Outlaw 990..... First Look....

Coming off a Lexicon MC-1 Pre/Amp.... Just received my 990 today... Setup was an absolute snap... Took me approx. 30 minutes to unhook all of my Lexicon wires as well as re-direct all video sources from my Inday switcher to the 990... OSD via the S-Video display was straight forward and easy... Setup all sources within 1 minute... I must admit, I have not even read the manual yet, so I’m sure more complex setup is in store.... I setup all speakers to small, and crossover to 80Hz across all 7 channels....

As far as gear I’m using Paradigm Studio 100's for mains ver3, Studio CC for center, Studio ADP's for sides, and Studio 20's for rears...Subwoofer is an SVS Ultra SS… Amp is Outlaw 770... DVD is Panasonic RP-91.. Projector is Marantz VP12 S3 with Hd2+…

I have listened to this unit for approx 1 hour so there will be more to come....

I'm extremely impressed at the video switching.. Video looks better than my Inday switcher.... Shaper, more detailed image.... Not by much, but an improvement.... I was watching Discovery HD Theater and they had one of those blue and black frogs.. I can't remember my image looking any better.......


I always found the Outlaw 950 to be Neutral sounding… My Lexicon MC1 was warmer and more precise with imaging and had a larger front sound stage to my ears….. I say without question, this 990 is as good, or better than Lexicon sound…..


My first audio demo was Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones… That initial SW opening crawl with the John Williams score is always my personal first test for any new audio gear…. The front soundstage on this piece (990) is just enormous… Front Soundstage imaging from the 990 was exceptional, and more detailed than my MC-1…. My front stage has never seemed so big and wide…… Sound panning from speaker to speaker is also flawless……. Natural sounding and lifelike…. Bass effects low coming from my sub seem much more detailed, and the upper range bass freq above 80hz from my Paradigms also seem tighter….

Remote control is easy to use, and bright blue keys illuminate…. I have so much more to setup and try….


Highly, highly recommended…

Thank You,
Steven Simon
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Wow...thanks for the review. Sounds like the 990 is a winner.

Steve:

No thanks for the review. I don't appreciate it. I'm a longtime denizen of Home Theater Forum and have a lot of respect for your opinion.

As a result, you have just pushed me a decisive step forward toward moving over to the 990 from my 950. And that is going to cost me money.



Seriously, Steve, thanks a lot for the concise but to-the-point comments. It's all about sound for me and your perspective really answers a number of questions I've had about this new unit. I'm looking forward to reading your reactions after more extended listening.

Best,
Bob

Darthsimon: Your Paradygm 100 can go below 40 hz. Why not set it to LARGE? I have the same speakers with outlaw 950, rotel amp (200 rms watt/ch) and Definitive Tech 15" subwoofer. Setting the paradygm 100 front to LARGE is my preference. I got the 990 2 days already but haven't open the box yet. Will do the set up this weekend.......long week end! Happy hearing/watching.

Kwok

Glad to hear your feedback, Steve, and I look forward to hearing more as you spend some time with the 990.

One things I can say is that the size of the unit makes it a heck of alot easier to wire on the rear panel... I love how all the imputs are clearly marked, and spacing is good.. I was able to do the wiring from the Lex over to the 990 in 20 minutes flat... By 30 minutes, I had the unit running and all inputs assigned....

Nice write up Steve!

The back is nice and large, but if you use Outlaws interconnects for the preouts they are still painfully too crowded for me. Very hard to get them all too lock.

Are you using early PCA's or later PCA's, Jed M? I have a mix of both, but the set of 0.5 meter cables running from my S1500 to the 990 for DVD-Audio and SACD are from after they changed the locking connectors to use ones with a smaller outer diameter - they're still a snug fit on the rear of the 990, but not any worse than my TMC Yellow Labels, and certainly a bit better than they were on the back of the 950 (where they rubbed a bit). I think they made that change around late 2002.

Good to know that Gonk. Mine are still the classics that shipped with my 950/770 combo that shipped back in April 2002. I am glad to hear they redesigned them with a more narrow barrel.

Everybody, ignore what I said above.

I received my new 990 yesterday morning and spent most of the day hooking it up and experimenting with it.

I am very impressed with the features and sound quality so far. I have tested each of my input devices (CD, DVD, HD-SAT, Phono, and XBOX), and found the setup easy and the sound quality to be an improvement in every case over my old Adcom GTP-600, which I had been very happy with.

The biggest difference I noticed was in the base reproduction. The dual 12" woofers on my Infinity Kappas never sounded so good.

I did notice something about the bass that concerned me. When I ran the auto setup, everything appears to have been recognized correctly and the settings appear to be alright; however I noticed that when the subwoofer test was run it drove my subwoofer amp straight into clipping mode.

I have never seen the clipping lights come on before; so I am wondering why the test tones would produce this effect. Is this a symptom that my amp is just barely capable of driving my passive subs?

I am thinking of re-running the subwoofer test with the extended bass mode of my Infinity Kappas turned off to see what difference that would make. My understanding is that in extended bass mode, these speakers can sometimes drop below 1 ohm impedance.

I plan to run some tests and try manually configuring the unit with a meter and some test disks this weekend. If any of you guys have some suggestions about configuring the crossovers please chime in (I currently am using small for each of my speakers and the default 100 hz crossover).

My amps and speakers are listed below:
Main L&R: Infinity Kappa 9.1 II (bi-amped) driven by Adcom GFA-545 (100 watts)
Center & Surrounds: Infinity Kappa Video II driven by Adcom GFA-2535 (center bridged to 100 watts, surrounds at 60 watts)
Subwoofers: Infinity Kappa 9.1 II (bi-amped) driven by Adcom GFA-5500 (200 watts)

Your sub clipping may be due to a known issue with the 990's subwoofer test tone - the tone is full-range. The recommended workaround for powered subs is to turn on your subwoofer's internal crossover and set it somewhere near the upper limit (150Hz or 200Hz) before running the test tone, then go back to bypassing the internal crossover afterward (since the 990's bass management takes care of it for everything except the sub test tone). Another option in your case is to manually set the sub using a test tone from a DVD like Video Essentials or AVIA.

Thanks Gonk!

I hadn't heard about the problem with the subwoofer test tone, but that would definitely explain my problem.

I have both the Video Essential and AVIA test disks and will try manual configuration with them this weekend (time permitting).

Do you have any thoughts about crossover settings in the 990 for the speakers I listed?

The -2dB point on the Kappa 9.1 II is listed as 27Hz. Since they are also acting as your subs, I'd assume you have them set to "large," which means we're not concerned about the crossover point. The -2dB on the Video II is 90Hz. Normally, folks look at the -3dB point when determining crossovers, so you could probably start out trying 80Hz as the crossover for those channels. I wouldn't go lower than 80Hz, and you might even try 100Hz just to see how it compares.

The Kappa 9.1s are bi-amped so that the high/mid and low portions of the speaker are effectively running like seperates. The amplifier driving the high/mid is connected to the left and right outputs on the preamp, and the amplifier driving the low end of the 9.1s is connected to the subwoofer outputs from the 990. I have the upper portion of the 9.1s and the Kappa Videos set to small.

I was coming to the same conclusion that 100Hz is probably the right crossover point, but that I may want to try 80Hz to see if I can note any differences. I noticed that the lower internal crossover point on the 9.1s is 180Hz. That makes me wonder if the mid-bass coupler is running on the lower half of my bi-amped configuration.

Oh well... Even partially configured it still sounds great.

Hey, gonk, what do you recommend for someone who can't bypass the crossover in their sub? Run it wide open (i.e. crossed at 150 Hz, in my case), and cross at 80 Hz in the 990?

If your sub allows crossover adjustment but doesn't allow the crossover to be bypassed, I'd set the crossover as high as possible (the 150Hz point you mention).