Outlaw Audio gear - first impressions

[DTLongo]

This picks up from my earlier string that asked for recommendations on multichannel electronics for a Klipschorm + Belle Klipsch three-channel audio setup. My new Outlaw Audio Model 970 tuner/preamp/processor arrived last week and their Model 7075 75 wpc amplifier arrived yesterday. I have set them up adjacent to my desk area in my 16' x 20' living room with the Khorns + Belle along the short wall off to the right of the picture.

Audio-ly the Outlaw gear performs as expected. It is heavy and overbuilt (especially the amp which is a straight-wire-with-gain heavy black beast ) and exudes quality. The sound is smooth and crystal-clear and it is great now to have the center Belle sharing fully in the fun. I like classical music and with a good-quality recording, the array puts you THERE into the music. My Khorns benefit from use of an outboard Teac equalizer between the pre-and power amps to give them a needed extra shove below 60 hz. The new amp takes that in stride and the Khorns sing as well or better than they did with my beloved old Pioneer mentioned in the earlier string.

But...and I'm sorta shaking my head at this... the 970 preamp seems to have a couple of design faults. There is no accessory switched power outlet, so I have to turn the equalizer on and off manually. (There is a "trigger" circuit that connects the preamp and amp with a mono miniplug cable so the amp turns on and off with the preamp.) More importantly, VCR video pass-through the receiver does not work. I tried two older VCR's with basic composite connections and the picture emerged only in black and white and at times unstably. Yet both VCRs work fine when plugged directly into the little monitor TV on my desk, and with other receivers. Go figure. I asked Outlaw tech support about this and they responded quickly but fuzzily along the lines that "Unfortunately, many older VCR's (and even some newer models) can become problematic when run through transcoding circuitry... your VCR's output may be too weak for the Model 970's transcoding circuit."

Anyway, that flaw is not critical for me since I rarely watch VCR's on my desk, though it's nice to have the capability if I want to run videotape audio through the Klipschorns + Belle, which I can still do. If I do want to watch a video I can easily enough plug the VCR's video output cable by hand into the little TV. But still, "'Tis a puzzlement."

[LarryC]

Tom, I can't tell you how delighted I am that, at long last, you have some great tube electronics on those beauties! I've watched your evolution for some time and think you're gettin' to a good place! They should be breaking in very nicely about now -- gradually losing brittleness and graininess from the highs and blossoming out of a pinched, closed-in sound stage. My rule of thumb in breaking in is about 50 hrs., but 100 hrs. isn't unknown. It would be interesting to see what you think by that time.

There is no accessory switched power outlet, so I have to turn the equalizer on and off manually.

I haven't seen switched power outlets on tube separates for a long time -- only moderately-priced SS receivers and vintage preamps and integrated amps. I don't think you want high-powered items plugged into delicate stuff anyway. Can a power strip turn your things on and off with one switch? BTW, I have a separate power switch for each item in my wierd setup!

VCR video pass-through the receiver does not work

My VCR is routed directly to my TV, and switched in and out via the TV and/or VCR remotes. This worked very well with my old non-HD TV, less so with my current HD Sony.

With your interest in classical and the regional orchestra, I'm surprised you haven't signed up for our Strathmore concerts. All 16 tickets I reserved for next April are now spoken for, but I can reserve another one or two if you're interested!

Larry

[DTLongo]

"Tom, I can't tell you how delighted I am that, at long last, you have some great tube electronics on those beauties!"

Thank yu for the kind comments LarryC, but the Outlaw gear is not tube but SS. Good SS but still SS. In an ideal world I would have tubes but the third-channel aspect is a complication. Good refurbished vintage two-channel amps can be had, but a three channel? And I don't think I want to get into the complexity, cost and space requirements of three single-channel tube amps (monoblocks).

[LarryC]

Well, fer cryin' out loud! I misread something somewhere, to think it was tube. Some day....

[rcarlton]

I'm running an Outlaw 990 through McIntosh amps to my Khorns. Works real well. At one time I had the Outlaw hooked to a tube amp. Very accurate and lush sound. Enjoy!

I have my eye on an Outlaw 997!

[Doc Robin]

I just got the RR2150 and hooked it up to the Cornwall's; using the OPPO 981 into the CD/DVD input; we were able to turn the volume all the way up and were still wanting more. Then we tried the Apple TV hooked into the Tape input, only able to turn it half way up. So we swapped the inputs and found that the OPPO seems to be weak on its out put, the Apple TV was just as strong as when it was in the Tape input. We had not been able to tell any difference in these 2 units when connected to either a HK 430 or HK 730. We will try another CD/DVD player but have not had time to break down another system to make the swap.

The 2150 does sound very clean in all aspects and at all volume levels. It does have the remote control issue of going from a low volume to a higher than you wanted level very quickly. This of course was not an issue when using the OPPO with it what seems to be attenuated output. More to follow when another CD/DVD player is connected. Later Bill

[stormin]

I just got the RR2150 and hooked it up to the Cornwall's; using the OPPO 981 into the CD/DVD input; we were able to turn the volume all the way up and were still wanting more. This of course was not an issue when using the OPPO with it what seems to be attenuated output. More to follow when another CD/DVD player is connected. Later Bill

My Oppo DV-980H has a volume control on the remote. In all the reviews I have seen they recommend for best sound max volume on the Oppo. Whether I use a preamp or just the Oppo stand alone into my amplifier I have tons of volume control.

Might want to check and make sure your volume is up on your Oppo.

[Doc Robin]

Yep we learn something everyday; we did not think the volume control was just for the OPPO. Thank you very much for the heads up advice. Later Bill

[DTLongo]

Here's an update after a week with the new gear. I guess there are about 25 hours or so on the new electronics. I don't know how breaking in electronics compares with electromechanical devices like speakers, but there is a subjective sense after the 25 hours that things are aurally more "comfortable" and less dry and more full.

Whatever, I now have the system dialed in I think to my liking. Being able to use the outboard equalizer between the Outlaw Model 970 preamp and 7075 power amp is a godsend. I had forgotten what a good thing equalization can be! Plus, as compared with the earlier photo I've moved the EQ unit atop the power amp. It is now right at hand's reach from my desk (see photo below) so I easily can turn it on and off with the other gear and tailor it to individual program material. (The "stilts" that you see the EQ on in the photo are old turntable vibration-isolators. The added clearance provides cooling ventilation for the 7075 amp.)

Quality speakers like Klipschorns are merciless on program material. In this setup they instantly show differences and flaws between various recordings and on FM radio broadcasts that stations like NPR get fed from different sources. Having the equalizer where it is now lets me easily adjust for such. The "default" EQ curve that you see in the picture is fairly aggressive but pleases my ears here. I LOVE the way the Khorns sing with that bass boost, they are so musical.

My Velodyne S1500R sub is fed by the 970 preamp directly so it is not affected by the EQ settings. Need for the sub is almost extraneous given the Klipschorns' capabilities. But on some organ, symphomic, bass drum and electronic material the Khorns' lack of oomph below 40 hz. is noticeable. I have the Velodyne Xover set to its lowest 40 hz position and its bass control cracked to only about the 9:30 position. That is enough to fill in and add to where the Khorns don't go. (One bears in mind that Klipschorns were designed in an era where smooth solid response down to 40 hz was AWESOME, and technologies did not allow for capturing much if anything below that limit anyway.)

The end result is that the whole system seems to just "loaf" with whatever I throw at it including the Telarc "1812" cannon shots. If anything the Outlaw gear is overbuilt, the 7075 amp has barely gotten more than just slightly warm to the touch.

[Saturn5]

Thanks for the review!

I just got an Outlaw 970 as well. With their $200 discount on the 997, I may upgrade when it comes out be right now I'm enjoying the 970. I'm only using it for 2 channel stereo at the moment, with RF-7 mains driven by a QSC PLX-2402 amp. Probably the biggest advantage is moving to an optical input for my audio over my old Pioneer's RCA analog inputs.

How do you like the Outlaw amp? I'm probably going to get one in the near future to get my surround setup going but I can't decide which one to get. I'm tempted to go with one of the 200W/ch amps - for headroom as much as anything else. My QSC is rated at 425W/ch and it makes the the 7s sing with a very relaxed sound. My old Pioneer was rated at 100W/ch and it would get about as loud, but it didn't have the clarity, presence or relaxed sound. It was more fatiguing to listen to as well.

Now I just need to find some RB-75 or RS-7 speakers for surround use. I've already got an RC-7 just waiting for my amp purchase to get into the mix.

[DTLongo]

I like the Outlaw 7075 amp very much. It just sits and does its thing flawlessly. Of course my Klipschorns + Belle are very efficient and the amp's 75 wpc. is more than sufficient to drive them loud and effortlessly. I'm sure you would be quite happy with one of Outlaw's larger amps.

[Arky]

Saturn

Before I moved to heritage I had a RF/RC 7 setup ran by the Outlaw 990 & 7500 (5 x 200) amp. The sound was pleasing & natural to my ears. I then added the same QSC amp you own & noticed additional improvement similar to what you said. Since you are familiar with Outlaw I think you would be pleased with their amps. If I was doing it again I would be tempted to stack all QSC for as many channels needed I like it so much. I can pick it up with one hand whereas at about 90lbs the Outlaw breaks my back.

[DTLongo]

I really hope I'm not boring anybody with this string but here's the latest. Over Xmas my two sons visited me, 39 and 37 years old respectively. The younger one, who has serious heavy-metal rock band musician experience, brought along an MP3 player with some of his favorite stuff. For some four hours December 27 did he ever wring out my system! Oh-my-gawd. The Klipschorns + Belle took everything in stride, it was pretty awesome, I mean, they were rolling at stadium-volumes with much really gnarly stuff. It wasn't my usual classical! NO distortion, NO breakup, nothin'. Just great sound, and my son was duly impressed as in Awesoooome.

More to the point of this posting, the Outlaw gear really impressed. After this full gonads-to-the-wall session the Outlaw Model 7075 amp was STILL only barely and I mean barely warm to the touch. Talk about being overbuilt.

[NOSValves]

Just looking at all the levers and knobs on that EQ give me a headache [] I do have a question.... what type of media does the fax machine play LOL!!

[russ69]

It looks like you could use a cable upgrade on the fax phone!

Thanx, Russ

[DTLongo]

Actually, during the listening session with my younger son (Mark) we switched the EQ in and out. On much of the gnarly stuff the EQ boost was hardly missed. On some Mark really liked it back in.

This may sound ironic but except for the extremes classical music is not as dramatic on this array as rock. I had the same impression some four years ago when GaryMD brught his little 10 wpc Fisher tube amp out to try on my (then) new Klipschorn pair. The difference from my then sort of crappy solid-state amp was great on rock, pop and such, barely noticeable on classical.

But when it's WELL-recorded classical and one knows the music and one knows what to listen for (those inner voice winds and such), well, I've had a professional symphony orchestra conductor sit here spellbound.

[jacksonbart]

Please post a picture in relationship to the desk/amp/fax setup if possible.

Glad its working out of you.

Thanks in advance.

[DTLongo]

"Please post a picture in relationship to the desk/amp/fax setup if possible.".

The second picture earlier in this string is how things are set up at present and will give you an idea. The speaker array, out of that picture to the right, appears below. The Velodyne sub can be seen peeking out from the left behind the file cabinet.