Well if you check this PDF owners manual here it sure looks black. http://pdf.outlawaudio.com/outlaw/docs/200manual.pdf
but here http://andreasen.8m.com/Gargantusub/Gargantusub_amp.html
the finish the same as the old product, dark grey.

My 1050 is black. It does have a sort of plastic-ish or powder coat sort of specular reflection going on, and it's not 100% black (nothing is, after all) but if I ask anyone who walks up to it what color it is, they'd look at me funny and say "black?" without hesitation.

Good aesthetic design is not expensive.

To say you must add "a thousand dollars" to look like a Krell or Mark Levinson is ridiculous. No one is intending or even suggesting that you match their choice in materials or form factor - just their design execution.

You give very little credit to Outlaw when on the one hand they can "hang with the best" in terms of performance at 1/10 the cost - but seem "stumped" or "Rain Man-esque" when it comes to designing a product on a budget.

The new Rotel 1066 is (opinion alert!) by far more elegant... Audio Refinement seems to do very well with little - heck, no one will accuse Parasound of being outside the reach of current and future Outlaws customers - and they can build and design the Halo "A" Series.

I think the point of this thread is to assess and evaluate the visual statement that Outlaw is making with the 950. And, IMHO, I think that they can do better - much better. As I said before, and this is a qualified statement, Aesthetics do matter.

If you think they made a concsious decision and executed their overall plan flawlessly, and that the aesthetic look and feel was the height of that perfection, then say so.

This their first pre/pro - so feedback should be very much welcomed.

Imagine if the Rotel 1066 and the Outlaw 950 exterior were switched at birth - Outlaw 950's would come in your choice in Silver or Black and look three times it price. (the killer combo when performance and looks blend together to be three to five times its price.)

And people who owned Rotel 1066's would have bass issues, video bandwith issues, no tuners, pay double the price, and.... tada... have an "ugly duckling".

How could they even compete with Outlaw at this point?

One vote the 950's looks could be dramatically improved!


[This message has been edited by trancethereal (edited January 21, 2003).]

trancethereal - ditto
While I was reading your post I actually started to imagine the 950 in Rotel 1066 finish and boy, I got goose bumps.
Upgrading the aesthetic look should not add significantly to the overall cost. Come on Outlaw tell us what is holding you from upgrading your look.

The Outlaw company has worked hard to design and produce a class product in the 950. After stopping production to work on the hiss problem and others they have the lines running with the final edition. Now would be a good time to reintroduce the 950. Reinvent it with a total new face plate look. Combined with the clean clear sound that the final 950 has. A splash of new black paint, volume dial and power button and you have the next generation 950. Customers would be excited and waiting to get their hands on the latest and greatest 950. I know I would. Not for the clones price of 1600 but I would pay 1000 bucks for it.

My own two bits: I hadn't really thought much about the appearance before this thread was opened. My equipment is hidden from view in a solid cherry cabinet with solid wookd doors (fan-cooled from the back). A smallish upper section is hinged so the control equipment (DVD and 950) can be accessible for use of remotes. Only use the 950 for HT so light levels are usually pretty low when its visible.

Well, now that I've actually looked at it - personally, I like the design overall, with a couple of caveats.

(1) SURE would have been nice if they simply offered black or silver. ALL of my other equipment is silver / aluminium. Might have been a consideration before I built the current cabinet. If brushed aluminium needed to be an upgrade for a few bucks (which I doubt), I would have paid it.

(2) The power button: on the one hand, I like the fact that its the only control thats a different color, makes it easy to locate. On the other hand, the green that they chose has got to be the ugliest color I have ever seen on a control panel.

But what is more important to me is that it seems to be quite solidly built, and the front panel controls are clear and functional even if they won't win any fancy design awards. Rotel is a nicer-looking unit and probably the result of access to professional industrial-design talent which Outlaw seemingly didn't use. As a rough estimate I would pay a 10% premium, not to exceed $100, for superior aesthetics but would never choose aesthetics over quality.

Thing that I personally dislike the most in HT / stereo equipment design is oodles of knobs and buttons (which I rightly or wrongly, for the consumer as opposed to professional market, tend to equate with lower quality electronics) and the 950 is reasonably clean by that standard.

What I still haven't gotten used to with the 950 is that the volume control has no stops, I HATE it.

My M200's are very black. My 750 looks like a very dark grey next to the M200's and my other gear.

I think the Outlaw equipment (amplifiers) have some understated details. The 750 has that break on the front panel and a milled recess for the button. I don't have my 950 anymore, but I did not think it was inordinately ugly, no more than any other gear in my rack.

Outlaw should consider offering some silver finish to accomodate current trends. I had a silver colored brand x processor until my black one came in. The silver definitely had much higher spouse approval.

Frankly, I think you have to get pretty close to non-Outlaw gear to figure out who made it - the stuff all looks so much alike. That is not problem with Outlaw.

Yes, The 950/770/750 should all be available in silver.

Silver!? Yuck!

pat----

I was always fond of titanium with silver accents...