This is a follow up of my last review

In my last review, I mentioned that the Outlaw is a terrific receiver but is a bit weak on "music only" programs. I recently purchased two items to try and improve the sound. First was the HTA2500 from Monstercable, picture dramatically improved from my video sources can't say mcuh but its a good buy. For music cleaned it up a little bit but nothing great. On my second purchased I got the DIP 24/96 anti-jitter, reclocking unit from Monarchy Audio and this unit rocks!!!! I mean ROCKS!!!!! It's an audiophile with a tight budgets dream. It improved music so much that I can't stop listening to my cd's and dvd-audio disc. Everything is musical, light, relaxing to hear. In fact, it improved my dvd movies so much to the extent my wife who wouldn't really be able to discern the difference did. To all you Outlaw guys out there try it out I'm sure your going to be impressed as I did.

Quality, style, ease of use, service

need extra set of short RCA wires to play stereo mode, if you want to bypass all the unnessesary circuitry and DSP modes

I ordered this reciever on Tuseday afternoon, and it was in my living room when I arrived home on Wednesday! I had a email reply within an hour of placing my order! The instructions, are in large print, easy to read and well orgainized. The reciever is as simple as such a complex thing could be, follow the few short steps in thhe instructions and you are ready for your favorite album or movie.
The quality, build, sound, service, and otherwise is excellent. So far I havent had a chance to give it a fair review, or an A/B comparision. But my initial reaction is very optamistic.
If you are considering this reciever, dont be scared away by the youth or small size of Outlaw Audio, they have done an excellent job.

great sound quality,built well,easy to use

for this price none!!!

i've been somewhat of an audiophile for close to 30 years and i believe the outlaw to be the best bargain since nad first arrived on the scene. nad has since gone the way of all the other overpriced manufacturers i must add. all things considered, the outlaw 1050 has to be the best buy ever for a quality hi fi product.

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denon 3801 onkyo integra dt7

Fast delivary. Easy set up, even for a blond... directions were precise and easy to follow. Durable, solidly built. I liked the outlaw web site, it was interesting reading about how the company got started.

none yet

I read all the reviews on audioreview.com about the Outlaw 1050 and was satisfied that this product would meet my needs. I have read many reviews about recievers that were higher priced and was not impressed. The Outlaw reciever impressed me and I think I made a wise choice.
On a personal note, I have had to learn alot of information about home theaters in a short amount of time. Building a quality home theater system requires alot of research and learning. Going from housewife to home theater geek was not an easy task! Outlaw's ease of hook-up made my task of connecting all my componets simple.

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first reciever

Clean strong Power, Build Quality, excellent surround processing, great value!

None yet.

I thought I had settled on Marantz when upgrading my receiver. After reading various reviews and seeing thier return policy I decided to try out the Outlaw 1050. As other reviewers can attest to the customer service is outstanding. It was shipped overnight as promised. Easy hookup and in no time I was listening. Beautiful sound and great power. No worries on the 65wt/channel rating. My previous receiver was $1100 a few years ago. The Outlaw blows it away and after hearing the Outlaw hooked up in my home, there was no reason to pay the extra money for the Marantz. Truly a rare value. Don't pass it up. This is high end audio video quality. Leaves more money in the pocket for more gear....

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Pioneer VSX9900
JVC
Kenwood
Marantz

Output, Power, Remote, Customer Service, 6.1 output, excellent manual.

Not Enough Digital inputs(3), No front inputs

This is my first foray into the above Best Buy Crowd, I do not consider myself to be an audiophile, but i enjoy music and movies. I found that this reciever gives an excellent feel to music and is excellent with movies, especially with DVD. Even playing on my cheap APEX DVD player the sound output is AWESOME, watching "The Perfect Storm", really blew me away, ditto with Gladiator, ID4 etc.
Also had a problem with the remote control about a month after recieving my 1050, customer service was excellent, instead of sending me a new remote, they sent me a whole new reciever including a new remote. Although they have no local presence such as a best buy, circiut city etc, there customer response is second to none...i whole heartedly recommend any product from this company especially to someone who is looking to step up to something a little better.
i look foward to one day purchasing their power amp and hope outlaw comes out with a dvd player too!

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Sony Recievers, various models

DD 6.1 decoding, Sturdy, powerful sound, great remote, S-video/composite switching

Could use a couple more digital inputs, would have liked to have a switched plug in the back.

I won this great receiver at http://www.HomeTheaterTalk.com and was amazed at how well it sounds in the Tuner mode, CD mode, and especially when used w/ DVD's!

After I received my first receiver from Outlaw, it had some kind of mysterious hum that couldn't be pinned down. After posting this glitch on their website, I got a call on a Sunday afternoon from Outlaw offering to walk me through some checks. Nothing seemed to work, so Peter from Outlaw authorized an exchange.

Sure enough, on Monday Scott from Outlaw called and said a new receiver would go out Overnight Air the next day at no charge to me!! He also mailed me Priority Mail a PREPAID Fed-X label so I could return the defective receiver, again at no cost to me.

These folks have the most friendly and amazing customer service on the planet! Try getting Sony or any other electronic mfr. to do the same...

My second unit arrived as promised and is sounding GREAT! I just ran a DD 6.1 test run using Toy Story 2 and it sounded great w/ the 6.1 configuration.

All in all I highly recommend this receiver, and at $599 it's a real bargain!

See pics of it in use at my Home Theater website I call "The Enormodome": http://www.TheEnormodome.homestead.com

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Sony STR-DE925, Kenwood 1080

clear sound, wonderful image, remote, looks

no front a/v jacks

This is one heck of a receiver. True it runs into some of the banes of receivers, namely a little hiss and some crosstalk with the volume at max. That may come into play if I decide to use it as a preamp later, but you don't notice it at all under normal (or beyond normal) use.

The sound is wonderful. Very open and airy with a distinct stage. A previous reviewer noted that he didn't think there was much imaging, collapsing everything to the center essentially. What I believe he was noticing is that this thing is VERY unforgiving to recordings. Some recordings have better stereo than others, and this receiver will let you know. Some tracks almost sound like they are in surround--similar to Carver's sound holography--the separation is so good. Sometimes I realize that I haven't destroyed my hearing yet and notice music sounding bright. But then I realize that my JBL L36's are extremely bright speakers. The sub output, contrary to some beliefs, is plentiful. It's only the sub test-tone that doesn't sound loud. This thing brings my Velodyne 8100x sub alive!

The remote is decent. I wish that the function buttons on the bottom would light up and I wish that I could get it to program the "exit" button on my Magnavox VCR, but other than, that, it's a good remote. The looks are sleek (Yes, even with the green power button). The binding posts on the rear are superb. The tuner is fine, but then again, I only listen to talk radio and sports anyway.. :) Front A/V jacks would be nice, but I can get away with it since my VCR has them.

I have to give credit to their customer service. This is my second 1050. The first one was a lemon, lasting only 20 minutes. They were quick to acknowlege their fault and very quick about getting me out a new one with no questions asked, and no cost to me. The girl on the phone is really nice, too!

All in all, I don't think you can go wrong with this unit. If I continue to like it, I will probably get their preamp and use it in the main room and relegate the 1050 to the computer room finally junking my almost-dead HK.

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HK AVR80 mk II

Value, Build quality, 6 discrete amplifiers, 6 pre-amp outputs, 5.1 inputs for SACD/DVD, selectable subwoofer crossover frequencies

No phono stage

Just wanted to say that I'm impressed with my new Outlaw 1050 receiver. Ordering/customer service was first class with 2 day delivery and excellent double-boxed packaging. I've had the 1050 for 3.5 weeks now and have had a chance to put it through the paces with different sources, utilizing Dolby Pro Logic, DD 5.1, DD w/Outlaw's 6.1, and DTS. Clarity and musicality is excellent, surround performance is first class. At the price point the 1050 is being offered at I haven't seen any 6-channel receiver that compares to it until you double (or triple) its cost.

I'm also impressed with the amplifier's performance, for a rating of 65 WPC there seems to be plenty of dynamic headroom and it also seems to be "fast" in handling transient responses. Those specs aren't listed in the owner's guide but I think the headroom and slew rate of the amp section is quite good. I have several high-powered receivers I've collected over the years (Pioneer SX-1250, Sansui G-8000, Yamaha R-1000, Kyocera R-851) and a couple of high-power amps (Yamaha B-6, Onkyo M-504) so I traditionally wouldn't consider units less than 100 WPC but all of the reviews I read on the 1050 indicated that the amplifier section is sufficient for all but oversized rooms with inefficient speakers. I have to agree with that assessment, so far I've been able to watch movies at movie theatre levels or louder (my ear's bleeding again?) without a hint of distortion or clipping.

Another area the receiver does well in is playing two-channel music. I use an independent system (Roksan separates) for listening to stereo music but I hooked up an extra CD player to the 1050 to check its two-channel performance and I must admit it sounds good, especially for something classified as a home theatre receiver that sells for less than what some people spend on cables. Too bad there's no phono preamp built in, I would kind of like to test the 1050 with my Linn LP12 just for giggles.

My previous home theater receiver was a Sony STR-DE635 (a cheapie) that was bought as a stopgap to get into Dolby Digital while the formats stabilized. The Sony had lots of features and over twenty DSP modes but made two-channel music unlistenable to all but the deaf and was overly bright/harsh on movies. The only time I used the DSP's was to compensate for the mediochre sound the receiver was putting out.

Overall I highly recommend the Outlaw 1050 to anyone who demands great performance to value in audio equipment. Any schmuck with $20-30,000 to spend on home theater can get something that sounds fantastic but for those with audio budgets based on reality (and those with spouses that read the credit card bills) the 1050 sounds great, is well-built, has usable features, and leaves money in your account for other vices.

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Sony STR-DE635

See my review below.

See my review below.

This is a follow up to my earlier review.

Too often, we fool ourselves into thinking that we can spend our way towards a better, more persuasive illusion -- in this case, the reproduction of a live performance. My earlier review reflected my faith in this myth. But over the course of the last seven months, I have gathered enough impressions to *understand* -- to know to be absolutely true -- that it is simply not possible. No amount of money will ever make you believe someone is strumming a song only for you.

It is for the above reason that I was so hard on the Outlaw. I had hoped for so much; but nothing could have met or ever will meet my previous expectations for perfection.

I am now absolutely convinced that the Oulaw 1050 is THE "best-buy" AV receiver available on the market today, bar none. It is astonishingly underpriced, considering the quality, design, and overall sound. In fact, I have had to spend nearly $1,000 (USD) more in order to find a personally suitable alternative. (I ended up with the HK 7000.)

To be sure, it is important to consider specifications and other hardware features. But let me wag my finger: use these as a guide, not final decision-making criteria. There are more than five zillion reasons why one should not put too much stock in manufacturer power ratings; or in zippy DSP modes; or for that matter, in the reviews on this site. Disregard the blathering yada yada yada. Trust yourself to make the right decision based on the music, and on what you can reasonably expect a unit to reproduce. Give the 1050 a listen!

Recommendation: If you want to spend less than $1,000 for one of the best home theater receivers around, consider the Outlaw 1050. If you want a 6.1 receiver, the Outlaw 1050 audition becomes a priority. I'm betting that your final purchase decision will turn out to be a no-brainer.

Best,

SAM

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HK 510, HK 7000, Onkyo XXX