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Taz

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Still trying to decide on a AVR or pre/pro anyone have any thoughts on the Outlaw 990 Pre/pro and their 770 or 755 amp?
 
Taz said:
Still trying to decide on a AVR or pre/pro anyone have any thoughts on the Outlaw 990 Pre/pro and their 770 or 755 amp?

Hi,
I use the 950 (predecessor to the 990), and in my book it is the best bang for the buck out there. In many reviews it is compared with units costing several times as much, and sound-wise, it keeps right up with them. It may be lacking a feature or two that the higher priced units have, but for a fraction of the price you can't beat it for value. Mine replaced a Sunfire Theater Grand pre/pro and in my opinion it sounds better, despite being 1/4 the price. Outlaw offers a free 30 day trial, so give them a listen, and as Roberto says, trust your ears...:)

Peter
 
Thanks I was also looking at used Sunfire or B&K Pre/pro and also the Denon 4806 and B&K 507 AVR new
 
outlaw

stay away from the B&K processor i have a friend that has one and everytiime it switches modes or other things like layer changes it pops thru his system. he likes how it sounds but is upset with the pops.
 
Right now, I have a 507 w/ an external amp and it doesn't do the pop/crack thing.
I don't think you will be happy at all with the Denon and sound quality through ML's. I went round with that for a short time because I like bells and whistles. You won't do your speakers justice with sound quality with the Denon.
I would say my biggest complaint with my B&K gear is that at lower levels you just don't get enough detail. When I crank it up (-28 to -18db), I am fairly pleased, but wife/babies factor doesn't allow for that often. That doesn't work at night when we are able to watch movies. However, my source components are very, very low quality. I'm not sure, but I think that would make an improvement with my existing equipment.
 
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I currently use the 950 pre/pro with an Outlaw 7 channel 100W amp (don't remember model) with my Claritys. I think it sounds great, but will admit that I have not done any in-depth comparisions with other similar or more expensive equipment. As indicated above, you give up some of the fancier features and the user interface is pretty pedestrian, but the sound for the price is hard to beat. I actually prefer the basic interface, but I wish the pre would automaticly remember that I always listen to CD's in bypass mode!

Outlaw has been very responsive (as well as ML) to my questions, and I have experienced nothing but goodness from both companies.

For a more acurate feedback, you should mention what speakers you are trying to drive. From what I've read, the Claritys are relatively easy to drive, as far as ML's go. Not sure how Outlaw would hold up against more difficult loads.

The only negative I will mention...when I first set my system up, I was a little disappointed in the bass response on certain music (mostly newer stuff). Based on what I've read here, I suspect this is characteristic of the speaker, but it's possible that the amp shares some responsibility. I haven't compared with other amps, so I'm not sure if the amp is a factor or not. I added an REL powered sub and that solved the problem.
 
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I am driving Claritys. Also the new 990 Pre seems to be loaded with features the 950 did not have. Actually it looks almost to good to be true. Thats why I am looking for feedback.
 
Keep in mind, Outlaw is selling direct. Their prices are lower than their competition because they cut out a link in the resale chain. Sort of a Dell model applied to high end audio.
 
Also keep in mind that if you like DVD-A or SACD, that the 990 does not have a five channel analog input. These sources will have to go through an additional A/D conversion which will have some effect on sound quality.
 
attyonline said:
Also keep in mind that if you like DVD-A or SACD, that the 990 does not have a five channel analog input. These sources will have to go through an additional A/D conversion which will have some effect on sound quality.
It does have a analog input and it is 7.1 This pre from a feature stand point is loaded. The setup menu is one of the best I have seen. You can tweak just about everything.
 
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