Outlaw 950/Audio Refinement Pre-2 (1 Viewer)

[Orin Dym]

Thought I would post my initial impressions of the Outlaw Audio 950 VS. the Audio Refinement Pre-2. First things first--the Audio Refinement can not compete in terms of feature set--it is a very basic processor with the emphasis on sound so as far as modes, assignable inputs, and speaker settings, hands down to the Outlaw. Now to the points that interest me--Simple functionality and sound--

Associated equipment includes:
Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature
Philips Q50 DVD Player
YBA CD3 CD player
Northcreek Music Rhthym/Revelator speakers front
JM Lab Cobalt center
Definitive Tech BP2X Rear
Listening room is 20'x18', 8' ceiling
SVS CS Ultra sub, Audiosource amp 3 bridge (400 wpc)
Bettercable and outlaw interconnects and speaker cable
Sanyo PLV-60HT Projector/109" screen

Dislikes first-The auto format select feature on the 950 is much slower than the Audio Refinement (of course, the AR just has to decide between 2 modes-DD, DTS)and you do miss some audio while it locks in. Solvable by taking it out of autoselect, but not desirable. The sound floor in analog modes is acceptable, but higher than the Audio Refinement in bypass mode. Maybe I am missing something, but I have the CD player hooked up through the 5.1 inputs (figured it would give the best stereo sound) and the switch set for no filtering, but I do get sub signal. I remember reading that no matter what, there is signal sent to the sub (nothing removed from the mains, just 80Hz on down added to the sub). I do not like to run the sub for stereo listening, so I have to turn off the sub amp (it is set to auto detect signal and turn on)

Likes--The component video switching does not degrade the signal. Inputs are assignable. Speaker settings are super flexible. The 5.1 input does a great job of passing the audio signal unaltered and is very nearly equal to the AR. As the 950 breaks in a bit I expect it to rival the 950 in pure stereo sound. Stereo imaging and soundstaging seems to be equal to the AR Pre-2.

Movies--aside from the signal lock, I need to spend some more time watching movies to offer an opinion, and will follow up in this thread tomorrow.

 

[Orin Dym]

Spent some more time doing A/B comparisons. Noise floors are about the same. Performance in 2 channel stereo (bypass mode) is about the same (I doubt I could reliably tell the difference in blind testing). The kids are busy playing X-Box on the system now so further testing will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I have the CD player hooked up through the 5.1 inputs (figured it would give the best stereo sound) and the switch set for no filtering, but I do get sub signal.

Right-o: that's the double bass problem both the Outlaw (when run full range mains) and Rotel 1066 have on the 5.1 inputs.