I got the rb990bx from the original owner to replace a Rotel 1603 rx receiver. I use it to power a pair of Eminent Technologies LFT 3. The sound is very detailed and free of any additional “coloring”. I have heard these speakers through an Adcom GTF 555 and a Meitner 100 mono blocks and i can say the Rotel is on par with the Meitner and much better than the Adcom and my vintage Rotel receiver. I highly recommend it.

I can not say enough about the RB-990BX. I personally have three.

I have turned many a friends on to rotel amps. They don’t sway, they have reserve and can drive demanding loads.

My main speakers are Magnepan 1.6QR and IInfinity 6 series in different rooms.

I have even drivin a pair of B460 Subs with two of these amps, they can produce current – I have neighbors that unfortunately can attest to it 😉

If you can aquire one you will be happy. I’ve had a ton of listening sessions at my house with many speakers… friends buy by rotel if they can not afford McIntosh.

The RB-990BX/RB-1080X can be had for $600-800 on ebay – a steal if you find one.

For the many years I’ve had these amps I’ve only had two reapirs, that were both less that $100 US. A bargain.

I still like my MC-2500 pairs, and MC-2255 pairs, but the rotel are really close and priced right if you can snag them.

Enjoy!!

Similar Products Used:

McIntosh – MC-2500
McIntosh – MC-2255
Yamaha …….

It’s an incredible amp.

Rotels story on powersupplies I think is correct. Speakers continuesly show changing Impedance, so amps are asked to give a lot of power very quickly, continuously too. That’s why the transformer in the first place must be able to deliver this. That isn’t very difficult, but it is expensive. Therefore Rotel produces them theirselves, according to their own specs, so within the pricerange of a device, more can be spent on high quality capacitors for example.

Retailprice of the RB 990 was 1150 euro’s = 1600 dollars or so. It delivers 200 Watts at 8 Ohm and 330 at 4. Dampingfactor is 1000. Lay out and design were based on the famous Michi line of the 90’s. This all gives you powerfull, controlled, transparant and detailed sound.

Bad recordings are easily disguised. Roteldevices don’t add or take away a lot from the original signal taken from cd or other sources. So it’s very pure. You can easily tell about the way the recordings have been done. If the system used for that was warm and bassy sounding, you will probably hear a cool and thin, lack of bass recording: adjustments of the producer, because of warm sound in the studio and personal preferences maybe. And vice versa: thin and cool studiomonitors tend to result in recordings with much to much bass for example. You can hear if quality of recoring ecuipment and setup was good or not.

TOO OFTEN this example is said to be the insufficiency of the playback ecuipment under review!!! TOO MANY recordings are really bad.

Other possible sources of such ‘insufficiencies’ : cd players, pre-amps, and speakers that are not able to reproduce a tight bass (again: for example). Even cables and interlinks can play a role here. Also very important: acoustics of your room! And setup of listeningtriangle!

It’s possible you want more Bass in this case for example. It’s possible you like other brand amps (or cd players, pre amps, speakers etc.) which give you that (they add it…) Then you have too look for that. I can tell you this: if a recording is good (tight, pregnant and low Bass, smooth mids, well recorded voices, transparancy, silky highs etc) this Rotel is unbeatable at the price.

So this is what you get through the RB 990. In the complete chain of recording music, and than playing it back in your acoustic listeningroom, the Rotel just gets out of the way. If only the other elements in this chain were that good……….

This one is to enjoy for many years, even though it has been around for more than a decade. I know this all because I owned it for 6,5 years. I bought the twice the price RB 1090 poweramp lately: see review. This even gives me more of this all!

For this price I think it;s hard to find competition for the 990. If you want one and see one secondhand: don’t let it go…

Hey Paul K.: I know you will enjoy this one for many years! I’m glad my baby has found a good new home.

Similar Products Used:

Integrated RA 980 BX, Poweramp RB 991, Poweramp RB 1090.

The Rotel RB990BX is a killer amp for its new price & for its used price, makes it, one of the great buys of all time. First off forget about Acom, & NAD, this one offers a huge 3D soundstage with power & sound quality that rivals some of the most expensive amps. No wonder, it has a massive encapsulted toroidal transformer with four large Hyperfoil output caps & build quality is over the top! Connect a quality preamp & your there! Highly recommended component!

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list.

Thanks for all comments at this site. I used those many times. OK, I do own now the RC and RB 990 and RCD 991, modified with new powercords. What an upgrade coming from a Luxman integrated amp. This amp really drives and plays my B&W 801. Great choice that Rotel products and good priced

I bought this amp very very cheap s$450/-( US 225/-)initially to be used as secondary system, but tried it on
my primary system, I was stump! with “black diamond racing cone:3” under it driven by “monarchy audio 18B” feeding signal from “sony DVPS 7000” & reclock by “monarchy DIP”
run thru by digital cable “VDH THE FIRST” with interlink
“VDH D 102 MK 3” & speaker cable “VDH THE WIND” & it hold my “SONUS FABER ELECTA AMATOR” in a vice like grip! with its focus,sweetness & transparency rivaling those high end pretenders (read expensive).And guys & gals I’ve returned the ‘krell’ to my friend (he let me used & considered sold if I like it) & relegated my ‘MUSICAL FIDELITY F 15 to my bedroom! what else can I say.
what a shame there’s no gold stars!

Similar Products Used:

musical fidelity,krell 100.