I am in the market for a home theater receiver (upgrading from an old Yamaha stereo receiver) and I have narrowed my search down to the 1050 and the Denon AVR-1803 I have a Toshiba DVD player, Toshiba 27" Cinema Series Television and Denon CD changer connecting to whatever receiver I choose. It will be driving my B&W DM100i speakers which will be eventually upgraded to 601 S3s. Slowly I will be adding additional speakers, but for now just 2 speakers.
My question is this, from reading the messages on the saloon I believe that the 1050 is an excellent receiver, but my concern is with future expansion. I'm concerned if later on I want to add DVD-A, SACD or whatever other new technology comes along I won't have room. The Denon has a lot more inputs than the Outlaw. Do I need all this extra expansion? I also wanted to know if any 1050 owners have heard the Denon and how does it compare to the 1050?
Let me know.

Thanks.

I haven't heard the 1803, so I don't know how the two compare. I was very pleased with the sound of the 1050 when I had one (upgraded to a 950 earlier this year). I suspect that some others around here may have already made the comparison between the two.

If your concerns are future expansion, both receivers offer certain limitations. The Outlaw has somewhat fewer inputs than the Denon (no component video switching, three S-Video inputs vs. the Denon's four, one less optical digital input). Both have a single 5.1 analog audio input for DVD-Audio or SACD. One thing that the 1050 has that the Denon lacks is pre-amp outputs. If you decide to add external amplification at some point down the road (which may or may not be in your upgrade plans), the Denon would not allow you to add an amp.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Also, here are a few other threads that might be of use to you:

New Denon 1803 vs Outlaw?
1050 consideration, what is the competition?
Outlaw 1050 or Onkyo SR-600 ???

Also, there is a comment in the last thread indicating that the 1803 does have pre-amp outputs. I revisited the Denon site (including a picture of the 1803's rear panel) and a glance at the manual). The 1803 has a "zone 2" function similar to the Outlaw 950 pre/pro, which has a two-channel pre-amp output that would allow you to connect a stereo amp driving speakers in another room and listen to different source in the other room. It does not appear to have full pre-amp outputs.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

If you can find them, I'ld also check out the Integra line from Onkyo. I'm using a DTR6.3, and to me the sound was far superior to the compairable Denon reciever.

Jason

OK, I must reply to this, last weekend I went looking at all the stereo shops in Atlanta that sells the Onkyo, Yahama, Denon, and Pioneer, what I found was lightweight, faint sounding componets with alot of plastic. So I ordered the 1050 the other day. I just was not impressed with all there functions, I want good clean sound. I am use to the Carver receivers, the sound is outstanding to me. I cant' afford the Sunfire so I chose to try the Outlaw, how can you go wrong if get 30 return policy.

Thanks to everyone for their replies; they have been very helpful. I am concerned about the lack of Dolby PLII but I also wish to run a pair of outdoor Infinity speakers from the unit as well. Any suggestions. My family room has sliding glass doors that lead out to our deck. I am currently running wire from outside into my current receiver I use the A/B switch to play either outside only or both in and out. Is there a way to achieve this with the 1050? I know Denon has something on the 1803 that lets you use the 6th channel for this type of setup.

The only way to run a "B" set of speakers with the 1050 is by getting an external speaker switch control. Or I believe you can use the 1050 as a pre-amp and connect an amp to the 1050 and hook the second set of speakers to that amp.

Larry

You can use the pre-amp outputs to feed a separate amp (or an old receiver acting as an amp) to achieve what you are looking for. The 1050's internal amps will still work, so you won't lose the main speakers. If you don't have the space to keep the old receiver around, the speaker switchbox that LarryTT suggests is a pretty good alternative.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I have compared the Denon 1803 and the 1050 in the same room and the 1050 was the clear winner.The Denon 2802 was close and I would guess that the 3802 would be superior,however one was not available.The 1050 remote is far superior to any Denon remote!

I have used this speaker switch before:

http://www.monstercable.com/home_av/audio_cables/speaker_switchers.asp

sounds ok, with no problems