OMG ,wot a dick

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5770491282&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

 

?

 

I think he means the price, either that or his misses is doing her job properly.

 

well that preamp is a 12 year old design and only costs £150 new!

 

well it does say that the starting bid was 10 quid, so frankly it's whoever is the bidder that's the dick...

 

yes, the buyer/bidders I mean, I think it was actually £129 new.

 

LOL,...I was watching this auction too and after recent posts on this forum regarding these units selling s/h for no more than £60.00 was truly amazed on the final selling price. Pure insanity.

Maybe the buyer will pay me top money for some old gear

 

I have the 870BX, its a got a minor fault but it works perfectly for what I use it for, the phone stage is decent quality, but the rest is nothing amazing, I use it as a switch box as well and there is no audiable loss of quality but then apart from the turntbable the sources going through it are not the best.

I would have thought £40-£60 is more like it.

 

Amazing. I've got one of these from new that I used for a few months to tide me over before getting a Linto. If I were in the UK maybe I would put it in ebay too. Maybe I should sell the Linto and keep the Rotel

 

I opened the back of mine once, the engineering is nice but not 100% audiophile, they have the usual large Elna capacitors and a nice Torodial transformer but the switches are in the sound path, they don't use PCB switches controled by a bike brake style cable as some amps do.

Also due to the age of these things although mine is fine for what I need it for they probably could do with being recapped.

I am not sure how old there are but I as an educated guess I would say between 1988-1992.

 

They only really go for around £60 on ebay usually.

I think switches are better than the bike cable personally.

My guess from a review is around 10 yrs old, 1995.

Construction of rotel is very good, solid metal, I like the way they put 'boots' around the power switch, and I think there are some black gate caps in it.

opamp is ad744, pretty good by all accounts.

 

Newer than I thought then, the styling is very similier to a 1987 Sony system my parents had (it was state of the art at the time though).

All I know is that the Marantz amps are suppose to have very good phono stages for budget integrateds, however the phono stage in the Rotel is significiently better quality, there is a lot better bass and more depth to the vocals.

Mine is the 870 though, so either its older or a more basic model. I am sure its as good as any modern sub £200 pre amp anyway. They still look quite modern as well.

 

Those nice people at Rotel, have sent me 5 service manuals free of charge, some places charge at least £15 for them.
nice bunch. many thanks, if only all companies were serviced that way.

 

I'm using the Rotel RQ970BX at the moment, however mine has had some DIY Mods done to it, following instructions from a Hi-Fi World magazine article of a few years ago, which has pushed its cost to upto about £120, i still consider that it offers good VFM even at this price though (post mod ).

If i was the seller of this paticular auction i would be feeling extremely happy with myself. £50-£80 is about the money for this item on the s/h market , however that isn't to say that it cannot compete on equal terms with other Phono stages costing much more than this. I have had two of these Rotels now, regretted selling my first so bought another a couple of years later...

I've not looked at the tranny that closely however I'm not sure that it is a toroid, it looks like some kind of frame transformer and is installed within a sheilded cage, well away from the signal circuit board. The PCB does seem to be populated with some decent quality components including Rubicon Black Gates and Nichicon 'Great Power' ?? Can't see why they would go to the bother of including these components for no reason as they spend their lives out of sight and mind, with no mention in the instruction manual or other literature of what electronic components are used in construction. Most folk who use Hi-Fi probably don't even know what a capacitor does, or how it works if they were being honest.

Sids Rotel - Naked

 

I should point out at this stage that I have the RC870 not RQ870, so mine is an integreted pre-amp if there is such a thing.

 

Well I wish the guy luck getting anything out of the guy who bought it.

Now he does sound a dick!