Picked one up at a garage sale for $10, my biggest bargain of the century! Drives my JBL L65s with aplomb, beautiful sound and build quality. Is my main lounge amp and has never missed a beat. A definite keeper!

No remote supplied

I bought the Rotel RA970BX in 1995 at a dealer (it was the demomodel with the full garanty) for Fl. 850,- (nowadays €386,-)!! When you take of the cover you will see a well thought-out mirror image layout of high quality electronic components without any crisscross wiring (> very short signalpaths) and a huge / heafty selfmade toroidal transformer by Rotel!! The highcurrent feed
back has special think copper wires who are directly mounted to the loudspeakerterminals !!!!!

The Balanced Design Concept by ROTEL isn't a cheap shout-out marketing trick: > it beholds /incorporates Rotel's music comes first filosofy for bang bucks!! It's this no-nonsense, frillfree and straitforward built quality for value money that makes ROTEL my favorite hifi-brand!!

After 20 years I am still hugely satisfied with this remarkable powerfull 60Watt Amp, that has incredible earthshaking bass. It has an overall neutral wide open airy sound with excellent pace and rhythm and it has very very smooth midrange and detailed stressfree trebles!!

I highly recommend this amplifier : this amp really rocks bottom, it never sounds dull or lean!!
If you can find one on the internet for a reasonable price and in good condition, snatch one !!
I reasure you, you won't be disappointed !!

Also remarkable value for money amps ; Harman Kardon HK1200, NAD 306, Sansui 217 !!

P.s.: I wanna thank Rotel's development-team for creating such a superb amp that has for- filled my musical needs with pleasurable red ears through the years ;-)

P.s.: The headphonesucket of this amp is also remarkably good!!
I use this headphonesucket as a pre-amp output to my Rotel RMB976Mk II
It does a much better job than most "serious pre-amps" (Rotel RC995)
And that is NO JOKE !!!!!!

Kind regards, Quadrupp ;-)

I owned this amp for over 16 years, matched from start with B&W's DM602 and for the past year with NAD C 545BEE cd player. Nothing to say, it still plays as good all music styles. If you (still) can find one used, even better if its mint and cheap, go for it! I don't plan to replace it for any modern home theater amp even if the claim it can be used for 2.0 Wanted to share one of my best purchase with this excellent product.

Simple and elegant appearance, very pleasing clean sounds with enough power to drive 4 ohm load easily.

No remote control.

Got this amp to replace a proton D540 that finally gave out on me after 20 years of hard use. I love the rotel, it sounds at least as good as the proton. Very clean, no distortion, open soundstage and easily drives my 4 ohm wharfedale 8.2 pro monitors.

All audiophile BS aside, this amp does what a good amplifier should - it amplifies the signal is sees without adding, subtracting or changing anything. I like it's simple look too.

Customer Service

No experience with it.

Similar Products Used:

Proton D540, various solid state vintage receivers, vintage pioneer tube receiver.

Ability to drive difficult loads, very good at ambience retrieval, soundstaging and subtlety.

A little dry on top, but not offensively so if partnered with warm speakers. I would avoid clincal and ruthlessly revealing speakers with this amp. No remote. I would not declare any weaknesses of this integrated unless it cost $2000. It would take that much to better in many areas.

I've owned this modest integrated for 8 years and it has been the primary amplification in my office system for the entire time. With Audiogon and Ebay offering the opportunity to aquire used gear at attractive prices I thought I would offer up a brief opinion on this no longer available integrated. The nuts and bolts review is that this is a very fine amplifier that far exceeds expectations when used with appropriately warm speakers, such as PSB B-25 or Dynaudio 52s. This amp will have no problem driving 4 ohm speakers and can increase power to 100 watts or so under difficult loads without strain or notice. Weighty, dynamic, soundstaging and the ability to capture ambience are all very well rendered through this little Rotel. In fact, the Rotel does this much better than several other considerably more expensive and well reviewed amplifiers that I have auditioned over the years. Just a fantastic integrated that would require the spending of much more money to be bested.

Customer Service

Available

Similar Products Used:

Creek, Portal, NAD, Jolida.

Very good build quality, great sound, nice minimalist faceplate.

A remote would be helpful when you're very relaxed, late at night.

The RA-970BX is an excellent amplifier. There is no need for me to qualify in any way all the very positive reviews that have gone before. In my system, it is driving Paradigm 3SEs, with a Yamaha T-1 tuner and a Denon DCD-735 CD player as sources. I can't fault its performance. I've auditioned much more expensive gear at hi-fi dealers, but you really have to go to big dollars to notice any real difference.

Similar Products Used:

An oldie, Monarch Series 8000, great amp!

Mid range & Soundstaging. Full dynamics at low sound levels

Nothing

I have allways wanted to own this very Rotel since it was at the fore front of What hifi recommended amps in 1997. The amp is vibrant with very sweet mid range, and also total control on the lows. The bass is earthshaking. It lacks a phono input, therefore I am pairing it with the NAD PP1 phonostage for the Turntable signal input. it is an excellent integrated amplifier

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer A-400

great sounds, purist controls

none

RA-970 BX - Great amp!!. Own it for 2+ years. Really opened up the soundstage with my speaker (which I was getting ready to replace before I bought it. 100% recommended!!

Soundstage

None yet.

I bought this piece on ebay. It is used. I can't believe the sound it puts out being rated at only 60 watts per channel. I am using this in my living room with a pair of OMH D-2's and the system sound great. No bells and whistles here, just pure smooth sound. Highly recommened!

I think $400 for a perfect sound is a good deal.Rotel RA-970BX is an exellent amp.