Thought it would be fun to start a thread with wishes and hopes for the look of Outlaw's next Generation pre-processor. Perhaps someone has sketched or designed their own look. I'm sure Outlaw has already designed their new piece, but it would be fun to see people's ideas nonetheless.

I originally thought of something retro like what the did with the RR 2150:


I have a Mac Pro and I like the brushed aluminum look.

This could be fun, albeit likely too late to directly impact the final product as I also suspect that aspect of the design must be wrapped up by now...

I'm a bit torn on this one. The RR2150 does look sharp, but it could end up being a bit gaudy in many home theater racks. There's also the problem of "matching components" - there was a rather lengthy period in 2005 when folks were chomping at the bit to have amps that looked like the 990 instead of the 950, and Outlaw only had three multichannel amps at the time (755, 770, and 7100) that needed to be updated. With the 7900, 7700, 7500, 7200, 7125, and 7075 all sharing the same style, I bet that Outlaw will want to preserve at least some of the same design cues (curved corners, grooves, black aluminum faceplate) so as to prevent the same problem this time. There could be opportunities for modifications within those constraints, though, which could help visually identify the new generation. After all, the entire middle third of the faceplate could be considered safe for revision without deviating from the amp designs.

You're right, it could be gaudy and I like the round edges as well, but the 990's dark charcoal doesn't work well for me. My adcom 7707 is black with an aluminum stripe in the middle. The black on that unit is a nice black even though the unit is somewhat ugly, but I think it looks better than the 990.

Perhaps the next model should keep the charcoal brushed aluminum and the center strip, if it has one, should be aluminum along with the volume nob and the buttons. It would be two tones instead of three and a little c leaner.

I think they should use all nano-technology. Make it incredibly small and look just like a bullet. I don't know how they would do their connections but ....

Seriously though:

Smaller is better. The new Bel Canto amps are some of the best sounding amazingly tiny things. We need to start matching the style of flat panels with our AV solutions. Not everyone can afford to have everything tucked away in a closet and controlled by a Crestron unit (or even Control4).

If it has to be big... RF remote!

The Bel Canto amps are based off of the ICEPower amplifiers made by Bang & Olufsen. Bel Canto doesn't sell a multi-channel amp and that's one reason why they're so small. Personally, I think they're over priced. You can get nearly the same thing, but in multi-channel versions from Wyred4Sound and D-Sonic. They're not as pretty as Bel Canto's, but they do have mutil-channel amps.

I'd like to see outlaw update their look, but I think Gonk is right when he said it's unlikely to change much because it blends well with their current lineup. A lower profile unit would be a plus.

Okay.. I got bored this afternoon and made my first attempt at the next gen Outlaw Preprocessor.

I hope you like it.

I've always liked the unobtrusive look. I always liked the old HK Citations and Adcom. If they were going to make any cosmetic changes I kind of like the look of the Emo amps less the blue lights...those things would drive me crazy.

I'm not familiar with the Harmon Kardon Citations, but there's certainly a variety of designs on the web. Any specific one you're referring to? I think Adcom's look is okay, but nothing to get excited about and I have the 7707.

I think my version of the next gen outlaw isn't too bad. Looks good, but not too much..

Well the HK Citation that I was referring to was the 20 and 21, I believe. (Been a LONG time as these were out in the late around 89 or so.) They were 2 channel beasts. The reference was more meant more as a comment that I've always liked gear that doesn't have a lot of flashy non-essential stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like it to look nice just not shout "look at me!"...if you know what I mean.

I'm still a big fan of black equipment but I thought maybe a little silver contrast might look kind of cool. Nothing too busy though.

Here's my next gen 990 in charcoal. Hammer and Gonk what do you think? like it, hate it?