What pre/pro will your Outlaw 950 be replacing? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Prillaman]

Replacing my Outlaw 1050 with the 950.

I think a lot of the people interested in the 950 are interested in getting in to separates for the first time, and are using receivers as pre/pros currently or are buying the 950 and amp(s) at once to replace receivers.

 

[Will]

So far, more people are going from a receiver to the 950 pre/pro than from another pre/pro to the 950.
In addition to finding out what the 950 replaces, which is very interesting in itself, I'm also curious how long whatever the 950 replaces has been owned. One year? Three years? Five?
Will

 

[Brian Schucher]

I doubt you will find many people with high end pre-pros replacing them with the Outlaw...Why would they??

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Deane,

About 3 months ago, I decided to replace my SR780, mainly because it doesn't do DTS etc., and brought home a B&K AVR370 reciever. The difference in the sound between the two receivers was night and day with my setup and to my ears. The B&K sounded much better especially in the HT arena. This experience opened my eyes (or ears as the case may be) to what I was missing. I returned the B&K since I decided to go with separates. I have since bought a Rotel 1095 and am currently using my SR780 as a pre/pro.

Jeff

 

[Matthew Anderson]

The 950 will replace my Yamaha RX-V795 which has served me well but this new processor will be so nice.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Jeff:

Did the Rotel 1095 used as an amp on the SR780 change the sound much. I assume it did.

Deane

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Deane,

Yes. The Rotel is a definite upgrade in sound quality and detail in my system. The combined SR780/Rotel 1095 still doesn't touch what the B&K unit had, however. I think I'm going to need a 950 to beat it.

Jeff

 

[MikeAF]

I will be replacing the Pioneer Elite receiver I have had for almost 3 years, and the Outlaw better last as long or my wife will not be happy I just bought a 6-channel Cinepro amp to go with the 2-channel Cinepro amp I already have. I have the Dive 6.1, C3 and R3 system with some ---please no flames -- some old Bose speakers for my rear surrounds, all waiting patiently with my dual SVS 20-39CS subs for the Outlaw. I may go with the Aragon Stage One since I can get it for a very, very good price, me hopes, but we'll see how long down the Outlaw list I am. Then for awhile the audio side of my HT will be finished (if you believe that I have some green desert land here in Arizona for sale at a great price), then I'll begin working on a new HDTV and new progressive scan DVD/DVD-Audio player. I hope to hear from the first 950 owners as soon as they can pull themselves away and give those of us farther down the line a good review.
Mike

 

[Brian Steeves]

I doubt you will find many people with high end pre-pros replacing them with the Outlaw...Why would they??

Well I would think that the features the Outlaw offers would be enticing to those with the older pre/pros that don't have analog pass through, 5.1 channel input, component video switching, newer decoding formats such as EX DTS-NEO DPL-II etc.., Newer DACs, the list goes on...

 

[Deane Johnson]

The Rotel is a definite upgrade in sound quality and detail in my system. The combined SR780/Rotel 1095 still doesn't touch what the B&K unit had, however. I think I'm going to need a 950 to beat it.

I will be anxious to hear about your results.

Deane

 

[Will]

Rotel 1095

This is a 5 channel amp. I wonder how many people will use the 950 initially in a 5.1 arrangement.

 

[TomH]

Dying Carver CT-7 DPL pre/pro.

 

[John Morris]

Hmmm, the last preamp/processor that I had in my system other than the 950 was a defective Rotel 1066. Before that, during the past year, I've had a Denon 3801, Sherwood Newcastle AVP-9080r, Lexicon DC-2, and a B&K Ref 30.

 

[Brian Schucher]

Merc, have you not liked any of them? Is something eluding you? Im just curious..you had some really nice highly regarded pieces there.

 

[JeromeS]

I'll be replacing a Yamaha HTR-5250 used as a pre-amp. By the time I receive the 950 I would have had it for 1 1/2 years.

 

[Brian Steeves]

If you look at it that way, why not replace an old Theta Casablanca with a $500 receiver with all the current formats? Because its all about sound quality in the seperates world and I'm more than willing to concede that a high end 5.1 processor will offer a better overall sound than a midfi pre or receiver with the latest formats.

This is exactly the way I feel. I have been using an Onkyo Integra receiver as a preamp for the last couple years eagerly anticipating being able to afford a seperate pre/pro. The way I see it is I would probably be better off buying a used pre/pro of higher quality without all the bells and whistles. Yeah the Outlaw and it's clones have the latest DACs and processors but it's not it what it has but how well it's implemented. For instance a very well made CD player with a 1 bit DAC can outperform a 24bit dac in a cheap player.

So the question that still remains is does the Outlaw perform at the level of an older higher end pre/pro? If so then wouldn't it make sense for me to buy the Outlaw instead of a used high end piece with no warranty? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

 

[Serge Breton]

Brian,

it's like i said before, the 950 has been 2 years or more in the making. Software is just as important as hardware and Outlaw sure have taken their sweet time to tweak (and tweak and tweak....) to get this processor to market so i beleive the Beta testers and all of us will soon see that the 950 is indeed a barnburner. Whether the seperates marketplace is impacted to force manufacturers to be more reasonable with their pricing remains to be seen.

I highly doubt i will be eating my words here.

My old Acurus Act 3 was the best value in it's day and today i believe the Outlaw 950 even at 2k will still be the value/performance leader in today's market. We'll see!

 

[Martice]

I remember not too long ago, the Outlaw 750 was supposed to revolutionize the pricing of power amps. Now that time has passed, it seems that the 750 didn't really revolutionize the amp industry at all. What it did was give the audio/video consumer who would normally own a receiver an alternative and introduction to the world of seperates. How this relates to the 950 (to me) is that if the Outlaws follow the trend that they have set in the past, the 950 should be a no brainer for a certain crowd of HT lovers and even some who claim to be 'critical listeners' of audio. However, just like the 1050 receiver had 6.1 decoding and a few bells and whistles and a small price tag, it still had it's shorts(lack of power). The 750, although it made many of consumers happy with their systems, it still found it's way to the same level of consumer that the 950 is destined to cater to and that's the person who is looking to get into seperates for the first time or the person who has seperates but is interested in one of the many features that the 950 boasts. I can't comment on the sound because I haven't heard it but just like it's siblings, I'm sure that there will be some shorts that were taken to keep it from being the end all, be all of pre/pros.

Do you think it could be the sound?

 

[Serge Breton]

i don't know if the Outlaw 750 was suppose to revolutionise the pricing of power amps at all. Basically the consumer was getting a $1700 amplifier for an $1100 price tag since the amp was sold directly and exclusively over the internet.

I have never heard this amp but consumers and reviewers alike claim that for the price this amp is very good.

 

[John Morris]

I can't comment on the sound because I haven't heard it but just like it's siblings, I'm sure that there will be some shorts that were taken to keep it from being the end all, be all of pre/pros.

Well, I CAN comment on the sound of the 950 and that is the reason WHY I am getting one of these units. I simply don't give a rat's ass about features, DSPs or any of that nonsense. What I do want is a solid DD-EX/DTS preamp/processor which has an absolutely transparent analog bypass for music playback. The 950 has that in spades! And it does that better, IMO, than any of the units that I've had recently including the Lexicon DC-2 and the B&K Reference 30.

So, I guess it depends on what you want in a preamp/processor with regard to whether the 950 is the unit that's right for you.