Josh Wolfman

Do the Outlaw 970 and 990 sound the same?

I notice they use different chips but I think that is for processing capabilities. Do these preamps sound the same? Is there any difference in sound quality?

Theater One- Sonus Faber Grand Piano, Solo, Concertino, Aragon 8008x3, Marantz MA-500 (3- 1 in box, 2 being used to pwer rears), Carver TFM-35 (in box), B&K preamp/processor 3090, Sony DVDNC655p/B, Pioneer LD Player, Velodyne Servo F1200, Sony 36XBR800

Theater Two- Kef Q50,Q10,Q90, Sony DA4ES, Pioneer LD S201, Adcom GCD700, Pioneer DV414, Toshiba VCR, Hitachi Ultravision 50" RPTV, Tivo 90 hour Series2, Xbox live, SVS 2531 PC+

Doug_

Re: Do the Outlaw 970 and 990 sound the same?

I auditioned both side by side and there is really no comparison; the 990 is a beast compared to the 970. I did a small review of them compared to the Yamaha 2500 used only as a pre/pro as well here:

http://processors.globalmutantd.com/

The 990 is a nice unit for the price, but I ended up with the Anthem AVM30 and there was no comparison between it and the 990. If budget allows you could look for a used Anthem AVM20/AVM30 as they are not a whole lot more than the 990 these days.

Doug

Joe S.

Re: Do the Outlaw 970 and 990 sound the same?

Hey Doug, so in what spefic ways do you like the AVM30 better than the 990? And what amp did you couple it with? I have an outlaw 950/750 setup and have been eyeballing a 990 upgrade. Would be interested to hear more of your opinion.

Thanks...

Doug_

Re: Do the Outlaw 970 and 990 sound the same?

Joe,

The Anthem has more detail for HT and the center channel sounds less harsh than through the 990. For 2-channel, the Anthem sounds incredible. I also never could get the subwoofer to integrate well with the 990. The Anthem has two separate crossover schemes, one for music and one for cinema. You can also set the side surround channels to shift to the back surround channels for the 6-channel direct-in input. There are also 4 zones all capable of playing separate audio on the Anthem as well. I could go on and on. There are more bells and whistles and settings than most should ever need.

I coupled the AVM30 with the Emotiva MPS-1 amplifier. The MPS-1 is an incredible amp. Never gets even warm, and pipes out very detailed sound. I have never been happy with receivers\pres and amps (always thinking there was something more out there) until I paired these two toghether. I now have no plans of upgrading for some time.

I would say the 990 achieves about 80% of the HT performance of the Anthem and about 60% of the 2-channel performance of the Anthem. Features/software/upgrade wise the Anthem again smokes the 990.

Let me know if you need to know anything specific between the two as I'd be happy to give you my 2 cents on both the units.

Doug

BUGGERS

Re: Do the Outlaw 970 and 990 sound the same?

Thank you for that comparison!