Rotel RCD 971

Hi guys,
Been a while since I last visited this forum. I've been contemplating upgrading my CD front end for a while. My Rotel gets used quite a bit though I spend more time listening to lps. Been using this Rotel for 10 years now and there was never a time I have to complain re it's sound. The truth is I couldn't find a reason to upgrade, fearing any substantial cash outlay could be regretful. Been in and out hi fi shops the last year or so to check out and listen to more current and higher end CD players only to come home and still convinced by this tiny Rotel. Is there any previous Rotel RCD 971 owner out there who have successfully upgraded to a certain player and not missing the sound of this Rotel?

Appreciate feedback. Cheers

Till I've had a better dedicated heavy build transport that'll leave the Rotel in the dust. This "tiny" Rotel you call have so much better in its electronics circuitry and build quality than say the Marantz CD-63 and its not very reliable CD optics. Reclock the 971 and there'll be some improvement in the sonics. Even as a standalone transport, it won't beat the likes of higher end and better build transports or don't even think its near the realm of something like a Wadia. IMHO, its severest limitation is in the Sony built optical drive assembly thats budget quality (typically plasticky but never entirely nasty). One personal major dislike about this 971 is the remote interface which I don't find as entirely friendly as say operating a Philips based Marantz CDP with their remote. Few quirks and press 2 buttons to select >10. Wonder why they didn't refine this at design and makes things less complicated.

Yeah the remote's a cheap and fussy, but I got by.
Hmm, re-clock and op amp change too as recommended by someone privately. So did Octave Audio. May try this route for the time being.
Cheers.

Re-clocking & opamp rolling is a hit or miss thing. & doesnt come cheap unless DIY. i've heard some reclocked players sounding worse off.

If i were u, rather sell the rotel & use the money saved from the reclock mod, & get a better player. Btw I've not used the rotel other than the RCD 965BX.

For info (and purely my own view), Rotel players that succeeded this RCD971 were lesser in build quality and used cheaper parts in its circuitry. I think I took pictures of the later RCD-02 internals. WORLD of diff in the digital section. It was like a skimmed down version. Could think of other CDP's of this particular Rotel price having dual PCM63 dac chips and filled with numerous Black Gate (entry level types but still BG). Got any?

Wan,

Just check out these mods:

http://www.lucasmilesaudio.com.au/modified_gear/rotel_rcd971.html

http://web.aanet.com.au/~tobes/rcd971mod.htm

All the best.

Cheers,

zb

agreed with cmboy. i still keep my 90s rcd & it performs much better than my cd63 which now needs critical attention.. oucchh.. besides rotel rcd, pioneer also did use some black gates on dac section.. try to google some, who knows you may jump into one that many may too busy to notice..

Never opened mine up. Pics on internet of its innards impressive indeed. Guess that's what made me hard to upgrade all these years. Never realized this little Rotel is pretty mighty inside? And the fact it never broke down either. Time for some mods then. Cheers.

I opened mine 4 times, 1st was replace the opamps, 2nd was to replace the optics (skipping and jamming problem), 3rd was to replace a tiny belt for the tray mechanism which snapped, 4th was a reclock module. Never bothered to open again since then.

I would suggest you keep the player. PCM63 is well regarded and even today is regarded as the best dac sounding ever produced. In its heyday, it was used in all the expensive high end dac such as Theta Gen III and Gen V.

Forget about opamps and go discreet. Use rbroer's discrete output stage http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/9226-simple-i-v-tda1541.html

I spek from personal experience in this regard and I can confirm that rbroers simple i/v referred to above sounds fabulous and will elevate your player to another level which I dare say that no opamp will surpass.

Other solid state alternative is the Pass D1 output stage using mosfets. See

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/144134-irf610-i-v-convertion-pass-labs-d1-dac-single-ended.html or a jfet version; see

http://www.fetaudio.com/?p=283


I havent as yet tried these other solid state versions. However judging by the way people are raving about Nelson pass's discreet output stage for the Pass D1 which incidentally is a PCM63 design, it must be very good indeed.

If you like tubes, the PCM 63 is very amenable to a tube outputstage with a single resistor connected from its current output to ground to effect the current to voltage conversion.

Audionote had implemented the PCM 63 in this manner with the DAC 2 DAC3 and DAC4 models of the eighties. My recollection is that audionote used a cascode 6922 circuit.

Thanks







Why dont you

This CDP have dual PCM63, but its the "P" grade, not the highly sought after "K" grade. I really won't know how much audible improvement it'll make, but then again, the K grade is not like you get it so easily off the shelf. I've hinted before, this CDP is only within its price point and may never be a Wadia or similar class even with a lorry load of mods. Plasticky transports in these kind of budget to mid priced CDP's will never be cutting edge class. Of course the Rotel is open to many optional mods but nevertheless it must synergize with your system and to your personal expectations. Anyway, I won't go into comparing or determining which dac chip is or was the best. (just like there's a huge following on the Philips TDA 1541 and non oversampling mods thats supposed to be more musical or whatever they claim).
For me, I use it as secondary transport duties as it's able to read CDR's where my primary transport isn't able.

Cmboy,

PCM 63 is one of the best dac chip like tda1541. The pcm63 can sound very very good if u know how to mod it. By the way, the pcm63y is the top pcm63 chip. If u could find 2 pcs n put it into the rotel, u will know how good it is. Pcm63 chip also can do non-oversampling, the result is very good . I would susgest reclocking but not changing the opamp. Ones u change the stock opamp the original rotel sound will not be there anymore. Also not to change all the cap to black gate, u may find it the cdp may sound very dark.

Here Octave Eletronics may help....

Cheers,

I think I'd leave my Rotel as-is and not enthusiastic to pushing it to its limits. I know can do this and that, but I don't want to. I think I'm quite satisfied with another CD transport to play with. Besides, my other great enthusiasm is vinyl source.

Interesting and thanks guys. For those who offered to buy it off me, no thanks I'll keep it even if I'd upgrade. Kinda sentimental too. Cheers

I won't part with mine either. Its sometimes older CDP's can be a gem despite whatever limitations or inherent flaws it may have.
So it doesn't always mean CDP's with current state of the art dac or electronics are always better. If that was the case, the obsolete 16bit TDA1541 dac would have died a natural death long ago and used 2 decade old Marantz or Philips CDP's won't be commanding near Rm1k price. There must be some magic under the hood.

Cmboy,

Time have pass n technology of capacitors have changed. Capacitors today is much much better than 20years before. For my marrantz cd94, after I change some power supply bypass cap to SMD ceremic cap, the cdp become much quiter n more micro detail I can hear.

Cheers,

Very interesting, Im still using my RCD-991AE as a transport and it has not failed yet. Indeed ther RCD's from yesteryears are very reliable.

If you want an easy upgrade, you might want to look around for a DAC and use the 971 as a trasnport like I did.