Are the "Outlaws" for real?

A friend of mine has the Outlaw 1050 receiver, and I have listened to it for about 10 hours. In my opinion, it is every bit as good as the reviews have said -- infact, I do not think it is accurate to call the Outlaw "mid-fi". It provides a good taste of entry-level high-end audio, and is (again, IMO) a terrific value. Based on my experience with the 1050, I think it is a signficantly better receiver than all but the most expensive Sony, Denon, etc., receivers.

Bear in mind that because Outlaw sells direct to buyers via the Internet, there is no retail markup. If they were selling their products through a retail dealer, their prices would be roughly doubled.

I checked into their pre / pro and it appears to be built to a pretty low standard, seems to be plagued by quality control problems and suffers from a higher than normal noise floor. All of this plus quirky operation of the remote. Hearing these words come from actual owners of the units was enough to scare me away. Other than that, the pre / pro very much resembles some slightly older, "plastic" NAD gear cosmetically. I think that the pre / pro is one of those products that they built tons of features into the chassis but forgot to leave room for the quality. If you get a good one, they are supposed to be a great buy for the money. If you don't get a good one... Sean
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I own outlaws 1050for 2 years now,this one is as good as
the vantas, IMHO for the price of this is so hard to
beat, Yes I totally agree the review is extremely
accurate.But for the money, if you will only use
once in a while it will serve a good porpuse,BUT THE
SERVICE IS VERY VERY GOOD.ARE YOU TAKING THE RISK IN
BUYING IT, WITH RESPECT TO SEAN I SAY NO,I THINK THEY
HAVE ALSO 30 DAYS MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.midfi a bit over
than that.Try them this are very professional people
you wont be disappointed.

I own the model-950 and 755 combo and couldn't be happier. I've never owned what is considerd the really high end stuff, but I have owned numerous components from Adcom, Rotel, Onkyo M series, Yamaha, Denon, Sony ES, Fosgate, Parasound, etc., etc. The Outlaw amps are ATI amp's. ATI-1505 used to offer slightly more power and 8 output divices apposed to the 6 of the original 750, but it also cost several hundred more. However, the 755 now has 200wpc into 8ohms and 300wpc into 4ohms with 10 output devises and still cost hundreds less than the 1505. It is a great amp with very good build quality, and I would describe the sound as very nuetural. A great amp for the money for sure. As for the 950, as one guy mentioned it is feature packed, however, that is about all he got right, beside the fact that it does have a quirky remote (no big deal though, and still not bad as remotes go. Think it's the same one that comes with B&K and some other models). The intial units had some problems with hiss and this is what he was probably reading about. They stopped production and fixed this problem. However, the initial problem was only with certain very sensative speakers, like Klisch, but the fact that they stopped to fix it says something I think. Mine is rock solid and absolutey quiet. It has every feature you could want and peformance is OUTSTANDING, for both music and HT. 24/192 Cyrus logic D/A converters, etc. Direct input in the analog mode that by-passes all the digital circuitry and takes you straight to the volume control. It is exceptional, especially at it's price. I challange anyone to find something at this price that performs as well. BTW, the front is aluminum and not plastic, as was mentioned. The only downfall is that they do in fact look like some of the older NAD stuff, but at thier price to performance ratio who cares? Bottom line is that your going to be hard pressed to find something better for the price. Take a look on Audioholic's and see the article about the clone processor's. Sherbourn and Atlantic Tech. are putting new faceplats on the Outlaw designed units and selling the for several hundred dollars more. I've also heard the new Adcom is this same unit, but I don't know for sure.

Jack & Jayctoy: The comments regarding build quality and high noise floor were taken from those that own the 950 and have publicly posted such comments. More than a folks have stated such things, going so far as to say that they have sent them back to Outlaw, sometimes multiple times. Even with revision 2 units, they are still experiencing high levels of hiss and a lack of "black background". I have also seen units listed for sale / comments made here on Audiogon to the effect that the units are not the most reliable BUT that customer service is phenomenal.

Like i said, i was interested in buying one of these units and checked into it. I backed off after reading / finding out the above info. Less than a month ago, my Father asked to check into this unit for him. His thoughts were that the unit was unmatchable in terms of features for the money. I did further research and i'm still seeing the same complaints / comments / compliments being made about them as when they first came out i.e. it looks like they need better quality conrol and the customer service is exemplary. Sean
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