Does anyone know when the $1500 Outlaw pre/amp is due? (1 Viewer)

[Kelly Scott Rickards]

The only info on Outlaw's site is this:http://www.outlawaudio.com/news/july_future.html
Does anyone know anything else about this unit?
If Outlaw can deliver the 950 for $900, imagine what the $1500 unit will be like...
Also, I heard rumors about a pre/pro from (I believe) either Sherwood or Shurborn that will be under a grand as well.....any info?

 

[Ron Eastman]

Outlaw says that unless they can deliver twice the performance for that price (unlikely, since the current unit is loaded) that they aren't going to proceed with plans for that higher end model.
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[Bhagi Katbamna]

I recently re-read one of my Stereophile Guide to HT and it mentioned a soon to come out Outlaw HT pre-amp/processor. It was I believe in the Sept. or Oct 1999 issue. Supposedly the pre-amp is coming in Sept/Oct this year.

 

[Tony Lai]

I thought the high-end preamp was canned.
It was inevitable really.
A $599 low end unit and a $1,500 high end unit is just an unfeasible business forecast.
They could never make one for $599 so it would bracket creep higher until it was midpoint between $599 and $1,500.
Once it hit ~$1,000 - what's the point of a $1,500 one?
There's one preamp - the Outlaw 950 and it's a compromise of course, it's features are good but obviously some people are going to be left out.
T.

 

[Randy G]

Actually, according to the Outlaw's most recent email update, they DO plan on putting out a higher end processor. I asked them when, but they refused to even estimate.

 

[Oliver]

Actually I have the feeling that a lot of people misunderstand the amount of features with resulting sound quality. These are two pair of shoes and have nothing in coming. That said, I hope that for the price they offer it and the features onboard they did still have some bucks left for high end parts to improve the sound quality.
Naked specs do say nothing about that, so only critical listening will show what the unit is really worth.
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[MatthewJ S]

hey now! , I say ditto to our friend's comments from germany, but alas this is the world of internet and direct marketing ,there is no room here for side-by-side auditioning of competitive gear through the same equipment. Just take the word of every expert on the net who read the specs, determined that the unit had every format-du-jour, and bell and whistle of the week and had it sent to his home where, when running through his gear, it sounded better than his last unit that he was replacing(as everything new and improved likely would) and so sound quality diferences have become far more psychologically influenced, after all , anyone who has read everything(like specs) about all the units can tell which one to buy and they never make mistakes , so in the absence of a/b comparisons they are certain to have made the right choice.
direct marketing is sooo cool this is why bose and cambridge sound works have had such success with it!

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Last time I talked to Outlaw (about 1 month ago)...
There will be a $900 preamp released in October (or even late September). It will be shown at the National Hometheaterforum Meet in LA on September 29th.
Also, no firm word on the higher end preamp. Something they orginally planned on, but they think they have everything they need in the $900 unit, so they are not sure about an even more feature laidened unit, which would have a price point about $1700 (if I remember correctly).
Regards
Gregg
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[Claude M]

Just a wild guess: some time after the 950 has been release (say over a year, perhaps closer to two years) the new $2000 unit will be available. By then the 950 will be out dated. The 950 will still be available, maybe for a little less $$. With any luck their will be talk of a software upgrade available to fix some bugs for the 950 but who knows (don't you just love an optimist!) Sorry gang, I just hate how things become outdated so quickly. But at the same time I love the new stuff! You can't have it both ways when it comes to digital technology.

 

[Randy G]

This is from a 7/17 Outlaw email:
" We'd like to make it clear that we still intend to offer a high-end processor, but at this point it isn't appropriate to go into timing or other specifics."
I also would agree with Claude's theories on timing.

 

[GregoriusM]

You also have to consider that the 950 pre-amp is not the only thing that Outlaw is working on.
Front Projector
DVD player
7-channel amp
Interconnect cables
Some of it just might have to do with resources, either financial and/or personnel. They obviously don't want to rush anything out the door that will prove to be a marketing nightmare.
You don't just run out and hire a bunch of electronics experts so you can throw together a higher end pre-amp. It seems to me that IF there is going to be a higher end pre-amp, that they will take everything they've learned from the lower end one and improve on it, using the same personnel.
IMHO!
Here's what they say on their site, so I don't see why the higher end one won't come out within a year after the lower end one:

We'd like to make it clear that we still intend to offer a high-end processor, but at this point it isn't appropriate to go into timing or other specifics. As we finalize the Model 950 we know that we will not be able to include certain features, functions or modes due to cost, technology or timing considerations. For example, while we'd love to include 1394 connectivity, it simply isn't practical to offer that in a product priced under $900 due to the lack of single-chip solutions. We'd love to provide internal decoding for DVD-Audio (MLP) or SACD, but that isn't possible at this time due to the lack of agreement on a copy protection standard or the availability of decoding solutions in our current DSP engine. We'd love to provide the new 96/24 version of DTS, but the current DSP engines do not offer that, either. There are many other features that you have suggested that we'd love to add to the 950, but just can't do for these types of reasons.
We're keeping a constant eye on the timing and pricing for the components and systems that will enable us to build the type of high-end processor we'd like to have in our own homes. We'll keep you posted as to our progress towards this product, and we welcome your comments and suggestions on what you'd like to see included.

So, there's lots of room for higher end stuff in another pre-pro down the road.
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