this kind of money can BUY!! (No, the b+W 601 will not sound better with this amp! The treble will be a bit more laid back, but the sound will be much more boxy and you won't get any of those wall shaking lower bass lines..! It looks like the engineers at Monitor Audio had the 931mkii in mind when they designed the Bronze 2! Enjoy it

Similar Products Used:

- Arcam 65 - Nad - Sony - Marantz - Cambridge Audio

Some king of musicality but not natural performer..

This amplifier behaves very-very different to low and high volumes and that's very annoying for the audiophile's ears.

Well, This Rotel is of course one of the best in its kind and in that price range...but that's not enough... I own this amplifier since 2 years ago and i can't say that it is so impressive as described in other reviews. It has enough power (maybe more than enough) although its a 2x35 Watt (or so...)amplifier. But that's the end of the happy trip! This amplifier has a great weakness to reproduce strong and fast bass when the music demands it! It's a very lazy to do that as much as lazy it is to reproduce clearly the fine details at high volumes (i would say that when the volume goes up the Rotel starts "screaming"). And if you pull down the volume to correct the situation, then you begin to miss any strength of the low frequencies (although you hear more easily the fine detail that was lost when playing loud...). So what would someone do with this amp? 1) Playing loud to hear the bass while confusing the entire musical image? 2) Playing to a low volume to have more clarity but miss details of the low frequencies? What a mess... That amplifier is far away to qualify as natural performer... The only thing that makes it a best seller or recommended product, is that all the other amplifiers in that price are a lot more bad than this one. I've recently hear that the Rotel RA-932MKII is a corrected version concerning the low-frequency lazinnes of both it's predeccesors: RA-931 and RA-932. Didn't have the chance to hear it though...

Similar Products Used:

Creek 4330MKII, NAD 320, NAD 340, Arcam 75, Jolida 102.

Transparent, detailed, punchy and very lively engaging sound!

Can sound harsh if push beyond its modest 35watt power.

Amps go in & out but the 931MKII has always been a great amp if you live within its limits. Drive them with efficient speakers like the Spendors, Missions, Kef, Wharfedale, Tannoys. You are in for a sonic bliss!

Similar Products Used:

too many to mention and might embarass the big boys!

Good drive, punchy bass, although it could be more controlled and fast, and a good tonal consistency. (Paid price is in pounds:180)

Flawless at this price range.

This one is quite simple: This is simply the best amp in its price range. It has an overall nice sound - maybe a bit congested on the bass, although it is a very punchy bass-, will drive easily any budget loudspekers, and will give you a sound quality you will never even dream about using a similar priced amp or midi system. Of course the soundstage is flat and there will be no air in the music, but, think about it: what amp will give you this bellow 2000 pounds... A great buy. Partner them if possible with Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (they are much better than the 3!!) or with 602 s3 from BW (they are also quite good..) and youll have a really good set up for under 300 pounds. It will simply beat any midi system worth 1500 pounds. (With the exception of the Linn Classic system.)

Similar Products Used:

Nothing at this price level!

very decent and friendly sounding. nice design, good manufactured. quality-feeling for a low low low budget price! very good Phono-Sound for this pricelevel.

no power-switch-delay (gives a "plop" to my speakers everytime I turn it on). no Remote-Control (sucks!). output for second pair of speakers do not sound the same as the main-outputs (sucks, too).s

ROTEL 931MKII Nice little amp that surprised me with its warm overall sound. Very good Phonosound at this pricelevel. Used all kind of amps before - I started many years ago with a NAD receiver, upgraded to an Pioneer A-616 and tryed some whack Technics (don''t!) and an old JVC Amp (looked cool) and a classic Marantz Receiver. Together with the NAD the Rotel is the so far best and smoothest. Although I have to admit that the Pioneer was not bad, too - not as decent as the Rotel but with grear features and some more power. use it with a Marantz CD-63SE and a Technics 1210MKII (well, not a audiophile-delight but a great machine that cannot break under the hands of my daughter ;) Speakers are Missions 733i but the SONAB Speakers I had before sounded really good with the ROTEL 931, too. Almost better but I think I have to work on the right position with the missions a little bit more.

Similar Products Used:

NAD,

Good value, Cool Spartan Amp

It could do without the (defeatable) tone control

This is my first real amplifier and I love it. I am not what you would call an audiophile, but this piece of equipment, coupled with a Rotel RCD930AX, KEF Coda 8 speakers and a Audioquest Ruby Interconnect is an excellent combination; all components came highly recommended by different retailers. Does anyone think the RA931 MkII is considerably better?

Fast, Dynamic and friendly to the ear

no remote, no Speaker protection ciruits and some non-audio grade components used. At this price.. it is resonable.

Sound
This is a excellent amp with this price. RA-931MKII is tuned to slighly warm with my Mission 701 speakers. You may use Nordost flatline or any silver plated speaker cable to overcome the mid-low if you don't like that spectrum. The background is clean and good in anti-spike, no significant noise heard when I turn on the flourecent light while the volume note is set at 10 o'clock. It is faster and more dynamic than Marantz (but still musical). Bass is more extended than marantz and NAD. However Marantz still doing better in smoothness may be someone will put it as 'Flat'.

Build
The main supply uses Toriodal transfomer. It uses a well reconized op-amp OPA26xx from burr-brown for pre-amp tone control. All resistors are 1%. It uses comparatively large coupling capacitor for all signal path, Elna 10uf/50V. All signal path is clear and organize. It also uses star ground to reduce the ground looping.

simple self upgrading for the components that I don't like for better sound.
1. change PSU-dewaving capacitors from 6,800uf/50V to ELNA audiograde 22,000uf/63V (gold print). this will reserve more power for dynamic output.

2. replace all signal DC-coupling Elna 10uf/50V (typically yellow seal) to WIMA 2 x 4.7uf/100V parallell (one on top of PCB and another on bottom of the PCB) or Sanyo OC-con to improve the HF signal trancient.

3. Solder the 1mm Silver wire or any Flat silver plated wire parellell to all Cu bar to ensure higher current delivery.
a. 3 on top of PCB : +/-/Gnd metel bar
b. 2 on bottom of PCB : L/R speaker output.

This system is highly recomended for entry user, wishing a lot of room of upgrading without spending a lot of money for changing the whole system (unlike some manufacturer try to erase all the part # or use mouded modular components to avoid modification). Highly recomended for those who like jazz, easy listening vacal and instrumental music. For pop/rock fan may consider RA-971/991, Denon 1550/2000R/ NAD-319.

Similar Products Used:

NAD c310, Marantz PM-48, Denon 1550R

NICE AMP!!!!!!!!!

Very good bass, and great performance, he can't wait to play more, easy listening,...

It doesn't have remote but I don't buy remote or lights I was bought sound!

I listen many AMP. for the same money. I bought ROTEL becouse I like his kind and sound. Many people say that it only have 2x35W per ch. But this is a very powerful AMP. which can easely run many speakers. I listen NAD to. I think that this is very similar product like ROTEL, but I think that ROTEL better play some rock music and have more bass impact. And some other sound places ROTEL play better then NAD. But if you love remote control then buy NAD C320. It is good amp to, but if you like sound buy ROTEL! I like my AMP!

Similar Products Used:

NAD C320, NAD C300, Marantz PM4000, Denon PM-355UK

Great amp. for money, quick, good bass,...

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Great cute amp., enought strong. Very nice combination KEF Cresta2 or JM lab Chorus 607.
Give a try!!!

Similar Products Used:

Marantz PM4000, NAD C320