Well...if fearing that you'll get an outdated piece of equipment, you can always use the rule of three:

If best buy has three different companies shooting it out for this nitch, your pretty well golden.

About the only thing that this doesn't work for is Betamax. All the other "fly by night" formats seem to be pretty well cemented when you see at least three consumer electronics companies fighting it out for your dollars on the shelf of your local best buy. So check ther first before you decided to plunk down cash for that new hechababbi. Once you see three of them, start shopping the boutiques till your heart is content.

Jason

Jacketfan - I approached HT from the audio side, but as you say, you're only a front projector away from turning into a crazed videophile.

Now the problem is, once you've tasted hi-def even the best DVD's don't cut it anymore. It's a good thing there are companies around like Outlaw - this hobby is enough of money pit as it is.

Sayers - I purchased the Sony HS10. I payed $2700 but of course now I'm hearing about people getting theirs for around $2200. In any case, its an outstanding projector for the price IMO. One of those deals like the 950 where you can pay 3X the price for an incremental performance gain. (unless you go CRT, but there's the hassle factor to deal with)

I'm glad you are all enjoying your 950s. There was so much varied opinions of this unit that a lot of us hesitated to buy. Now I'm seeing more and more positive information.

It is particularly interesting when I see a 950 compared to a more expensive pre-pro and the reviewer states that there wasn't a whole lot of sonic difference, especially considering the price. It seems more and more that the real differences are in features and upgradeability.

Funny. Most of the negativity have come from a very few, very verbal people. Over on HTF, a good many people who have never actually tried a 950 try to rip it to pieces. Most everyone who owns one likes it. Those who returned it generally seemed to have bought something more expensive, as opposed to buying an $800 receiver and using it as a pre/pro. The hiss issue is fixed. The thing comes with a 30 day return policy. It has a 5 year warranty. It sounds fantastic. Why not try it?

If you do look over on HTF, there was a thread active a few days ago about how most of the R&D on the 950 *must* have come from Eastech, and couldn't have come from the Outlaws themselves...

Oh, another telling point: even for a lot of us who had *specific* complaints, we didn't want to give up our 950's, we just wanted Outlaw to address them...

Yea, Kevin. everything is a war over there. If I actually knew where to find Lena, I'd buy her a drink. You tend to need one if you go there and actually support Outlaw.

Another voice from the past here!

I, too, have been merely enjoying my 950 for many months... I've been off with new obsessions and haven't had time to keep up here. I hope everyone's been enjoying their 950's, and we'll have more Outlaws in the family in the coming year.

Steve

I'd buy her a drink.

and I sure could use one right now. Bless Outlaw for what they are....how they handle CS, ....and not the least....Their products which preform above the average norm (average being everything else I have purchased in the last 12 months)

Don't have time to put on my war bonnet right now, ...should NOT be in here at all....but time deadlines (for returns)have had me dealing with other purchases..(see Be Very Afraid) when I should be catching up on work.

And I can tell you right now Outlaw is the #1 top company (all around average) I've done business with this year.

In fact at the moment after dealing with Dish and Direct and Sony and the HTS all month...I could kiss them!

OK, Lena- mentioned something...

My top 3 customer service companies:

1) Outlaw. Self explanatory. They said they'd fix the hiss, even after they thought they did the 1st time, and they improved it even more.

2) Acurus. They've sent me out free manuals. There was a problem with the combined LED/power switch on the early 100x3/200x3 amps, and they sent out replacement switches, and instructions for how to swap them for free. Plus, looks like they are still going to do an upgrade/swap for ATC-3/Soundstage owners to the latest pre/pro.

3) Pioneer. I had a refurb DV-05 that started to die on me after 15 months. I had to pester them a little, but they took it back, and gave me a great deal on a DV-47ai.

Worst company? Sony....

When handing out kudos to companies for their customer service, all the above are deserving, but please include AV123, the purveyors of Onix Rockets. Their CS is an example of how it should be done.
Happy New Year All.