[John Menoni]

I finally got the system wired up and I must say that I'm very impressed with the sound. It has so much more thump than my old THX select certified reciever. I couldn't be more impressed. After all the planning and decision making, I'm really happy with the decision to go with seperates by Outlaw as opposed to going with a THX ultra reciever. I don't think the Pioneer Elite VSX 49 THi I heard at electronics Expo has anything on my Outlaw system. I am aware that the room I heard the Pioneer in is completely different than my room, but that should favor the Pioneer if anything. My room is problematic at best. If anyone is thinking of giving the Outlaw system a shot, I say DO IT!

[John S]

Sounds really cool. can you give some more details about the installation?

Like speakers your using, room environment and size?


I'm ever curious as an on the side installer.

[John Menoni]

Hey John. I have a room that is very far from ideal. It is a basement with sheetrock over concrete walls, and ceilings that are about 6 1/2 feet. They even go lower in some places because of overhead pipes. The room is a decent size but the furnace room in the dead center of the room presents all kinds of sonic problems. The area that I chose for the HT is about 23 feet long. Unfortunately in the main seating area toward the middle of the room is right were the furnace room is and it is only 79 inches wide. I put acoustical wall fabric on the walls and that helps with the sound quality.

As far as the speakers I'm using. I am in the process of upgrading to the M&K 150 THX system. Right now I have the S-150 Left/Right Angled speakers but I'm having a hard time finding the center channel and SS-150 tripoles for the surrounds. Right now I'm still using my old klipsch center, surrounds, and rear surrounds. Even with the old klipsch speakers, it still sounds amazing. I'm really happy that the Outlaw system is such a vast improvement over the THX select reciever I was using over the years. I knew the M&Ks would make a big difference because I have heard them before. After all this planning, this is finally coming together.

[eddieZEN]

John M.,

Congrats on the Outlaws, I was drooling at them too a few months ago before the all-digital Panny bit me. I'm sure they sound fabulous indeed.

You might want to look into the Ascend speakers, they were designed by a former M&K designer and are often said to offer similar neutrality, detail and flat frequency response.

ascendacoustics.com

Surprisingly very very affordable compared to the likes of M&K, largely because they're Internet-direct so no middleman's extra markup. I'd post on their website forum and see if you can find an Ascend owner in NYC who'd let you come listen. You can also call them up and chat, they have outstanding customer service.

I have their 340s across the front and have been extremely pleased. Recently found them to be far better than some Monitor Audio floorstanders costing almost 3 times as much. They have been incredibly well-reviewed by pros as well as consumers, just do a Google search and you'll see.