I went to my local av dealer this evening to scope out his Rotel amps prior to my anticipated ordering of a 950. When I quite frankly told him I had just about made up my mind to get an Outlaw his eyes lit up, and then he quickly ushered me over to what he referred to as the newest addition to his offerings. You guessed it sports fans; the AT P2000.

Boy it sure does looked sweet with its titanium brushed aluminum exterior. He went on to inform me that although its shared the same platform and feature set as the Outlaw that it was definitely a higher quality version i.e. made from more select circuits, capacitors etc. than Outlaw could afford to put in theirs and still meet their price point. Kinda reminded me of the way he once contrasted Pioneer Elites to Pioneer's non-elites.

Well as soon as the words 1700 list came out of his mouth the titanium faceplate began losing its luster. I did however muse over some literature on the P2000 whilst he catered to one his high-roller customers interested in a Sunfire TGIII.

Heres where it gets interesting. I like this guy (owner of the store) he always spends alot of time with me answering multitudes of simple questions as I'm still pretty green in audiophile areas, but theres no way I am even gonna consider this thing at twice the price. He knows my budget is limited and knows I'm driving myself nuts these days trying to get the absolute most out of my upcoming investment. Well after somewhat lenghty debate over possible merits of AT over Outlaw I tell him there's no way its worth that much more to me. Then we talk amplifiers awhile. He cuts me a good deal on a Rotel RMB-1066. I'm thrilled thinkin: I'm gonna go home and order-up the 950 with
a set of PCAs and my decisions are over.

THEN he says how bout I offer you the AT for ****.00, you take it home and try it out and see if you like it. We're talkin a very good price here. He made me promise not to repeat the price lol. He told me that he almost always trys to offer a couple of pieces of his new stuff at great prices to good customers because he gets a lot of "word-of-mouth" sales in his business and it helps to get the ball rolling with newer relatively unknown gear.

Well I resisted the overwelming urge to take him up on his offer. I told him to call me when he had it set up (AT pre/a2000 had literally just arrived and he had yet to get a set integrated into a system for testing) and I'd give it a listen.

Is he B.S.ing me about about the differences between AT and Outlaw? I can't find anything in my research, so far, to substantiate his claims. I usually trust the guy's opinion as he's been in the biz 35 years and started out in the sound engineering end of things (so he says) even produces his own line of speakers and has always treated me fairly.

UUUHHHH, guess I'm back on the fence again. Too bad Soundhound does not live in my town. I'd take him up on his offer and we could A/B Outlaw to AT and end this debate.

Mike