charlie, I really like the Ultracurve. I had bought the BFD for my sub, and it worked well enough that I decided to try the Ultracurve. It is very easy to use and understand, and worked wonders for flattening out my system. It added no noise, and did not make the music "grainy" or "fuzzy" as others have said.

DavidG,


Your 976 is an older model pre/pro. The current Rotel pre/pro is the 1066. An apples to apples comparison would be between the current model Outlaw and the current model Rotel pre/pro, although it is interesting how the new Outlaw compares to the older Rotel.

Will

[This message has been edited by Will (edited October 26, 2002).]

Will



True enough, but after I buy a separate digital tuner, the 976 will be roughly at the same price point as the 950. In addition to adding in my own two cents for the Outlaw community to consider, the post was an attempt to see if others (particularly (former) Rotel owners) have found a similar relative +s and -s. Also, if anyone wants to suggest how I might improve the performance so that there is no trade off in going with the Outlaw, I will be a much happier consumer.
(It has already be suggested that the addition of a sub would improve the relative ability of the Outlaw to produce detail. The suggestion was that the greater warmth of the Rotel allows for greater detail. The more neutral Outlaw would derive greater benefit from a sub. On the other hand, my speakers are rated down to 30Hz +/- 2db and greatest distinction is apparent on acoustic instruments, so I am not sure how important the sub is.)

Mine are rated to 20 Hz +/- 3dB and in my case, a sub made a significant improvement. Although my mains play low frequencies, they cannot play them as low or (and this is critical) as loud as my sub can. This is more important in sources with a lot of low frequency content, and less important when there's little low frequency content. Most action movies have a lot of it!

Good luck!

Will

Plus, even though mains may go down to 30 or even 20 Hz, I guarentee it won't be without prodigious amounts of distortion. Remember the old D.B. Keele 3D graphs in either Stereo Review or Audio? Routine for mains, and even poorly designed subs to hit 15% distortion at those low frequencies.