Will, no I've never had any real problems with hiss but mentioned it because this thread is titled "I'm hissing". I use the other preamps because I am not totally satisfied with the BM issues, in my system, on the analog bypasses. I am getting increasingly picky with regard to analog music playback as time goes on, and now, in fact, have decided to sell my Parasound preamps and get a Musical Fidelity CD/DAC/Pre24 unit. This will handle all 2 channel playback. The Outlaw 950 will continue to handle all movie and TV audio playback as it always has...

I have seriously mixed emotions about the 950. Basically it seems to be not as good as the higher priced competition, and so rather than being a fantastic value it's more like it's worth what it costs. Nothing wrong with that, but that's not how it was expected to be, at least by me.

And in that case, I'm strongly leaning towards either the Rotel 1066 with an optional Sony P9K (as Merc has with his 950) or maybe waiting a bit and looking at the next B&K Ref.

Anytime I've bought 'good enough' instead of what I want I've either upgraded to what I wanted soon after or, if the 'good enough' was costly, I've put up with it but not enjoyed it much. For me, I'd rather stick with the 1050 as preamp (cheap as possible) and get what I want later rather than blow money 'all the way up' to where I want to end up.

It's OK - I have lots of other issues to iron out on this HT setup anyway, so I'm taking a wait and see stance on this. If the 950 shakes out to be a real bargain as I originally expected I'll jump in, or maybe get a clone. But if things keep spiralling for the 950 I'll be glad I'm not the pioneer.

IMO, if you aren't going to the Anthem, I'd get the Outlaw. In my A/B with the Rotel and the Ref30, I preferred the 950 sonically and, of course, cost effectively. Since in my system the 950s and 1066s hiss was identical, it was a non-issue. As far as analog BM was concerned during analog bypass playback, the 950 and 1066 has identical problems(or benefits depending on your speaker setup). The Ref30 had NO BM in analog passthrough. Tonally, I thought the Ref 30 was warm to the point of veiled, and the Rotel was somewhere between the 950 and the Ref 30 in the analytical to veiled, harsh to warm continuum.

In the way that I am using the 950, I would need to get an Anthem to come close to the performance for both music and movies. For me, I see no benefit on spending any more than $900 for a preamp processor unless I decide to spend the money for the Anthem. YMMV!

I'm more thinking of the new B&K (ref 50?), which I would hope would be better than the 30, and is rumored to street at just over $2K.

The Anthem is nifty too, but might be overkill. Those are basically at the top of my short list, with other options following.

Charlie: B&K told me that they designed and expect the Ref 50 to sound tonally identical to the Ref 30. They also said that the Ref50s S/N ratio will be identical to the Ref30s. That said, in my mind, without actually hearing the Ref50, it appears to be a simple feature upgrade to the Ref 30. I guess we'll find out when it is actually readily available.
Whatever you choose to buy, good luck!

Is there a better reciever than the HK AVR520 for $540. It is onsale at onecall for two days. I may just have to hop on this one...

According to the Harman Kardon and Dealznet sites, the HK AVR 520 has 5 channels of 75 watts, but it doesn't list the wattage output for 7 channels, even though it has 5.1 logic 7.

Were you planning to use this receiver as your pre/pro?

[This message has been edited by Will (edited October 22, 2002).]

Well, my 950 is hissing terribly and I may have to return it. I need a reciever for another room I plan to do down the road. I figure I will use it as a pre/pro until a non hissing outlaw or another better alternative comes along. Seems like a good price.

Anyone used HK products before???

Will:

My master advises that the reason the HK AVR 520 is only rated for 5 channels is (now sit down for this one) because it only has five channels of amplification. One can only presume that they figured people might want to provide for expansion later to 7.1 without having to pay the freight for the extra two amp channels up front. Depending on how you configure it, it has either the 5.1 OR 7.1 version of Logic 7 in three variations.

As a matter of fact, my master has one and it's quite a nice piece. It's no 950, but then again what is?

But what do I know, I'm only a dog?

ARF ARF, says Iggy.

[This message has been edited by Iggy The Dog (edited October 22, 2002).]

Has anyone compared the 950 to the other manufacturers who are reselling the same
base unit to see if they have the same
'problems/characteristics'.
(ie. AtlanticTechnology.Com etc.)

------------------
Scott Burns
Scott.Burns@Netcontech.Com