Rotel Amp/Preamp from the mid 70's

[coopmv]

Anyone who has owned or seen these Rotel amp/preamp? They were from the mid to late 70's when all their gears were either made in the UK or in Japan.

[alanb]

never seen it before--looks mighty BIG!!!

[Dougr33]

hard to imagine that not being their TOTL back then. Are considering buying, or just found the ad?

[Russ]

Anyone who has owned or seen these Rotel amp/preamp? They were from the mid to late 70's when all their gears were either made in the UK or in Japan.

Thanks for showing that. Didn't even know they existed. I Got one of them instant "I want them now" feelings.

2 x 500 W @ 8 ohm
2 x 950 W @ 4 ohm
the THD is 0.009%

They're huge. I wonder when it comes out of "A".

[Curiosity]

Nice!

[luckyman]

Wow, that's a brute!

[crooner]

Those are the "holy grail" of Rotel, so to speak.

BTW, was there any Rotel gear made in the UK?
They sometimes advertised themselves as a UK enterprise, yet the origins of the company are in Japan. Rotel stands for Roland marTel.

[KT88]

You'd have to have those completely rebuilt if you were going to try and use them today with any safety. They are too old and lots of components would be out of spec and some might not even function. Since they are DC coupled, you could blow your speakers easily with a bad one. I know; I did about 12 or 13 years or so ago.

Lotsa knobs and buttons for the wannabe geeks. The meters and the big rack handles don't hurt a thing for the bigger is better crowd either. Cool old design though, They'd be crankin' out my favorite 8-Track selections as my bell bottoms flapped with the 15" woofers... ;-)

[coopmv]

hard to imagine that not being their TOTL back then. Are considering buying, or just found the ad?

Visiting audio dealers in the 70's and 80's used to be a major pastime for me. In the process, I have collected gobs of product brochures. I just took an inventory the other day, ran across this brochure and decided to scan in this Rotel amp/premap combo since they look so cool. I scanned the brochure at hi-res PDF but cannot upload it to the thread due to size restriction.

[tomman888]

That was their biggest offering, ever, IIRC. 500wpc and quite heavy!!! Awesome setup.

[coopmv]

Anyone who has owned or seen these Rotel amp/preamp? They were from the mid to late 70's when all their gears were either made in the UK or in Japan.

Here are the complete specs for the amp. The amp was either made in the UK and Japan. According to the 1980 Stereo/Hi-Fi Equipment Annual Review, the list price was $2700 USD.

STEREO DC POWER AMPLIFIER RB-5000q; Class AB operation r DC amplification for dynamic
range .500 watts per channel, min. RMS, both channels driven into 8 ohms from 20 to 20,000H with no more than 0.009% total harmonic distortion. Direct-coupled Darlington quadruple parallel pushpull, OCL pure complementary output circuitry to assure large power outputs . 2 totally independent power supplies with 2 toroidal power transformers and 4 720V -22,O0qrF electrolytic capacitors virtually eliminate transient crosstalk; 2large average-watt meters and 16 LED peak indicators; Calibrated 2dB-stepped attenuator-type level controls; Subsonic and low filters; Meter range selector for convenient readout from very small to very large powers on the watt meters; Power limiter to match maximum power output of individual speaker systems .3 pairs of speaker systems; Input on-off switch for safety; Standby, overload and protection indicators; Gold-plated input jacks guarantee corrosion-free contact; Cannon-type inputs for professional studio use . Third separate power supply for the relays and the front panel indicators; Complete electronic protection; Forced air cooling by thermal controlled fan

SPECIFICATIONs: Continuous Power Output:5OO watts per channel, min. RMS, both channels driven into 8ohms from 2O to 20,000H2 with no more than 0.009% total harmonic distortion Total Harmonic Distortion:0.009% (20 to 20,000H2, rated power) lntermodulation Distortion: 0.009%; Freguency Response: DC lN (1W/ch, 8 W); DC-110kHz(+ 0d8. -1dB). AC lN (1W/ch, 8 W);20-110kHz (+0d8, -1dB) lnput Sensitivity/lmpedance: RCA; 1Vl50 kohms, CANNON: O.775Y / 600 ohms Damping Factor: 18O (20 to 20.000 Hz ,8 ohms) Hum and Noise:12OdB {lHF A network) Crosstalk:7OdB (10kHz) Dimensions: over all (W x H x D mm): 482x24O x43O Weight (net): 53kg

[tommy-thewho]

That was a great ad there.

500 watts per channel. Unbelievable....

Hope the lights don't dim when you turn it on....

[coopmv]

That was a great ad there.

500 watts per channel. Unbelievable....

Hope the lights don't dim when you turn it on....

I do not own this amp. I just happened to recently come across the Rotel brochure I picked up years ago and thought this amp was cool and that Rotel has not made another power amp like this over the past 25 years.