Outlaw Audio 990 or 970?

[danger boy]

Ok. I'm looking for a new pre amp.. and both of these fit into my budget.... anyone have any experience with either pre? I've read a few bad things about the 970 the it's video switching and digital hiccups.

Let me know if you can recommend either one over the other. I understand they are very different beasts from each ohter.

[McLoki]

Danger,

Here is a review (http://processors.dblattman.com/) someone did on the Outlaw forum between the 990, 970 and a Yamaha AVR. Personally I would go with the 990 if it will work with your budget and rack. (the 990 is really large)

Michael

[danger boy]

Michael, thanks for the link. that's what i was looking for...

[danger boy]

:D well, i took the leap and ordered the 990 pre amp. After reading up on it over and over again.. I think i'll be dang happy with it. :)

[McLoki]

:D well, i took the leap and ordered the 990 pre amp. After reading up on it over and over again.. I think i'll be dang happy with it. :)
I will be VERY interested to hear what your impressions of it are. What amp and speakers will you be running with it?

Thanks,

Michael

[kenhiltz]

McLoki;
Also read your review as I'm planning to buy the 990/w7500 amp to run my LSI speakers. The 990 is set up for 7.1 and I only have 5.1 set up?? Any problems with that???

[cfrizz]

WTG Al! I will also be looking forward to hearing your impressions!

[danger boy]

I will be VERY interested to hear what your impressions of it are. What amp and speakers will you be running with it?

Thanks,

Michael


my HT is in transition right now.. i've got Marantz MA500 mono blocks in the HT already. speakers are Monitor 7B's. After this.. new fronts will be the ordered, later in the year or next.

I got a confirmation email for the Outlaw Audio 990 pre
Ship date Mar 6, 2006
Estimated delivery Mar 11, 2006 :D :D

[McLoki]

I got a confirmation email for the Outlaw Audio 990 pre
Ship date Mar 6, 2006
Estimated delivery Mar 11, 2006 :D :D
Sweet, so you will be rockin' this weekend. :)

Take time to enjoy it this weekend, but when the work week starts again next week, we want a review damn it.... :D

Michael

[mrmusicman]

danger boy,
I purchaced a 990 to up-grade from my h/k 310 and turned out to be a better improvment than I anticipated,more detail and clarity.Set up was pretty simple,you have to have it connected to a tv or monitor for the menu.I couldn't get the ez mic.to work correct for speaker settings,thats one of the bugs from what I understand,so I just used an spl meter.Have fun and happy listening you made an excellant choice.:D

[dorokusai]

DB - Nice piece of audio ass, have fun with it.

[danger boy]

well it's been several years since I upgraded the heart of the home theater.. so after reading for days on this pre.. i figured i'd try it out.. besides Outlaw gives you 30 days to demo it in your home. I honestly don't think i'll hate it. given the great reviews it's gotten.

If it arrives on Sat. i'll spend the rest of the day hooking it up, and setting it up. Can't wait to hear something different in my home.

[danger boy]

danger boy,
I purchaced a 990 to up-grade from my h/k 310 and turned out to be a better improvment than I anticipated,more detail and clarity.Set up was pretty simple,you have to have it connected to a tv or monitor for the menu.I couldn't get the ez mic.to work correct for speaker settings,thats one of the bugs from what I understand,so I just used an spl meter.Have fun and happy listening you made an excellant choice.:D


I think Outlaw may have released a software fix for that.. check their website to be sure. BUt yeah, very pumped up here.

[jrlouie]

Just got the 990 yesterday. It is hooked up, but I haven't had the time to do serious listening. It is definitely deep. I thought I had a deep rack but once you add the extra space needed for cabling, it is protruding just a little from the front of the rack.
Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to do some stuff with it and can write up more thoughts. Maybe post some pics.
I think they are working on a software update for the 990, but I'm not aware that it is out yet. I wish they'd convert the "bypass" setting to turn off the sub. I liked the easy capability to turn off my sub for 2-channel by using bypass on my previous AVR.
One initial thing that I'm not used to is that on the first push of the volume button, my TV exhibits a really quick white flash. Then subsequent button pushes on the remote don't. It's almost like the 990 is turning on its OSD, and it does that, but once it is on, it stops. But, I have a really old TV. I don't know if that's part of the reason. Plus I'm only using composite connections to the TV. I just know my Onkyo didn't do that.
Took me a little bit to figure out you don't push the power button to turn it on. That is only to turn it off. To turn it on you push CD, DVD, or Aux, etc.
The upsampling setting for CD audio seems to sound great and I like the auto-setup. Although it set all of my Lsi's to large, I just manually changed them back. Just goes to show the Lsi's can dig deep ;)
Anyway, that's about it for the few hours I've had it.

[danger boy]

very nice jrlouie, i'd be interested in more of your findings and likes and dislikes.. what sold you on the 990 pre?

I've been reading up on it... and it seems to have a lot of setting available for tweaks.. something i've never had on my current receiver. I love tweaks. ha ha

[cfrizz]

Al disappears from Polk forum to spend all his time tweaking!:eek: :D

You can't do that Al, I need my fix of cute hunks on the Joy thread!:) ;) :D

[danger boy]

Dum, dee, dee dee dum, dee dee.... whistling.... waiting.... should arrive today.. Fedex web site says it's out for delivery. :D

I'm currently tearing down and unwiring the Marantz receiver... cleaning, dusting, then i'll pull all the cables, wires, etc and clean them too. once the new pre gets here. it'll take a few hours to rewire everything back up.. should be up and running later tonight. Hope to have enough time to play around with it and maybe watch a movie. :)

[cfrizz]

Cool! I'm psyched for you!!!!

[danger boy]

Holy Mamma! this thing is big.. 8" tall. 18" deep.. a whole 3" deeper than my Marantz. :eek:

Luckily it won't be going in a audio cab.. will sit on top of the audio rack.

* sorry for the poor pic quailty... my cam phone isn't the best.

[peteran]

Danger Boy, we are all eagerly awaiting your thoughts for the new setup of yours, please compare it with your previous one.

[danger boy]

Danger Boy, we are all eagerly awaiting your thoughts for the new setup of yours, please compare it with your previous one.


me too.. ha ha ha. i'll write up a mini review later tonight after work. so far I am loving 2 ch music again with this pre in the HT. ;)

[Skynut]

You replaced an Onkyo with this?
Which Onkyo?
I just replaced my TX-DS787 with a Sunfire Theater Grand II. I hooked it up yesterday and with all the cleaning of everything I ran out of time so I only sampled scenes from the Mummy and I think I noticed a big difference.
So far I have high hopes, can't wait till tonights Zathura showing.

[danger boy]

You replaced an Onkyo with this?
Which Onkyo?
I just replaced my TX-DS787 with a Sunfire Theater Grand II. I hooked it up yesterday and with all the cleaning of everything I ran out of time so I only sampled scenes from the Mummy and I think I noticed a big difference.
So far I have high hopes, can't wait till tonights Zathura showing.

I didn't replace an Onkyo.... I replaced a 7 yr old Marantz receiver. more to follow in a few days. to busy right now to explain and write review.

[danger boy]

review can be found here. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38786