what's the pro's /cons of Outlaw 970/990

faster100

I read a few reviews off outlaws site, read the specs and just wanna try a regular pre down the road.. The 990 at 1099 is a chunk of coins i dont have..(right now) the 970 at 699 is a great bargain if its up to the task..

with my rig now (in sig) what would you do.. not on a budget or with limitless cash... on a usefullness scale... and workability scale.. pure function on this question..

wingnut4772

well the 990 should sound similar to my SN P-965 (which you heard) Since SN basically makes it and on the same platform. That being said , I would just wait entirely to get something that has the HDMI 1.3 for audio for the new slew of HD audio and continue to use your receiver. If not and you absulutely can not wait..the 970 looks adequate but better yet- look for a used Sherwood Newcastle P-965.

faster100

Yeah, thought about the 970 for now and the resale should be decent to get the 990 or i also looked up your sherwood at close to the same price.. I want some bells and whistles still like the denon has... and some of the basic pre's dont have them... I think the 990 and sherwood do have dsp's and someother modes to play with

schwarcw

I think as a rule of thumb, look at a manufacture's flagship model. Check out the features, power, build and of course price. I've found that if you look at the model immediatelyly below their top unit, you can usually get most, if not all the same features, a little less power, same build, warranty, etc. for a LOT less money. I think it pays to buy one step below the top of the line.

danger boy

i guess you have to approach it this way. is there a "perfect" pre amp out there within a reasonable amount of money? What is reasonable amount of money for a good pre amp? $1099, $2100, $4000?

I went with the Outlaw Audio 990 because of price and features. Is it the perfect pre amp? nope. But it was within my budget... so that helped make the decision much easier. If i had a buget of $4000 I would have been looking at a higher end pre amp, but that wasn't the case.

So i think I got a pretty decent sounding pre amp from a company that is making some waves in the audio community, based on the performace of it's products. That's Outlaw Audio.

Cliff, I too looked at the 970, but the numbers just didn't add up to me.. meaning, the increased flexibility and features of the 990 did help make my decision over the 970 easier.

Early B.

It's already very good, so (excluding the SVS purchase) leave your HT system alone and focus on 2-channel.

AlanD

The biggest argument against the Outlaw is that it doesn't support HDMI input. It looks like you'll need HDMI for uncompressed, encrypted PCM from HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

faster100

what about the dvi they offer? can't you just use a dvi to hdmi conversion plug? and will that still pass through the HD content

AlanD

That DVI/HDMI is for video switching.

With Blu-Ray and HD-DVD and Hollywood's desire for content protection, they're starting to require HDMI for uncompressed 7 channel PCM audio. Otherwise, you'd use a "real-time" DTS encoder, etc.

It's the audio that's the real problem.

AlanD

Quick addendum -- DVI/HDMI adapters are occasionally "iffy" depending on HDCP too...

JWBurns

See my question regarding this issue that I posted on the Outlaw site.

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/40/t/000084.html

VR3

I would save up and get the 990...

my Dad upgraded from the 970 and the 990 is 3 times the preamp.

Lots more flexibility, better quality, all that jazz... well worth the extra penny.

faster100

Yeah, i'm just gonna wait.. save some cash and run as-is for now.. It sounds great and i just need a sub again now.. after that i may not care as much for a new pre.. Thanks for all the suggestions.