good bass, fast,...

remote, but that doesn't disturb me!

The best product or AMP which I ever used!
You must listen that amp.
Enought strong to sing all kind of speakers.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C320

good bass, fast,...

remote, but that doesn't disturb me!

The best product or AMP which I ever used!
You must listen that amp.
Enought strong to sing all kind of speakers.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C320

Not as bad as other amps in its class,good pace,clarity-muddle free,pleasent not harsh or boomy,goes to frequeny extremes whith good cabels(only),tight,

somewhat dull and unexciting,a tad narrow soundstage,can sound lifeless whith complexed marerial.

(mk2 version)see above.
after listening to many Rotel amps seems to me that the companys concept in amplification is to avoid confronting complicated musical integrity restoration for the benefit of clarity, detail and dynamics(a trend some other companies had adoppted).
so now amps sound more accuret and tidy but lifeless dull and on the thin side. this amp is no exeption but it is one of the best in its group and a great value.

Similar Products Used:

kenwood,cabridge a500,arcam 7,nad 320

Clean and old-fashion design (I love its look)
Sound: clean, fast, bass (natural powered, textured & precision).
Soundstage: wide, natural, right instruments position, wonderful voices.

None. It is a wonderful amp for "medium high-end monitors".

I have buyed this amp with a pair of B&W 601 S3 (THREE!) so you have to be consider that this new BW series are more audiphile than the previous S2 (nearer from S1 but with the improvments of Flowport, Kevlar, better builded box, new crossover, better conections...)

I am using as sources an old Sony Discman who is fully metal builded and uses 8 Times Digital Oversampling (we are talking about a 250$ Discman buyed more than 8 years ago! You can't find anything like this today, compared with the most of CD transport of popular companys such Philips or Aiwa that pretty and little Discman is many times better than anything like this).

The 601 S3 sounds amazing as you could read at "Strenghts" section. I have runned them for more than 100 hours before writing this review and I am absolutely agree with my own decission. I usually hear MP3's coded at VBR 128 - 320 bps with an Studio Quality Codec but I should wait for my future M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 sound card before I could check how near or far from a CD are my digital songs store. By the momment I am using an old AWE32 which sounds great even that its poor SNR around 82/85dB makes music sound smaller and less crisp than my dear Sony Discman.

I have tested my equipment with a Rotel CD player an I can apreciate the difference with my AWE32, when I get my M-Audio sound card with prefessional 24 bit 96khz DAC I will write another review (smaller).

Equipment resume:

- Rotel 931MKII Stereo Integrated Amplifier
- B&W 601 S3 speakers.
- Van den Hul Skyline Hybrid
- Sources: AWE32 & "Really Old But Really Incredible" Sony Discman :-)

Similar Products Used:

Compared at the buy momment with: Rotel 971/972, little Proton, NAD C-320/340/350

Okay, a promise its a promise. After some months waiting for my perfect match I finally buyed the Audiotrak MAYA soundcard. First I want to buy the wonderful M-Audio 2496 wich as its name calls it is full 24 bits 96Khz and has an exceptional 104dB SNR... but it was too money for my students budget. So now, with 20bits DAC and 90dB Class - A weighted output from my Audiotrak MAYA soundcard I am rediscovering my MP3s collection, I repeat that I am using high VBR qualitity codec, you wont find any 128Kbps, they sound horrible, just rise into 256/320Kbps peaks heaven. All your CD collection at one click, no quality loses, and you are speaking with an audio-manic-it-must-sound-perfect person. May be with Classe and Nautilus in my room even the MAudio 2496 will become out of range but... just the truth is that just a few CDs could be at the same level than those electronics. For the "standard maniac" it sounds absolutely VBR minimun rate at least at 160Kbps (192 better).

Back to the amp, its amazing how a low cost amplifier such this, with is declared low power (modest guys those Rotel's) can rock my 601 S3, of course B&W did it again, their speakers are beatiful sounding. You know, soundstage, instruments focusing, breath... all this usual adjectives. I am listening in a little room which, lucky of me, has they walls all wood vest from the floor to the top, with a 2cm wide air chambre so their is any significant resonance and I dont worry for windows, they are big but with thick glass so they dont affect.

Impossible to listen this amp for a long time far awat from ten o'clock, the Nautilus tapered tube tweeter will shot your ears if you do that.

When I have my own house I will by 604s or may be CDM xNT powered by this wonderful Rotel 1075 / 1095, they are just amazing and very well priced.

Don't doubt about writing me!! I love talk about those themes!! See you!!

Good bass and clear treble. Simple design but sounds great

No remote.

Low output on paper but in practice sounds great with ample output. Simple design and not the most exciting but sound is whats important - and its good. Nice price too. NO remote sucks.

Just upgraded from a Harman/Kardon 3250 rcvr to the RA-931. The sound is much clearer and faster than the HK. Good balance with B&W 601's.
Very clean design but I wish Rotel would give the remote option on their low end amps. A lit volume knob would be nice so you can find the volume when you are watching a movie.

This amp is without question the best amplifier in it's price range. While shopping for a "second system", I auditioned every receiver and integrated I could find under $500.00(cdn). The Rotel provided the best sound in this price range period. It is quiet, images well and has a rather smooth character. It dosen't have tons of power but matted to fairly efficient speakers this unit sings! Highly recommended for a second system or a starter for someone just getting into hi-fi.

Used to be more of an enthusiast. I bought this because the amp my fiancee had was crap. It has a very nice clean sound. It's not warm and it's not harsh- very even. I have old (80s)Cerwin Vega towers and the 30 watts (I think) powers them just fine. It's more sound than my little house can take. I think a lighted volume control wouldn't be much to ask, also. But for the price- $300, I'm not going to complain.
I'd much rather pay $300 for this, with no extras, than $250 at Circuit City for a Denon with 100 lights, a remote and a tuner. I'm putting my money into sound!

All round player

Harsh on top and if matched with inefficient speakers it sounds stiff

This amp was my first amplifier and I used it with ROTEL RCC945 CD player and Dynaudio Audience 40. When I bought it, I already used about half of my budget on the speakers so didn't have many choices for the money left. Then RA931 showed up.
ROTEL RA931 is a good amp. It sounds clear and powerful at high volume and tend to be better sounding at higher volume.
I was amazed when I listen to Bartok from this amp. As reviewed in elsewhere, this piece unravels very complicated pieces and let them fly.
Recently I found that my speakers are somewhat inefficient and maybe RA931 is not capable of driving it to its maximum. That's the only drawback of this amp I found so far. But even with my setup, it really rocks at large volume. I have been looking for a better amp $600 but didn't find a suitable one yet.