Outlaw Audio Announcement

I'm interested in seeing how well-received the Trinnov implementation is going to be.

Wow, sounds like some pretty exciting technology. I only hope the implementation matches the expectation.

Not too bad of a price, either, even if it is just a processor. I just wish they made cosmetic changes to the new unit. I like my audio stuff all pretty like.

Interesting. With the discussion in the last few days about outboard amps and the clean amplification that many AVRs deliver, I have been wondering what these 'specialty' companies could/would do to maintain relevance.

Gotta say, the line that cracks me up is the bit about "Buy the old stuff now! We'll give you a $200 discount on the new stuff!"

Yeah... buy a $1000 preamp now to get $200 off a $1400 preamp, for a total of $2200! I'm not good with money, but I'm better than that!

Maybe thats why I never did well with marketing stuff. I was either picking my jaw up off the floor or picking myself up after laughing too.

I was constantly amazed at what marketing people (like my former bosses) could say with a strait face.

daggummit! Yet another tease of the Newcastle R-972. When the heck is that receiver coming out???

I gave up and bought the Denon 3808 last year.

Luckily I don't need a new receiver right away, but dang. The other major brands are coming out with second iteration models since the R-972 was announced and still nothing from Newcastle. Strange.

Veeeerrrryy Interrrrrresting. I'll have to keep my eye on that. I do need a new prepro and I've been waiting for over a year for one that meets my specs. Sounds like this is another one to consider. Excited to hear that they'll be another option for me next year.

Regarding the $200 discount...you do get to keep the old prepro. You could sell it, put it in another room, etc. But this $200 discount promise has been on the table for quite a while. So if you've owned a 970/990 for a few years, I believe you qualify for the discount on the new one. It's not just for someone buying a 990/970 right now.

I do completely agree that it would be a little silly to buy a 990/970 today just so you could save $200 in 4 monhts.

Hey at least it's something for owners. Does Axiom ever offer an $XXX discounts to existing owners on upgraded/new products?

Axiom DOES have a trade up program. When it was forst started, I considered trading in my old 350 for two of the newer models to tame my Sucky Room® but I couldn't swing the price difference, despite Axiom's generous trade-in allowance.

Oh, I don't disagree that it's something for owners, and a cool thing to do, but to try to sell pre/pros now on that premise seems a little disingenuous.

Craig, I've been following the Trinnov for about a year and a half, since I read the extensive(20 page)lab and listening tests on the pro unit(about$12,000)by Dr. Rich in Sensible Sound. Yes, the Sherwood Newcastle implementation in the 972 has been delayed again and again. The current word from the SN U.S. representative is that December is the target, and that, admitting that they have a credibility problem with the issue, he's "reasonably confident" that it'll be available in '08.

I thought it was you who'd mentioned Trinnov before. What are your impressions in the reading you've done?

Charles, the capabilities of the pro unit appear to be a significant advance over what is generally regarded as the best now available in receivers, i.e., the Audyssey MultEQ XT. The question is how much of the capability will transfer to the 972. There've been some sketchy reports that those who've heard the processor in the 972 recently have been very impressed, but these shouldn't be given too much weight, and extensive testing is needed.

Thanks, John. Wait and see, wait and see.

John. You are full of salient information as always. I suspect that putting all that processing onto chips in a cost effective way is quite a challenge.

Ken. Have a little simpathy for the marketing dweebs that wrote that. They have been locked out of this product for over a year. They had to write something!

CV, thanks for the link. As a 990 owner, I am very eager to get my hands on this new baby.

Now I am slightly confused. Did JP just make an audio related post?

JP has audio stuff?

Also, I never knew he was into infant abduction.

Hello folks,
I am fairly new to the forum. Thus far I have only purchased my HDTV.

It must be difficult at times for the marketing department at Sherwood Newcastle.

Release dates for the 972:
August 07,September 07, January 08, March 08, May 08, June 08, Dec 08....

I was originally excited about this reciever because of the great reviews of the Reon processor and the Trinnov optimizer.

There are two downsides for me. It does not come with Ethernet. (I like to listen to high quality radio on Shoutcast)

It is also quite deep at 18" and would not work well asthetically with my setup causing me to lean towards the Denon 3808.

You can see the brochure of the 972 here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/147187896/NC_R972_4-page_brochure_RGB.pdf.html

Ouch.

Welcome to YourThreadWILLBEHijacked.com

Enjoy your stay, newcomer.

Welcome new user and yet one more from the Calgary area.

I would be more inclined to wait and go for the 3809 now, unless you can get the 3808 for under $1000. The 3809 has a couple of upgrades to it that might be worth waiting for, IIRC.

Jason. What's new in the 3809.

I seem to remember reading about newer DAC's, some better processor's and another 10 watts of power. I was really hoping to hear about a Reon being used for this model.

I hadn't seen this news on the 997 posted last month:

The Outlaw Saloon: Model 997 Update

The following has me excited:

Sounds good, too bad they are waiting on the Newcastle reciever that seems will never come. This new Trinnov technology will be old news by the time Sherwood finally gets it's shit together.

Yep. I think Alan gave us the Newcastle firm delivery date of June 1, or maybe it was even earlier. (To be clear, he was just relaying their date.) Never looks good to potential buyers like me when you see a firm delivery date missed, and not explained by "the ship from Japan sank, sorry." I have to guess they are working on a bug infestation, and that makes me want to wait. Frankly, I have decided to hold on to my old-3300 Denon for now and just buy an external HDMI switcher. Once this new wave of AVR/Pre-Pros gets cooled off I'll upgrade. For now, a projector and an external amp had done wonders to improve my HT.

The 972 is out, at least the initial shipment of apparently less than 100 units. These have been parceled out to dealers and professional testers. Possibly Axiom received one for evaluation. It's said that a much larger shipment will arrive next week and allow for sale to consumers.

Incidentally, the earlier date was what Alan was given, and he was simply reporting to us.

I'm still looking forward to it. Old news how? I don't see any other EQ solutions now or slated to be released that seem able to compete.

The Model 997 doesn't seem like the holy grail I've been waiting for, but I'm hoping it's a decent step forward.

I'm so glad Outlaw decided to go away from those awful green buttons.

How much does that 997 run for?

From the original announcement:

I'm not sure if they have updated those details anywhere else.

That sounds like a pretty good price considering the doodads they are putting in it. Okay, I need to stop tempting myself. My Denon is perfectly fine.

Thanks for starting this thread Charles. I had pretty much made up my mind on another Denon but this looks very promising.

You forgot the doodad they took out: the amp section. If you're considering the Outlaw 997, don't forget to include the price of 5 to 7 channels of amps too.

Of course there's the Sherwood Newcastle R-972, if you want an inbuilt amp.

That is the mantra I keep (trying) to repeat... ugh.

Oops, I forgot about that. It's only a preamp!

Ha ha, one of the pitfalls of this hobby. Always curious about the next horizon.

Outlaw 997 and an A1400-8, I just need the $7000cdn to buy it My Denon is still not back from the repair shop from my botched A1400-8 experiments, I blew it up real good. That reminds me, it is time for me to call them again, but it doesn't seem to make things go any faster.

Don't forget the minimum of $200 USD for seven, good quality, balanced interconnects.

NAD is about to releace their new line of HD Bitstreem audio processors. 4K MSRP for the master series pre/pro.

Naw, I just put some banana plug ends on 4' sections of RG6 for about $20 total while I had the A1400 in house for some experimenting, they worked great.

Banana plugs into XLR jacks? I don't see how that'd work. Doesn't even seem to make sense for the RCA.

And blew up your Denon??

The A1400 comes with adapters to enable use of RCA's instead of XLR's.

To be more precise, the A1400 has the circuits for both balanced and unbalanced inputs. To use the balanced (XLR) connectors with RCA, you need to purchase adaters. The adapters coming with the A1400 are terminator adapters between RCA and 1/4" terminators.

Oh do tell... how did you blow up your Denon with an external amp?

I was testing for sonic differences between my 3808 on it's own vs. the 3808 with the A1400. Way back in March when Mel(onn)lent me his A1400, I managed to cross one side of the 2 sets of speaker wires together, one set from the A1400 and one set from the Mains on the Denon. They touched ever so briefly, but that was all it took. I did a bit of a write up on it back in April. I didn't wait for the A1400 to bleed off the capictors before swapping the wiring around, the A1400 takes 10-15 seconds to bleed of the charge after the power button is turned off. In my zest for quickness I had become sloppy, and dropped the left side wires onto it's cousin. It was a sad day.

Bummer. The A1400 is very powerful. If you remember, my first one shorted when a long metal pin (a loose RCA-1/4" adater) touched a line in and a speaker out. Since I saw the blue flames coming out... I am tempted to close the house breaker before I go near it!

Wow, that is quite scary. So I take it you liked what you heard before the explosion if you went out and bought an A-1400 of your own then eh?

Dan shorted an A-1400 for his finale this Fourth.

Take that, Canada!

I am still without an A1400, still too much money for me, this is where I started seriously looking at the pro amps out there and have liked what I have read about them and their price points.

I'm depressed! I've been planning to get the Emotiva Audio LPA-3 channel amplifier and I just visited their site and it's GONE!!! They still have the XPA-3 channel version, but I really wanted the LPA.

Sad day.

"Owners of popular 4 ohm loudspeakers (dual-woofer, two-way models and many subwoofers) will find the 700 watt (4 ohm) power of the GX5 an ideal match."
$400

I can pick up the GX5 up here for just over $500, hmm I think this might be my Christmas present this year or the Crown XTi1000 for just under $700.

I take it you like the GX5?

I was looking at this amp this morning.

Damn you, Zimm!! ::Shakes fist in the air with overhead, wideangle P.O.V.)::

(oh, and add depth and reverb to the voice)

Yep. For the price (I paid $350 on sale!) I can't complain one bit. Now, if price is removed from the equation, it has issues when compared to audiophile amps, no doubt about it. First the positives: QSC makes tons of amps (like Crown et al) so you know they have the knowledge to build a solid amp - hence the 6 year warranty on an amp designed for outdoor (i.e., loud) use. QSC even has some THX certified Cinema amps, only useful in knowing that the worlds of pro and audiophile are not different in terms of what sounds good.

Also, the GX5 has RCA inputs built in so you don't need RCA to XLR converters as with so many pro amps. I had a Crown first and returned it, and did no like the $10 converter I used. The GX5 plugs right in, no issues. And, this thing can run 700 watts to a 4 ohm load all day. I have never seen the clip light illuminate and I have run the snot out of this amp in 2 ch mode. Also, as the QSC website explains, the GX5 (but not GX3) uses the dual rail technology of its big brothers (PLX series I think). In short, when just humming along for TV, etc, it uses a low power rail that makes no heat. When you flog the horses it switches to the high current rail and then needs a fan to cool it as it does not have much of a heat sink - but that also makes the package small.

Now, the buyer beware issues: (1) the internal fan is loud and must be removed for HT use - IMHO. The removal takes 10 minutes. I then mounted that fan and another on the exterior side exhaust and heat is no problem, and the fan(s) is quiet once out of the case - cheap internal mount vibrates causing the problem. Removal allows the air to flow inside as the fan is mounted mid-ship so if off it blocks air flow. (2) No remote turn on trigger, so you gotta flip the front panel power button on/off. (3) The power light is like a damn blue laser that is distracting. Cured with the blue flashing light from a $5 Lego set (yes, a child's toy). Fits snug on top of the light, no mod needed, and makes a pleasant pink glow, no laser show. (4) Industrial look may or may not work for you. But better looking than many pro amps.

The Crown I had (XTi ???) had a noise floor that was too high. The GX5 had the best S/N ratios in this price range. Check the S/N ratios, some get real high. If not for the QSC sounding so good I would have tried the Yamaha next as it has a nice look and good power, with low noise.

Considering I paid $300 for my Harmony remote, this was a steal at $350. For what it is worth, I saw a QSC PL? series at a pawn shop for $300. The point being, the pro amp market is much more fluid than the audiophile market, so check for used band equipment if you want a real deal.

It doesn't have a 12V trigger port?

An amp with an equalizer, Mark? That's a new one.

Seems like a lot of the pro amps have an EQ built in, but defeat able.