What is becoming of the "high end" part of Outlaw? Here we are in the holiday shopping season and none of the higher-end theater amplifiers are available anymore and no shipping dates have been announced for replacements. There really is no alternative for folks that need more than bookshelf speaker amplification at this juncture unless you want to go with a pile of 1RU mono amps (the 2200).

The 7125 "trade up" offer seems nice, but it also seems like a supreme pain in the rump for someone who already knows they want more than 125wpc. And 75wpc (the 7075) certainly isn't an option. Is there REALLY a market for a 75wpc separate theater amp when so many Japanese theater receivers out there are offering this (or more) level of amplification plus a processor for about the same $$$???

In short, I guess I'm just scratching my head wondering what bizarre decision tree led to the current state of affairs. People come to my house and listen to the equipment I have and inquire about buying something equivalent, but as of this writing, Outlaw has nothing currently shipping to offer for a higher-end amplifier (other than the aforementioned pile of 2200's).

I guess I'm just a bit concerned that the latest flurry of product (with the exception of the 990) seems to be sliding towards the lower-end consumer electronics spectrum rather than the higher end audiophile spectrum...which is a real shame. Is that just where the money is or is this just some scheduling aberration/snafu?

Or perhaps I'm just old and cranky. 8-)

Cheers,

I suspect it's less a matter of focusing on the "small amp" market than unfortunate timing: they've always maintained a strong focus on larger amps, but the 755 and 770 apparently sold out before they could stock the warehouse with 7500's and 7700's (hence the 7125 trade-up deal) and the 790 ended up with a time-consuming redesign due to heat concerns. The 7075 may have been quicker to get to market due to scale (just guessing on that, but it makes some sense). It's an odd imbalance at the moment, I agree, but I suspect it's the way the different product development cycles fell out.

I will be curious to see how the 7075 does on the market. It's a cute little amp (there's a picture in the 970 gallery of a 970 on top of a 7075), but there is definitely a need to be careful about what speakers you match up with it. Folks with Paradigm, Polk, DefTech, Rocket, or some other common brands will want to step up at least to the 7125.

I’m sure the Outlaws would like to have had their higher power amplifiers ready for shipping a while ago, but if testing revealed any problems, Outlaw certainly would not want to ship a product that subsequently garners a bad reputation – far worse in the long run than introducing a reliable, high-quality product later. I think the 7125 trade up deal is an innovative sales method though it is certainly not convenient for those who already know they want 200 watts or more per channel.

If the higher power amps had been ready when originally anticipated, then the ‘high end’ would have preceded the ‘low end.’ Important: I use ‘low end’ only in reference to price points within the Outlaw product range. I think most people will find Outlaw’s ‘low end’ quite a bit above the fray in terms of audio quality. Compared to all that is out there, I would say Outlaw begins at a ‘mid or upper mid level’ and goes up from there, even on their lowest priced items. Outlaw has no ‘low end’ products in the usual sense of the audio market.

Which leads me to ‘Outlaw Combo (970/7075 or 970/7125) vs. Japanese Receiver.’ OK, the JR will have more easily saleable specs at what is likely a lower price than the OC in the 'mass market.' However, I don’t recall reading anywhere that anyone who stepped into an OC from a JR ended up saying, “Y’know, the JR was just as good.” And there have been plenty of JR reviews that end up reporting that when all channels are driven hard, the sound quality drops. So the ‘sell’ might be an uphill climb for the lower-priced Outlaw gear, but it will likely still have a market. If I were Outlaw watching the 950 being still being ‘consumed’ as a used product on Audiogon and Ebay for reasonably strong prices, I would think having a new pre/pro product available at $400 less than the 990 would make good sense.

I’m glad to have Outlaw selling a broad range of products to support the overhead necessary for a successful company to maintain itself, do R&D and compete. The more sales they have, the less overhead each unit will carry in its individual sales price, thus a reasonably good sales volume at a lower mid level, in addition to other sales, will help keep the price of ‘high-end’ performing gear from being ‘near high-end priced.’

I too was a little concerned that Outlaw is going in the wrong direction .I suppose that more affordable quality separates will get more people interested in home theater and I guess that's a good thing for all of us though.

I really would like to see them work out that 790 and keep bringing us bigger and better things in the future rather than scaling downwards.