No deep bass, dry mid-bass, forward mid-range, harsh treble, good dynamic, plenty of power, poor finish, filmsy knobs, over-priced.If you like Rotel''s sound (it''s you choice!) buy a Yamaha, its value for money is far, far, far, far better.

very good controll of powerfull bass, good midrange, high power( especially with my speakers ;) ) and quite cheap

no remote control :/

I''m using this RA-971mk2 amplifier for 3 months with floorstanding Avance Omega 503 (500$) and I''m really happy with ma choice :)))

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cambridge A500

powerful, detailed, affordable. quite neutral, natural sounding amplifier. mids and highs sound sweet, bass is very tight.

no remote for the mkII version. care needs to be taken when choosing cable otherwise it might sound too bright.

picked this up a week ago to replace my NAD C320. after auditioning the rotel, the NAD seemed a bit too cold and clinical. very crisp, full sound but lacking in emotion and vitality. with the addition of the rotel these traits have now been cured. the top end now has more life, the bass is tighter and faster and the music as a whole is more complete. i''m picking up details in that the NAD wasn''t able to produce. thank you rotel - i now have a complete budget high end system for less than $2500 australian. - RA 971mkII amplifier - RCD-951 CD player - Tannoy M1 speakers some advice: since this amplifier is on the warm side of neutral, don''t match it with a bright CD player as this will be very noticable.

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NAD, Yamaha, Harman Kardon

I upgraded to a Nad 314 2 years ago, after owning a NAD 3020 for 15 years (great amp, really). After a few month, I couldn't stand it any more. It seems to me that the Nad 314 has a big hole in the medium range that make both the bass and the high treeble sound distorted. Then I switched recently to a Rotel RA971 and I really love it. I find it much more balanced, musical and detailed in the medium range (I can hear some details I never even suspected with the NAD 314). At the same time this amp is really dynamic in the lower range and has a great output. I usually use it at less than 1/6 of the volume level in a 60 sq meter room with two pairs of speakers (4 and 6 Ohms). The RA 971 keeps the same great capability to render faithfully a very complex message at a very low volume. The RA971 is so nice, even at a very reasonable volume level for a very decent price (500 US $).

This integrated amp is a little gem. Adequate power for most uses with a lively, involving sound. Great dynamics for an amp at this price.
Rotel has shown careful attention to detail with this piece.
The volume control is a clutched stereo pot which dispenses with the need for a separate balance control. (fewer parts means better sound).
The tone controls operate over a modest +/- 6 db range,
good for touching up overly bright movie soundtracks,
and can be completely bypassed with a defeat switch.
I'm using this with PSB Stratus Gold i loudspeakers (review forthcoming) and a matching Rotel RCD951 CD player.
Overall, a superb, full range system for $3,600 CDN (about $2,500 USD) and it was brand new!

Excellent build quality, really sounds great for music or home theater.

After a year of putting it through its paces I have been unable to find any weaknesses.

Simply an excellent choice for someone on a limited budget. The sound quality and power are much better than anything else for the price. I have it set up with Paradigm Monitor 3's and a Paradigm PDR 12 - they seem to jive nicely.

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None

I think it has more clear sound than Yamaha AX-492.

Haven't plugs for another components at rear.

I'll not write here about music reproduction, I'll notice just about Rotel style - they are great. This thing is great even when it silent, this thing is great 'as is', and I'm just happy to have it :)
Next will be Rotel CD player.

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Yamaha AX-492

have 2 of 'em bridged for left and right channel. good price for so muchpower. very quite amps. compared complete setup (with rotel preamp) to
a passive preamp setup and was very impressed. but note, just having one
amp does not impress me, i prefer biamp or bridged. with this setup i can
have both......thinking of buying another 2 amps....

setup; nakamichi cd4, tdl rtl 3, rotel preamp rc 971, nad 412 tuner

My old amp used to be a NAD 304. Eventually I was in a position to upgrade and the auditioning began. I checked out a Rotel 970BX integrated, a Marantz PM68 and a locally-made 100W power amp that I ran directly from my CD player (then a NAD monitor 5000) which had a remote volume control. The Rotel integrated kicked some butt for a 60W rated amp. Very clean, tight sound, it really brought the CD player to life. The Marantz was also cool, but I felt for a 95W rating it didn't have the guts of the Rotel. The power amp was the best, but also the most expensive (funny how that's always the case).To cut a long one short, I eventually decided to go with the Rotel 971 pre and 971 power combo for the following reasons:
1) The new 971 power amp was rated at 70W - more power.
2) I felt the separates would be more upgradeable.
3) My dealer assured me they would sound better than an integrated (for marginally more dough).
4) This same dealer gave me a good trade-in on my NAD. The Marantz dealer wouldn't come to the party, so too bad for him.
5) What Hi-fi gave 'em a five star review (every little bit helps).

In the end I didn't even audition 'em. I'd checked out the integrated version and figured these would have to be better. And they were!

Great combo for the money, should be paired with a good CD player tho (preferably smooth and musical sounding). I'm currently using 'em with the new Rotel 971 cd player (what can I say, the dealer's a good salesman!) and I'm very happy with the sound.

Next stop: RB981 power amp!

Good dynamics, nice clean looks, good beginers choise.

Could have much faster bass, no remote..., no phono.

When i bought it I was upgrading from a really bad, cheap Tachnics reciver, and from that I must say that what you got for that price was well worth it! The dynamics is the best thing about it. The thing I think could be improved most is the bass, it sounds perfectly ok and is very deep, it's just to slow. Although it only has 60 watts per channel it can drive pretty many speakers ok, and if you have speakers with pretty low demands on the amp, with high sensitivity and so on, the Rotel can sound really powerfull.
I currently have a pair of Wharfedale Modus One-Six, and the Rotel is strong enough for them, although I will soon upgrade to Dali 8008, and because of that i think it's almost neccesary to upgrade the amp to, probably to NAD's C370.

Anyway the thing is:

The Rotel is a perfect choice for the beginer, but doesn't work to good in a more demanding set, mostly because the bass would be to slow.

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A Technics reciver (2x40w).