Santa Clara Jim,

I won't disagree if you prefer the Anthem AVM20/MCA-50 to the Outlaw 950/770. But I'm intrigued that you prefer a 26 year old budget integrated amp to the Outlaw 950/770. My guess is something is set up wrong. If you were local, I'd invite you over so you can hear what a well set up Outlaw rig is capable of sounding like. Perhaps someone local to you in Santa Clara will invite you over to hear what their 950 is capable of. Don't go to some store, go to somebody's home, who has their 950 set up right.

One thing that may be hurting the soundstage when you use your 950 are your speakers and your speaker positions. I'm talking about your main (left and right only) speakers. If your 1976 integrated amp has a warm mushy sound compared to the 950, your speakers may need to be repositioned so they sound good with your 950/770.

Also, I have run across some really lousy CD players (especially CD changers) and some really lousy analog cables in my day, and the 950 will reproduce everything upstream, including whatever's not quite right upstream. A lesser pre amp might not notice the garbage but with the 950, it's garbage in - garbage out magnified.

The 950 has plenty of faults. I will be the first to point them out. Nevertheless, the 950/770 combo should present a far better more accurate and realistic sound stage than your 26 year old integrated amp. The 950 is probably a little crisper than your warm sounding integrated amp however.

Will

[This message has been edited by Will (edited October 03, 2002).]