chung_sotheby
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2002
- Messages
- 857
Just to chime in;
I think that my personal experiences may have some merit. Long ago, I compared an Outlaw 950 to an HK 520, preamp sections only. What I found was that in terms of movie reproduction and decoding, the 950 beat the 520 by a noticeable margin. Sounds seemed to not only have width and depth, but also height and transparency. In contrast, the 520 had a very nice sound, but not as involving or atmospheric as the 950's. However, the 950's musical performance seemed a little lean, a little bright, and a little compressed when compared to the HK520. Why this is, I don't know, but that is what I felt. Given the fact that my parents needed a new receiver, and that I was going to be running either component as a pre/pro only, I decided to keep the Outlaw. Months later, I was able to get my hands on a Rotel RSX-1055 for $800 (don't ask) and since I heard that it was the same pre/pro section of the RSP-1066, I decided to give it a run against the Outlaw. In short, the movie decoding performance between the two units was almost identical, with a few advantages going to each processor, but with music performance the 1055 won hands down. Much more spacious, clearer, less harsh and bright and brittle. While the RSX-1055 retails for $1299, one could find it for $1000-1100 at the time, and it comes with 5 channels of pretty good amplification, with the ability to use the front two channels to power two center back channels, if you so desire. Therefore, I felt that the Rotel was a better deal than the Outlaw, all things considered. Therefore some receivers outperform the Outlaw processor, while others don't. I think that generalizations like "all receivers have crappy preouts" and "all receivers over $1000 can outperform the Outlaw" are total bull$#!t, and that the only way to really decide is to demo as many units as possible. Saying this, in my experience if you are willing to spend up to $2000, there are only two alternatives: An outlaw or rotel processor (950 and 1066/68, respectively), or a good receiver (Rotel, Pioneer, Sony, HK, Denon, Yammy, etc.) However, once one goes over the $2000 plateau, they should really start looking for seperates, for at this price point there are some really attractive pieces that will most likely outperform receivers at the similar price point (ie B&K Ref50 vs Pioneer VSX-47tx).
JMHO
I think that my personal experiences may have some merit. Long ago, I compared an Outlaw 950 to an HK 520, preamp sections only. What I found was that in terms of movie reproduction and decoding, the 950 beat the 520 by a noticeable margin. Sounds seemed to not only have width and depth, but also height and transparency. In contrast, the 520 had a very nice sound, but not as involving or atmospheric as the 950's. However, the 950's musical performance seemed a little lean, a little bright, and a little compressed when compared to the HK520. Why this is, I don't know, but that is what I felt. Given the fact that my parents needed a new receiver, and that I was going to be running either component as a pre/pro only, I decided to keep the Outlaw. Months later, I was able to get my hands on a Rotel RSX-1055 for $800 (don't ask) and since I heard that it was the same pre/pro section of the RSP-1066, I decided to give it a run against the Outlaw. In short, the movie decoding performance between the two units was almost identical, with a few advantages going to each processor, but with music performance the 1055 won hands down. Much more spacious, clearer, less harsh and bright and brittle. While the RSX-1055 retails for $1299, one could find it for $1000-1100 at the time, and it comes with 5 channels of pretty good amplification, with the ability to use the front two channels to power two center back channels, if you so desire. Therefore, I felt that the Rotel was a better deal than the Outlaw, all things considered. Therefore some receivers outperform the Outlaw processor, while others don't. I think that generalizations like "all receivers have crappy preouts" and "all receivers over $1000 can outperform the Outlaw" are total bull$#!t, and that the only way to really decide is to demo as many units as possible. Saying this, in my experience if you are willing to spend up to $2000, there are only two alternatives: An outlaw or rotel processor (950 and 1066/68, respectively), or a good receiver (Rotel, Pioneer, Sony, HK, Denon, Yammy, etc.) However, once one goes over the $2000 plateau, they should really start looking for seperates, for at this price point there are some really attractive pieces that will most likely outperform receivers at the similar price point (ie B&K Ref50 vs Pioneer VSX-47tx).
JMHO
