First Outlaw Gear impressions...

Grimster74

Well, as many of you know, I recently purchased the Outlaw 990/7700 combo which I finally received this past week. The order was shipped out on a Monday and I received the pre/pro on Wednesday. The amp was also shipped out on Monday and was supposed to be delivered on Friday by FedEx Ground but for what ever reason, which I had nothing to do with, Fedex Ground held the package at the facility for me to pick up after it showed on the tracking information that it was on the truck to be delivered. Anyways, I ended up having to go pick up the package at 9 p.m. Friday night. Anyways, onto my review.

Cosmetics:

As many know, I'm really anal about the way things look, things have to be the same color, items have to flow with the decor. I was really hesitant about ordering the Outlaw Pre/Pro due to it looking like it was a slate grey instead of black, which is what I like. Well no worries, both units seem to match perfectly, blending with my existing equipment perfectly. I'm guessing it's was just how the pictures were taken which made it look like the two units were different colors.

Outlaw 990:

First impressions as I took it out the box were, man this thing is huge. Measurement wise, the 990 is actually larger than the 7700, but weighing in at only 28lbs. This unit has inputs/outputs galore. By no way shape or form will I ever run out of inputs. I did however have problems getting the on-screen display (OSD) to work properly but with the help of many on this forum along with the Outlaw forum, I did get that issue resolved. Thats one of the things I've noted to Outlaw that they need to make a little clearer in the manual. The OSD will work threw the component cables but it HAS to be a 480i signal, then it will pass. So to all of you that helped, a big THANK-YOU to all.

Outlaw 7700:

Now this thing is a beast. Weighing in at 93lbs., just make sure someone is around to give you a hand. It is possible to move by oneself like I did, but it sure would have been nice to have an extra set of hands around. The 7700 is a very universal amplifier, allowing you to use either a BALANCED or UNBALANCED connection, I myself am using a balanced connection. I did however hook up the unbalanced connection to my 3805 when I couldn't get the 990 to work properly only to find that I had a dead, surround right channel on the amplifier. Once I got the 990 working properly and hooked up to the balanced connections, all channels work fine.

Customer Service:

Have to put this section in here. Just got off the phone with Steve from Outlaw Audio. Outlaw is shipping another amplifier out as I write this. He couldn't stop saying how sorry he was that the channel was dead on the amplifier even after telling him all channels worked with the balanced connections he still said that, and I quote, "Outlaw Audio wants to make sure all equipment is running at 110% and that the customers should be 110% happy about their purchase". Now that is some kick **** customer service. They are sending me another $2200 amplifier before they receive the bad one back. Kudos to Outlaw.

Brief listening review:

I'll have to repost on this section as I have more of a chance to really take a listen to the new gear but what time I did get to listen, this is what I looked like:D . Those RTi's really sing when you throw some serious power to them. At first I took it easy because I was afraid I was going to blow them but after about 20 minutes of mederate listening, I let her eat. The highs were much clearer, bass was alot tighter, things I've never heard before were coming from the soundtracts. As far as movies go, the one movie I always demo when getting new gear is U-571, depth charges. Holy s!@# Batman, I found myself ducking when the charges were going off. Talk about loud, way to damn loud for my taste, but if the need for the extra volume is needed, it is there now.

Over the next month or so I will be reposting on my experience with the Outlaw gear so just keep an eye on this page as I will update every chance I get. Time to get back to work.

MattN03

Glad to hear Outlaw CS pulled through for you

cfrizz

Nice Grim! Will you still be doing a comparison between the 3805 & the 990? I saw where you were impressed with the 3805/7700 but that was just for a brief time.

Grimster74

I was really impressed with the 3805/7700 combo. I only had 2 real issues though. (1) With the unbalanced surround right connection being bad. I wasn't able to run it in a 7.1 configuration, only a 5.1 setup which still produced unreal headroom. (2) For what ever reason, the 3805/7700 combo seemed to have a hum coming from the speakers, may be a ground loop problem on my dedication outlets in my room but once hooked up to the 990 with the balanced connections, the hum is not present. First chance I get I'll hook the 990/7700 up with the unbalanced connection to see if in fact it is my dedicated outlets or if its the 3805 causing it.

cfrizz

Interesting! I look forward to it.

tledoux

I have the Outlaw 7500 with a Yamaha RX-V1600, so I have to use the unbalanced connections. I didn't notice the hum on day one, but after a few days, I started to hear a faint hum. So I got this ground loop isolator (which the Polk Store carries), and no more hum whatsoever.

http://shop.polkaudio.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=13352&storeId=12352&productId=107359&langId=-1

I'm hoping to move to the Outlaw 990 in a few months, and switch over to the balanced inconnects.