Outlaw 950 "mini-beta" Remote test (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

I received a surprise package from The Outlaws this weekend - a fully functional final Remote for the 950. It looks like the pictures that have been circulating and is obviously based on the Universal SL9000 or SL8000, but without the LCD display.
It works very nicely and apparently has most if not all of the functionality of an SL9000/8000. I said "apparently" because we still await the final manual from Outlaw on the 950 (and, I would think, the remote as well). In the interim I downloaded the manual for the SL9000 from the universal remotes site here but without an LCD panel on the Outlaw remote I can't easily program it as per the manual since so many features rely on the LCD panel for visual indications. (I did program in some punch through volume controls as per instructions in the manual without the luxury of the LCD display and this worked.)
With limited time this weekend I didn't get to run the remote through all its paces other than to check to see if you could control all of the 950's functions. In this regard it does a very good job and is better than the "temporary" remote that came with the beta unit.
Now that the remote is here I would hope that the 950 can't be too far behind. (My remarks, not any "official" word from Outlaw.)

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

Are there discrete codes for power on and off? How about discrete codes for sound modes? Single buttons/codes for power on/off and cycling through sound modes are inconvenient and inefficient when you have a tool as powerful as the Pronto/RC5000.

 

[brian a]

So the lack of an LCD screen looks like it might be as impactful as it sounds. I had the SL-9000 as my remote for a long time, and I was wondering how they were going to do learning without the LCD. Maybe the outlaw remote manual will be explain things better, and offer work-arounds. I guess it's a good excuse to shop for a new remote.

 

[RAF]

Quote:

brian,
I hope that the manual clarifies things. I already own a Pronto and even with the mock up remote I was able to program in all the major functions to integrate the 950 with all my HT macros with no problem. To me the fact that the 950's remote is programmable (I'm still not clear as to whether it's a learning remote or the non-learning SL8000) is just icing on the cake.

 

[Will]

Any inside news upcoming on the 950 tuner?

I received a surprise package from The Outlaws

Thanks for sharing! You are probably the most connected to Outlaw of all people who posts on the forum, in my opinion. I believe you said you could not tell us about the Outlaw 755 amp you knew was coming out, in advance, because you were sworn to secrecy until Outlaw came out with the official product announcement.
Any inside news upcoming on the 950 tuner?

 

[RAF]

Any inside news upcoming on the 950 tuner?

Will,
Unfortunately, no. The latest "word" that I received was that Outlaw is "pleased" that the new tuner module does a very good job and fixes the shortcoming of the previous one so this is not holding anything up. In fact the irony is that while I was one of the first to get to play with a 950 (albeit in "beta" form) I'll probably be a "late adopter" of the final tuner since I specifically told Outlaw to wait until all pre-orders were filled before exchanging my unit for the final release version. The 950 I have here right now is fine for my immediate needs and I hardly ever listen to a radio in my HT.
So on the issue of "when" the 950 will ship, here's my take (not any "official" word, just a feeling based on my experiences). The tuner issue is resolved. The remotes are ready. The last I heard the final update to the software (I have version 2.0 and I understand they are burning version 2.3) has been tested and it apparently works. Remember, when programming software for these processors every parameter has to be rechecked since one part of the program can impact others. My sources tell me that a few issues we had - mostly involving the time it takes to acquire a mode (something that the Lexicon MC-12 and other high end pre/pros also have a problem with) have been successfully addressed. I had no problem with this timing issue but if Outlaw has made it even faster in this regard it will improve it even more. I don't know the turn around time frame for such finalization, but I would think that we are not talking about weeks any more.
Remember, this is me talking, not Outlaw. An educated guess, not an inside line.
Speaking of "inside" let me clear up the 755 issue a bit (I think I did this over on the Outlaw forum). The 755 is in production and should ship shortly. That is no secret and, being a much less complex device, does not require beta testing. About a month ago, during one of my many conversations with Outlaw, I casually mentioned that I was thinking of purchasing a 750 amplifier (taking advantage of their 30 day trial period) to see if it would be a suitable replacement for the Denon 5700 amps that would be leaving the house once the 950 had proven itself to my satisfaction. I actually placed an order for a 750 (regular price). That's when I was told that the 750 was out of stock and wouldn't be built any more. When I asked, "Why did you take my order?" they let me in on their little "secret" - the introduction of a 5 channel companion piece to the announced 770. And since I had ordered a 750 and they couldn't come through they would honor the 750 price and deliver the new amp instead, if that was O.K. with me. (They mentioned that there were a couple of other 750 orders in the hopper as well and they would be offering this "option" as well.) The only thing they asked was that I not spill the beans until they made the announcement in their 2/28 newsletter. If I recall, they even mentioned a couple of outstanding 750 orders in that publication. One of those was for me.
And then the other day, I received another call from the Outlaws asking if I would be willing to take delivery early this week. When I asked if the 755 was being released, they said,"sort of." They went on to explain that production has started and pretty soon shipping of the 755 would begin. What they were offering me was the "reference unit" - the final pre-production unit that is referred to during alpha testing. Since testing had gone so smoothly they were confident that they would not have to refer to this piece any more and they were willing to sell it to me. Knowing a bit about the care put into the reference unit of a new product I jumped at the chance. This is not like buying a used car (in fact some miles on the amps probably helps). I'm also aware that unit #1 is usually handled with kid gloves and has probably undergone more than the normal amount of quality control by its very nature.
So, if UPS complies, the 755 should be here within a day or two. And I would think that the production 755's are not far behind.
That's all I can tell you about this, because that's all I know. I checked with Outlaw before saying anything and they told me, "Go ahead. No problems at all." And the only other "hunch" that I have (remember this is me speaking, not Outlaw) is that if the amps are ready can the 950/755 and 950/770 packages be far behind?
John/Merc/Whatever Morris said "Beware the Ides of March." Maybe he(they) knows what he(they) is(are) talking about? Who knows?

And that's the rest of the story.

 

[Sankar]

I really hope that its "Rejoice, for its the Ides of March" rather than "Beware the Ides of March" !

 

[Will]

Ides of March

Another date, this time not even given by The Outlaws officially, that became a date some people here might believe the Model 950 would ship on.
For those who may be new to the often made predictions of when the 950 will ship, here's a newsflash: The 950 won't - repeat won't - ship on the Ides of March, 2002.