The Model 990 case is taken from Sherwood's R-965, which was also used by Sherwood's P-965 and Boston Acoustics' short-lived adventure into separates (an adventure that came to a screeching halt around the time that D&M Holdings bought them - no point sustaining that line with Denon and Marantz already in the stable). I've read that the R-965 chassis is being used for Sherwood's planned R-972 receiver. The question is whether Outlaw plans to build on that platform or on something else - their relationship with Eastech pre-dates their relationship with Etronics (the company that owns Sherwood and does the manufacturing), so it's hard to say which way it could go. The 990's chassis is pretty darn huge, which was a problem for some people, but it's worked out nicely for me - I certainly wouldn't object to seeing it return for a second generation, although Outlaw might be just as happy to shave an inch or two of height off just to minimize the "but it's HUGE" objections.

As for the front, I am going to agree with you - I've been quite happy with the industrial design of the 990 and the other products of its generation. The "950 style" got made fun of a great deal, and I think some people still criticize Outlaw gear as "ugly" because of that even though they made some pretty significant changes. As for the Emotiva stuff, I thought the DMC-1 design was nice even if I didn't care for the single-line display (too little info for the gadget geek in me), but the LMC-1/MMC-1 design that has become their new standard isn't one I'm as fond of.

Oh, yeah - almost forgot.
You've touched on the big "if" - we have no official information from Outlaw, just SWAG based on historical data...

I have been trying to find the "double down" promotion where Outlaw gave some particulars on the new processor. Anyone know what topic it is under?
Thanks

I'm not sure where the original topic went, but I've got the content of the announcement quoted in this post ...

Thanks, that's one I was looking for as I was debating the various products available now. But after reading that, I think I will wait until next spring to see what comes out.

Hi Gonk: I am also in the market for a new pre-pro similar to the Integra 9.8, but I'd rather wait for Outlaw. IMHO I don't think that it is necessary to include tuners in a pre-pro. That would help a little in pricing.

Welcome to the double-edged sword. There are a number of folks who would agree with you. I'm fairly indifferent, as I very occasionally use the FM tuner. There are also a number of people who would like to see support for XM, Sirius, HD radio, or all three. When compared to the cost (both hardware and software) of things like the new processing modes, video processing, EQ, and so on, a simple AM/FM tuner probably doesn't have a great impact on the final asking price. Either way, we'll see what 2008 brings...

How about no lip synch issues as some were having with the Onkyo/Integra stuff? I know HDMI 1.3 has a lip synch feature. Maybe that should be added.

I know first hand that they were having issues with Eastech QC when their Model 950 came to market. There were many small problems that had to be addressed and quite a few swap outs occurred. Perhaps that's one reason for Outlaw not to go back to Eastech again.

Dan

My understanding of HDMI v1.3's lip sync feature is that it requires the entire signal path to support both v1.3 and that (optional) automatic lip sync capability. I'd like to see the automatic feature included, but it'll need to also retain the older manual lip sync adjustment.

Outlaw did go back to Eastech after the 950 - Eastech did the 1070/970. The 990 did establish a new relationship with Etronics, though, so it's impossible (at least for us gunslingers) to say which way they'll go for the next round.

When I tried a last generation Yamaha receiver, the documentation stated that the automatic lip synch is functional if supported by the display as well.

This means that a lot of us will be left out of that feature unless we upgrade the video display.

Is this your understanding as well?

This entire premature birth of HDMI is so frustrating. It might end up being a good thing, but it produced a lot of grief in the process of being finalized only because was rushed to market, for profit, and every iteration left another group of early adopters wishing they hadn't made the step...