just ordered a outlaw 990

sickicw

Well i just ordered my second outlaw 990. I sold mine a year ago because it didnt have auto eq and the onkyo that replaced it did. Back then the onkyo sounded much better because I had major room acoustic problems. Since then I have bought about $2500 worth of bass panels and no longer use my eq on the onkyo. Therefore, I am hoping the outlaw will bring my system up to the next level. I guess i will find out soon.

Lsi9

The 990 has to be better than the Oink!
My pal has the 990 and I noticed a great improvement when he added it to his rig. Enjoy!

danger boy

congrats on your second Outlaw Audio 990 pre amp. hope things jell this time around for ya.

Burnt

The 990 is a great unit,congrats

Ron-P

I love my 950, does the 990 have HDMI 1.3 on board?

danger boy

Ron-P wrote:

I love my 950, does the 990 have HDMI 1.3 on board?

nope. the 990 does not have any HDMI, only DVI.. reason being. when the 990 was developed.. digital video connections where still up in the air.. was it going to be DVI or HDMI? maybe for the 990 ver 2 we'll see HDMI. it's no biggie for me.. i find that component cables look great. i don't mind three fat video cables either.

sickicw

Another one of the original reasons that I sold the 990 in the first place is that there is no hdmi. I figured i would wait until something better came up. But after waiting about a year, there is still not many good pre amps that have hdmi working correctly with 1080p video and multi channel audio. The only thing that comes to mind is the anthem avm40, and im not going to put out that much money just because it is the only option right now. I am hoping that the outlaw will be good enought for about 3 years until some really sweet affordable hdmi 1.3 audio processors are out. Also some affordable, yet high quality, build in video scaler would be nice.

danger boy

audio components always lag behind video displays for connections. always is the case. rarely do they keep up with one another. I think because audio components are more complex might be the reason.

sickicw, in three years.. HDMI will probaby be obsolete by then.. i'm sure there will be some new kind of cable hook up for HD DVD and Blu Ray or other undeveloped formats currently in the works..

sickicw

i cant see hdmi being obsolete in 3 years. they might have a version 1.4 or 1.5 seeing as how most electronics cant even get the version 1.1 correct. Also all the hd-dvd and blu-ray copy protection stuff requires hdmi.

Edit: Also lots of stores in 2007 are going to require that all hdmi equipment they sell is 3rd party certified and tested to work before they will sell it.

danger boy

just saying... that nothing changes faster or makes advances quicker than electronics.. ie: computers become outdates in year or two.. tops. sure a three or 4 yr old computer will still work for many years to come... but it's considered obsolete very quickly.

sickicw

anyone know much about fed ex? If they require a signature to get my package, and i work at the office all day, how is one to pick up a package? Do they deliver in the evenings?

danger boy

If i remember right.. i think i had to sign for mine on delivery from Fed Ex. i don't think they do evening deliveries though.

TennesseeOutlaw

I plan on ordering the 990 myself in a month or so.. I would love to hear your point of view on the unit.. I have never heard any Outlaw product myself, but I have heard tons of great things about their products... Just the price of their equipment alone has drawn me to them.. Im not rich, and whatever I buy has to last for awhile.. Keep us/me updated with your thoughts on the 990 please..

Thanks,

Josh

jrlouie

Here is an old thread I started when I bought the 990. Thought you might like to read it if you haven't already.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38786

I recommend downloading and installing the 990's firmware update. One thing in the update I use all the time is the ability to view the current processing mode on the display (i.e. - Dolby Pro Logic, bypass, etc.) without actually changing the mode.

sickicw

It sounded like the 990 wasn't that much of an upgrade from your onkyo? Is that true. I am hoping my 990 will be better than my onkyo for at least 2 channel.

jrlouie

I do like the 990 over the Onkyo. Quantifying the upgrade is hard. I can say that I do not regret spending the dough on it. One thing I love is 2-channel analog set to bypass. I also appreciate the analog bass management even on 7.1 direct although some might prefer bass management within their player. The other thing I always stressed about was unclear dialog and the 990 cleared things up for me. Seperate amplification was also a goal of mine and I did realize benefits from the balanced pre-outs on the 990 in conjunction with my Outlaw 7500.

sickicw wrote:

It sounded like the 990 wasn't that much of an upgrade from your onkyo? Is that true. I am hoping my 990 will be better than my onkyo for at least 2 channel.

danger boy

the Outlaw Audio 990 pre amp is excellent sounding in 2 channel listening.. as well as other formats too. but 2 channel really makes music come to life.

sickicw

danger boy wrote:

the Outlaw Audio 990 pre amp is excellent sounding in 2 channel listening.. as well as other formats too. but 2 channel really makes music come to life.

It seems like the more bass panels i add to my setup, the more "harsh" sounding my onkyo sounds, and i hope the 990 can take care of that in 2 channel. I guess i will find out in a couple days.

SLOCOOKN

sickicw wrote:

It seems like the more bass panels i add to my setup, the more "harsh" sounding my onkyo sounds, and i hope the 990 can take care of that in 2 channel. I guess i will find out in a couple days.

There are different ways to do bass panels. And the distance from them to the wall will make a difference...Go to DIY and look for bass traps. Good info there!

danger boy

sickicw wrote:

It seems like the more bass panels i add to my setup, the more "harsh" sounding my onkyo sounds, and i hope the 990 can take care of that in 2 channel. I guess i will find out in a couple days.

I've heard from other's that Onkyo's tend to sound harsh. what are your main speakers?

sickicw

my mains are lsi9s. I tend to crank up the volume now after installing bass panels. That might also have something to do with it.

ohskigod

listening at higher volumes might be bringing out other flaws in the room. my basement (for 2 channel) had quite a glare issue. higher the volume, worse it was. I have since strategically placed foam, and it helped a ton, but if I really crank the volume there is still a little bit of glare, which means I have a little more work to do, I know it isnt the system itself.

you might be having the same problem

sickicw

yea, that sounds like a large part of my problem. If i could put panels up for my first reflection points, i think it would help a lot, but for my living room, im not so sure that is going to be possible.

danger boy

my RT800i's are laid back at normal listening levels for music/TV/HT use.. but when I want to listen in just 2 ch and crank it up a bit.. they become brighter.. not overly bright.. but the increase in volume does bring this out in the 800i's.

this could be your problem too.. as the LSi's are not bright sounding speakers from the little experience I have with them.

sickicw

Well, i spend some time with my outlaw 990, and it is a bit better sounding than my onkyo, but not $1100 worth. Then, last week i bought a denon 3806 and have been demoing that all weekend. I't sounds similar to the 990 for music. Not sure which one I like more at this point. For home theater, it seems like the 3806 has more dynamic range than either the 990 or the onkyo. At this point I think im going to return the 990 and keep the denon. Also, the denon can accept multi channel audio over hdmi, and should work well with a playstaion 3 blu-ray player. Im gonna spend the rest of the week demoing the denon more, but i think it is going to be a keeper.

Lsi9

I am surprised by that, the 990 has a lot of good stuff in it, meanwhile the Denon has amplifiers in it. Perhaps your source is not allowing you to notice a difference?

What amp are you using?

sickicw

i am not using the amp in the denon. I have an outlaw amp (300 watts x 5 into 4 ohms) that I use for the center and rears, and I use a rockford fosgate car amp (200 watts at 4 ohms and 400 watts at 2 ohms) for my left and right speakers (lsi9s).

Lsi9

Any reason why you are not using the Outlaw for the fronts? I would use it for the front 3 channels and the Fosgate for the surrounds. well actually if it was me I'd use the Outlaw for all the channels. But I guess the Fosgate sounds better on the 9's than the Outlaw?

danger boy

Ditto.. i'd use the Outlaw amp with the 990. should be a really good match. But it also sounds like the Deon has HDMI, which of course the Outlaw 990 does not.. and I think that may be one reason you are leaning towards the Denon. which is cool too. if it meets your needs and sounds best to you.

good work though on having them both in your house and getting a real world demo. you can't beat that.

sickicw

Lsi9 wrote:

But I guess the Fosgate sounds better on the 9's than the Outlaw?

The Fosgate sounds much, much better than the outlaw. The Fosgate is a much higher current amp (it is supplied by two 660 watt AC to DC converters using 1/0 gauge wire and a 1 farad capacitor) and is stable at 1 ohm. The dynamic range is just so much better.

sickicw

danger boy wrote:

Ditto.. i'd use the Outlaw amp with the 990. should be a really good match. But it also sounds like the Deon has HDMI, which of course the Outlaw 990 does not.. and I think that may be one reason you are leaning towards the Denon. which is cool too. if it meets your needs and sounds best to you.

good work though on having them both in your house and getting a real world demo. you can't beat that.

I'm not sure what i would have done if the outlaw had hdmi. The denon seems like it has better dynamic range, but then again i probably would have never bought the denon in the first place if the outlaw had hdmi.