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To repair, rebuild, or toss?

I have a Rotel RB 1080 amplifier which I used to power golden ear Triton one speakers.  I had the amplifier repaired once before, It needed replacement of a capacitor in the right channel. Now there is asymmetric output with respect to the right and left channel. I received a quote to repair the issue for $300 or rebuild the amplifier for $600. The question is, should I repair or rebuild the amplifier? The rebuild option entails a visual inspection and replacement of parts that look like they need to be replaced., I’m a newbie at this game, so I’m not sure what else is out there. Would the money be better off spent on a new amp, if so, which one?
 

Thank you for your input.

amplifier11
gkelly's avatar
gkelly
1,038 posts
 

Ask the dude who was repairing your amplifier if he has anything in the back that might impress you. That way, you possibly have a chance of listening to different types of amplifiers and or preamp or speakers or whatever he might have laying around. 

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

Rotel RB 1080 is a good one, worth to fix, if service is qualified! 

soix
11,242 posts
 

It’s a $1k amp that’s probably 20+ years old — I wouldn’t bother fixing it and would take the opportunity to make a significant upgrade.  What specific improvements would you be looking for?  You could get a nice integrated as you should upgrade the preamp as well anyway along with the streamer. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,944 posts
 

You don’t have to spend $10,000. 
There are excellent amps that can be had under $5,000 in example Coda No.8 or Simaudio 330a on a used market. 
Since your speakers have powered woofers you can try a Class A amp like Pass XA30.8 or XA25. They show up on used market. There’s also Parasound. 

ditusa's avatar
ditusa
2,446 posts
 

@amplifier11,

Trash the Rotel. Get a pair of Schiit Tyr mono amps $1599 each and a Schiit Kara F preamp $799. 😎

Mike

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