Any fellow Canucks have any info (good or bad) regarding purchases of Outlaw equipment? How do you take care of duty/taxes etc. Did product arrive in good shape? Was shipping cost exhorbitant? Were you still happy with price/performance even AFTER our horrible exchange rate?

Im in dire need of an amp/preamp for my speakers. I have the Paradigm Studio 80's up front with the 20's in rear and the Studio/CC center. Driving all this is an 8 year old underpowered Pioneer AV reciever. I am not getting the most bang for my buck.

Any help regarding the border crossing issues would be greatly appreciated. And if you just wanna laff at the disparity in my set-up, well fire away i guess.

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flying on one wing

Go to the Home Theatre Forum and do a search for "Canadian Outlaws". You should find some info on total costs.

In case you didn't get one to HTF I had a look at total cost for the 950 alone is 1850.00 +- depending on provincial tax.

hrm...im looking at the 950/755 combo...
$US 2098 -> x 1.6 = $CAN 3350 +taxs(15%) = $CAN 3800 + misc = about $CAN 4000. This is my dilema -- is it worth $CAN 4000...? The price/performance ratio definitely goes down, but the Marantz 8200 i was looking at is $CAN 2600 + tax... so no matter what brand i buy i'm going to be paying a $can penalty... i'm gonna have to sit on this for a bit (and its killing me! argh)

yeah the combo's a killer, I am lucky in that I have a five channel Rotel amp. But no matter which way you slice it you are not gonna get a pre/pro and amp anywhere else for $4000.00 Can.

Well, here I go again. I know there's a few good Canadian speaker companies out there -- Energy, Totem, PSB and of course Paradigm. The only Canadian equipment manufacturer i knew of was Bryston -- which is way out of my price range. Did a search on yahoo.ca and voila -- I didnt know Anthem was Canadian! (owned by Paradigm even). The AVM20/PVA5 combo could be had for around $CAN 4000. (the pricing seems to work the same as Paradigm's speakers in that a $CAN 1000/pair will cost $US 1000). The Outlaw 755 seems to be a better power amp than the PVA5 but i think the nod for preamp would have to go to the AVM20. And if i can buy Canadian, hey why not. At least my wife is happy with my waffling -- if i keep changing my mind, i'm not spending $$$

Wow! From what I've read, the AVM20 would certainly be a great way to go -- check out this thread if you haven't already.

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

Well, made some inquiries and it would seem that there IS the same pricing policy with Anthem as there is with Paradigm, ie, I dont get killed on exchange rate because im Canadian. Phoning just 2 stores, I've already gotten an over the phone price for the AVM20/PVA5 of $CAN 4900. I should be able to get that down under $4500 when i go to buy it (in about a month). I would've liked to buy the Outlaw gear (I like their moxy!), but without a Canadian distributor i cant really justify paying the full exchange rate. Which would you choose? The Outlaw 950/755 for ~$4100 or an AVM20/PVA5 for about $4500? (that should keep the thread going

jbritt,

Where in Canada are you located? So far here in Alberta the cheapest price I have been quoted for the AVM20 is over $4000 by itself.

Arbury

Im just east of Toronto, Pickering Village. I phoned one store in Toronto, gave me list price of $4600 for the AVM20 alone, but admitted the out the door price would be less than $5K for AVM20/PVA5. Second place quoted me $3600/$1300 over the phone. Should be less than that when i actually buy. Go to www.audioreview.com, 2 guys in Quebec got one for 3K (2 of em) and a guy in Ottawa got one for $2700 (!). I emailed the Ottawa guy to find out if that was a straight up deal (ie, his uncle didnt own the store, he did work for the dealer etc).If i could get one for $2700, i'd buy it tomorrow. Today even. Keep looking i guess (at least you dont have to pay 8% PST).