WelI I caved in and went with Rotel even though I couldn't really afford it.

There are so many 1066 reviews in different forums I won't even go into it, yes, in my opinion it's definately all it's cracked up to be as far as sound quality. Do I like my new Rotel? Yep. Am I pissed that I spent approx $600 more for something I would have probably been just as happy with for 2/3 the price? Big YES!!!

I am now paying for my impatience dearly, when my wife saw the receipt for the Rotel after I had spent all these months preparing her for $899 price of the Outlaw, it wasn't pretty

I've expressed my frustration with Outlaw a few times lately in a thread or two here but even as a new satisfied Rotel owner, I am still an Outlaw supporter. I really like what they are trying to do with the 950 as far as price and quality.

As I’ve said all along, it’s not the product delays that tick me off, it’s the lack of communication. The last update was informative (though several weeks late). Now here we are again, no updates, no clue when they will be shipping again. It just seems to go on and on.

Oh well, my suggestions;

For any of you in my shoes where hundreds of dollars mean something, hang in there and save the $$.

For those of you that have a little extra cash to spare, go for the Rotel, you won't be disappointed!

For Outlaw... In the future, at least let your core group of supporters (forum members and wait-listers) have more updates, any news is always better than none.

Rob

ITS been so long , if at the end of aug and i dont have one coming ill get a rotel

but, i hope i give outlaw my money

i'm not in a hurry, as i'm upgrading my entire ht system -- so this will give me time to fully audition video monitors (and see if anything new comes out this fall). my cable provider (comcast) isn't bringing hdtv out in my area until the end of the year in any case.

hope you like your rotel -- it has gotten excellent reviews!

i'm not in a hurry, as i'm upgrading my entire ht system -- so this will give me time to fully audition video monitors (and see if anything new comes out this fall). my cable provider (comcast) isn't bringing hdtv out in my area until the end of the year in any case. so i'll wait for my 950/770 combo.

hope you like your rotel -- it has gotten excellent reviews!

I will be road tripping to a Vandersteen dealer later this summer to audition speakers. Turns out this dealer is also a Rotel dealer. If I haven't got a solid date from Outlaw by then, and the dealer happens to have a black 1066 in stock, I may come home with more than just speakers!

robertd: Just curious, how will you deal with SACD/DVD-A on the Rotel? I.e., no bass management of any kind on the 5.1 analog inputs. This is still the biggest reason why I am waiting for the 950...

kevin -- while i don't know what robertd did for bass management, adding the outlaws icbm unit looks to be an excellent approach to bass management for the 99 percent of pre-pros and receivers that don't do bass management.

Kevin, that was one of the things I liked about the Outlaw as well but as davewb was saying, I figure I can always get an ICBM if it becomes an issue. To be honest I really haven't done that much research on base management since for now its not a factor for me. Actually, the fact that the Rotel doesn't have a tuner bothered me more since I listen to alot of talk radio. I bought a used Kenwood tuner off ebay for $18 so no big deal but it's still more space taken up on my rack.

Around here, that's mostly AM.

The FM tuner on the 950 is fine but the AM has an awful lot of static. What I had before the 950 was fine for AM. But since I got the 950, I pretty much have to use my car radio when I want to listen to AM.

Good AM reception is not critical for me. Nevertheless I wish the 950 had better AM.

If I decide I need better AM reception, I might just get a used tuner too.

Rotel 1066 @ ~$1300
+ Outlaw ICBM @ $249

=> *That's* why I'm still a waitin' for the 950...

Wouldn't the 1066 have the same problems the 950 has with the ICBM because of undefeatable double bass?

All this talk about bass mgmt may be overated. I've been playing dvd-audio through my 1066 and there is plenty of bass. I haven't fooled with it a lot but it seems as there is some bass coming out of the subs as well. If you are really concerned about having that much control then the ICBM is probably the way to go. Much more control than the 950. The bottom line is dvd-audio is only as good as the mix given you. I've found a great deal of diferences between disks. Some sound great and others sound worse than a good cd. Also I do think hdcd sounds a litttle better than regular cd...quieter and cleaner. Again it may be the recordings.