*** Official Outlaw 950 pre-release discussion thread *** (please read first post) (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

The HTF hardware forum database recently suffered a severe crash and a lengthy (and sometime informative) thread was lost in the process. I've already established a separate thread HERE where beta tester reports can be viewed if that is your pleasure.
Obviously there are some questions that the reports may not answer. Therefore I am establishing this thread for the purpose of sharing additional information. I must tell you, however, that speaking for myself (and I suspect for the other beta testers as well) I don't have the time, nor the desire to re-answer all the questions that were brought up in the original 500 message thread. Therefore I am asking for the cooperation of other veteran members here to answer questions of new members as they see fit.
I suspect that most of the technical items have already been addressed and that we are all waiting for the answer to the "big" question, "When will the 950 be released?" Unfortunately, we don't know any more than you do and only Outlaw can answer this.
Therefore if you are new to this section and have some burning questions that you want an answer to, this is the place to ask them. I hope that the members of this forum will be able to bring newcomers up to speed.
Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

 

[brian a]

How's this for too much time on my hands:
I was thinking that if they fly the first set of units over at the same time they launch the first boat, all of those people will get the call at the same time. I don't think they will call the airshipped people until they have units in hand ready to go, but the folks who have units on the ship should get the call ~10 days before they ship to them which means right about when they leave the dock headed this way.
Maybe I shouldn't have sold my pre/pro in anticipation of this release. I'm getting a little obsessed.
brianca...

 

[Ned]

Was the problem of settings not being saved for each mode fixed?

 

[RAF]

Was the problem of settings not being saved for each mode fixed?

Ned,
I don't think the correct word would be "fixed" since it wasn't a problem, just the lack of a feature (which of course is a problem to some). To me it's more of an inconvenience. In any event it doesn't impact how the 950 sounds.
That said, I don't recall anything being mentioned about this being changed in the 950. I believe someone mentioned that it would have required a modification in the basic design of the 950. I'm sure this is something that will be high on the Outlaw's list for the next model (but let's get this one out the door first).
Hope this helps. Anyone with additional concrete information on this that I might have missed please feel free to chime in here.

 

[Brian Corr]

Just FYI, Atlantic Technologies website has a pretty good description of their upcoming pre/pro (a 950 clone) with all the features, DAC's used, etc.
http://www.atlantictechnology.com/li...02%20final.pdf

 

[RAF]

O.K. Larry. I looked over the specs on the Atlantic site and as far as I can tell, this P-2000 is the Outlaw 950. In fact, I would strongly suggest that people insterested in the 950 download and print out the link that Brian Corr (thanks, Brian!) provided. That's the best description of the 950 I've seen yet.
Of course, if an $800 increase in list price is worth it to you to avoid the dreaded green button, well, I don't know.

A little more seriously, I'm fully aware that the AT "list" price will be discounted so the $800 is not a fair comparison.
And on another, related note - A little birdy has informed me that The Outlaws should have some specifications posted on their web site within a day or two for the record. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the same ones that you can already read about at the AT site. Maybe Outlaw will include more specs?
That's "spec. speculation" on my part.

Stay tuned....

 

[Geo]

I'm sure this has been asked before but I haven't been able to track it down.

Does the 950 have an onscreen volume display?

And what other onscreen displays does it feature?

geo

 

[RAF]

Does the 950 have an onscreen volume display?
And what other onscreen displays does it feature?

Geo,
Yes, you get on-screen volume display. In fact the on-screen display is an exact copy of what appears on the 950's display panel.
This is basically
SOURCE........................AUDIO MODE
INPUT SOURCE..............VOLUME
Such as
VIDEO 3....................5 STEREO
OPTICAL 1......................-25dB
(periods added to line things up a bit)
Actually, it's a little more complex than that. Whenever you press the volume control, the above information appears and then you can see the voume as it changes. However, when you press a MODE button (like DD or DTS,etc.) the first item displayed where MODE usually appears is the audio signal that the chosen source is putting out. For example PCM 48K or DOLBY 3/2.1 or DOLBY 2/0.0, etc. This information appears on the right side where the AUDIO MODE and VOLUME usually appear. In the above example it would look like this:
VIDEO 3.......................PCM
OPTICAL 1.....................48K
(Which represents what I get when watching my Dish PVR receiver on VIDEO 3 through the OPTICAL 1 input when it broadcasts in PCM 48K. In this situation I like the sound that 5 STEREO provides.) And if you continue to press the various MODE buttons the right side of the display cycles through the various choices available for that mode (for example 7 STEREO, 5 STEREO, STEREO (when pushing the STEREO button.)
Lots of choices and an excellent way to display what's going on.
One caveat - There is no On-screen display through component. So when I'm watching on the big screen I use my eyes to view the 950's information screen (I have no probelem but with Lasik surgery I now have eagle eyes.)
Hope this makes some sense to you rather than confusing you. It's really much easier to use than to explain. You learn it in about 5 minutes flat.

 

[Geo]

Looks like Outlaw gives you a lot of onscreen info. Very important to me as I haven't had my Lasik surgery yet.

Outlaw not passing onscreen info via component video is probably a good thing. I think Denon is also not allowing onscreen displays via their component video to keep the component signal pristine.

Do these onscreen displays let you keep listening and or watching as you go through them? Are they superimposed? I know a lot of units that don't, Sony, Pioneer, and not being able to see or hear what effect the adjustments your making have, can be very annoying.

Thanks for your help,

geo

 

[RAF]

Do these onscreen displays let you keep listening and or watching as you go through them? Are they superimposed?

Yes they are (thankfully!) I'm not a big fan of OSD's that blank out the picture at the same time. And you can set the length of time that the OSD stays on (I use the default of 3 seconds) which is fine by me. Incidentally the choices are 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 seconds which should provide all the flexibility that someone would need.

And there are also a lot of menu options that I find refreshing after using the Denon 5700 (which I felt had a pretty good OSD set itself). For example, on the main menu there are two ways to adjust (balance) the volume of all channels. Either CHANNEL CALIBRATION or CHANNEL TRIM.

CHANNEL CALIB gives you white noise test tones for the following:

LEFT FR0NT

CENTER FRONT

RIGHT FRONT

RIGHT SURR

RIGHT BACK

LEFT BACK

LEFT SURR

SUBWOOFER

RETURN TO MAIN MENU

(with corresponding current dB levels to the right of each channel name). The really nice thing about this is that you can quickly scroll, either forward or backwards, through the entire menu of test tones instead of having to cycle through the whole thing in one direction. I'm so used to having to wait for test tones to circle the room before reaching the Subwoofer, for example, that this was a pleasant change.

CHANNEL TRIM gives you the same menu but uses the actual sound source playing instead of white noise test tones. And with the same flexibility as CHANNEL CALIB.

Very nice and very convenient. I'm not saying that the 950 is exclusive in this regard (I'm sure it's not in the pre/pro world) but as my first pre/pro I find this flexibility over most of the receivers I have used in the past to be a welcome feature.

And as much as I would like the component outputs to also use OSD I'm glad it doesn't for a couple of reasons. In the first place, it is my understanding that adding OSD to component would compromise the video image a bit. And, as a matter of viewing preference, whenever you adjust the volume the OSD kicks on for 3 seconds (or whatever interval you have selected.) This is usually o.k. when I'm watching regular TV, etc. but would be a big distraction when watching movies. It would definitely spoil the theatrical experience on the big screen.

Actually, thinking about this a bit I guess the best of all worlds would be to offer an option of turning OSD on/off for component display. Maybe on the next Outlaw unit? Anyone there in New Hampshire taking notes?

 

[Geo]

RAF,

How about another question?

Trim Levels?

Are the adjustments you make with the trim level permanent or temporary?

Also is there any word of the remote that will eventually come with the 950?

Thanks again,

geo

 

[Brian Corr]

Geo,

I believe they are permanent. There is also a pic of the remote on the Outlaw site.

 

[Patrick R. Sklenar]

Geo,
I believe this picture is of the final remote:
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/...ry_remote.html

 

[RAF]

Quote:

The picture referenced on the Outlaw site is, I'm told, the final remote. It seems to be a lot more versatile than the mock up remote I used and can only make a good thing even better. Incidentally, it is my understanding that the final production of these remotes and their delivery is one of the items that Outlaw is waiting on before releasing the 950. I'm not privy to the actual production schedule but I don't believe it is a long range situation.

 

[Luis M]

I am very interested in this new preamp from outlaw-audio and I may get both the 950 and the 750 combo since I don't have room for the DTS-ES and DOLBY-EX and I don't need the 770.

I have had Denon receivers for the last four years and I really like their ability to keep different settings for different inputs. Is this feature present on the new 950 outlaw? Thank you.

 

[Joe_H]

They don't have the same amp design as the Outlaw 770 in that A-2000 do they??? I thought I remembered reading that the Outlaw would be $1800 so the MSRP of $1200 for the AT amp looks nice. In any case, an MSRP of $1200 that will be discounted to under a grand looks really nice to me. I might have to mix and match to save money; that is, if the AT amp (or anything in that price range) is in the same quality range as the Outlaw 770.

 

[John Morris]

JoeH: The AT P-2000 amp is RMS rated at 125w per channel into 8 ohms with all 6 channel driven. The Outlaw 770 is supposed to be rated at 200w per channel x 7 channels into 8 ohms. The amps are not the same and are probably not made by the same company since the Outlaw amp is being made in the USA.

 

[Jim Prillaman]

They don't have the same amp design as the Outlaw 770 in that A-2000 do they??? I thought I remembered reading that the Outlaw would be $1800 so the MSRP of $1200 for the AT amp looks nice. In any case, an MSRP of $1200 that will be discounted to under a grand looks really nice to me. I might have to mix and match to save money; that is, if the AT amp (or anything in that price range) is in the same quality range as the Outlaw 770.

The Atlantic Tech A-2000 is a 6-channel, 125W per channel amp -- one less channel and 75W less per channel than the Model 770. Definitely not the same design as the Outlaw 770.

 

[Brian Corr]

The Outlaw 770 and the AT amp are totally different.

I did shoot off an email to AT asking who is making their amp. The girl that responded didn't know.

The AT pre/pro is due out in May.

 

[Luis M]

Why is it that the outlaw 950 does not support different setting for different inputs?