I have been shopping for a pre-pro for 3 years. I own a Denon AVR 3200 with an Anthem 200 watts by three channels (MCA 3). This amp drives the left , right, and center Monitor Audio's Siver series (5i's are left and right).

I have auditioned:Lexicon MC12 and 8(Out of price range), B&K's Reference 30 & 50, Anthem's AVR 20 v2.0, and the Rotel 1066- both fantastic, with a nod to the Anthem for stereo. The Rotel and the Anthem were close in sound. The B & K was lackluster in music. The Lexicons were realy the best sound- but not $5000 away from the Anthem.

Does the Outlaw reach the Rotel? Is it safe to try the 950/755 combo? I can't imagine that the 950 could compete at about half the price- even after reading all of the reviews on the Audio Review site, as well in THe Perfect Vision, Home Theater, and Stereophile's Guide to home theater. Since i am a teacher ( with all that implies about my income), I would kick myself if I spend up to $800 more on a pre-amp that did not sound substantially better.

Could someone with experience with Rotel give me their opinion? I love the OUTLAW RCA interconnects!! They blew my Monster and MIT cables out of the water.

There are a number of folks around here who have used both the 950 and the 1066. I don't know if there have been any recent comparisons of the 1066 to the currently shipping "blue dot" fix of the 950 (most took place a year or so ago, with the original or the red dot iterations of the 950). At that time, the concensus was that the 1066 tended to be a bit warmer than the 950 (which some people might prefer). The 950 may not be quite as good as the 1066 on two-channel, but again that was based on earlier versions of the 950. Until one of the gunslingers with first-hand experience drops in here, here are a few threads you may want to peruse:

Outlaw vs Rotel impressions
950 vs Rotel 1066

I think the 950 is pretty capable of holding its own against the 1066. They actually share a lot of the same processing hardware (Cirrus chipset), and they offer very similar feature sets (as can be seen on this chart ). The 950 offers a lot of bang for the buck, especially if budget is an issue. Also, if you plan to hang on to the Anthem amp, you could pick up a pair of 200's -- the total would set you back around $1375 plus shipping, compared to $2000 plus shipping for the 950/755 combo.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited July 16, 2003).]

Thanks for your quick response. I did like the Rotel on SACD and DVD A very much, and it handeled the music setting on DPL II beatifully. If the Rotel stereo passthrough is truly nuetral, I will be very happy if it can do the new hihg rez formats as well.
John

Thanks for your quick response. I did like the Rotel on SACD and DVD A very much, and it handeled the music setting on DPL II beatifully. If the Outlaws stereo passthrough is truly nuetral, I will be very happy if it can do the new high rez formats as well.
this is the corrected message! sorry

One thing that Kevin Brown (one of the regulars around here) has often pointed out when looking at these two is the difference in bass management on the 5.1 analog input. Both pre/pros will exhibit a "double-bass" behavior with 5.1 analog input -- a low-pass crossover transfers a copy of everything below 80Hz from the five full-range channels to the LFE channel while leaving the data in place on the full-range channels. With the 950, this condition can be avoided by enabling the analog bass management on the 5.1 input (which adds a high-pass crossover to the full-range channels, eliminating the material under 80Hz from those channels). The Rotel reportedly has no way to prevent this double-bass condition.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I should make it clear that the Denon 3200 sounds very good to me with the Anthem amp. This Denon unit is 7 years old- I am hoping that both the newer technologies and the move to separates will be a big improvement-whether I go with Outlaw or Rotel. My source for CD/DVD is a Denon DVM 3700-soon to be upgraded to a universal player. I also have over 1000 LP's, and am tired of the old B&O turntable I own(thin sound, hummm). John

[This message has been edited by jmartin (edited July 16, 2003).]

What gonk said about the "double bass" issue on the 950 vs the 1066.

Also, I had a 950 for 6 months. Liked it a lot. But I liked the CES modes so much, that it pushed me over the edge for getting a Lexicon MC-8 and Logic 7.

Here's the interesting part:

2 ch listening: to me, not much difference. I do slightly prefer the AKM DACs in the Lexicon to the Cirrus DACs in the 950. But maybe it's more of a "difference" than one being better or worse than the other.

As far as for movies, I do prefer Logic 7, but you really have to listen before the differences in the rear soundstage and spatialization become apparent. The MC-8 is a lot more tweakible. Kind of fun to play around with all the settings when you first set it up, but then even still just like the 950, you "set it and forget it" and just enjoy.

Don't forget that the 950 gives you an unconditional 30 day money back guarentee. Most Rotel dealers will not do that. And, you get the *transferrable* 5 year warranty too.

I am going to purchase the 950/755 combo with interconnects in August. If it is as good as the end users are describing, I am sure I will be pleased. John M.

Whoa...news flash...KCB has succumbed to the 'MATRIX'. Hey, man, congrats. Tell us more! Is the MC 8 as good as the 950 in SACD/DVD-A? What do you do for BM in those formats? You know, etc., etc.


JMartin: I've been vocal about this...I can't see for the life of me why someone would buy a multi-channel, multi-format preamp/processor for stereo CDs. I never listen to them myself, so I have nothing to add as to the 950's abilities or lack thereof in that format. However, when it comes to SACD/DVD-A MC music, the 950 is simply superb. The built-in analog bass management works great, just plug-n-play. DD, DTS, DD-EX, DTS-ES are also very, very good.

800 bucks, 5 year warranty included, 30 days in-home trial, a great Company to deal with and (a BIG and, for me), this forum...(BTW, welcome!)...where you'll meet some of the coolest people who will bend backwards to help you get the best from your purchase.

The term 'safe bet' comes to mind.

Gonk...you are amazing.

I love well recorded CD's , LP's, DVD A's, DAD's, and SACD's. I have spent more money on my music library than my DVD/VHS library, and much more than on my equipment. I own 200 + DVD's, 1000 LP's, 1500 CD's. My VHS library is down to around 50.

When I listen to something well miked for stereo, I usually end up listening to it in stereo. LP's are hard to beat sonically- if you have a good pre-amp, turn table, arm, and needle. But the format does have much more noise, and vinyl is fragile. The new high rez, multi-cahnnel formats are better than LP's to my ear, when recorded correctly (that is, to MY taste). Two such recodings are 1. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and Concertos for Double Orchestra, Naxos DVD-A[5.110001],by David Juritz and the London Mozart Players, and 2. G. Holst: The Planets, Hyperion Hybryd SACD, The Halle Orch. with Mark Elder.

There is no format I hate except MP3, no listening mode or process I will not try, and I do believe that stereo can sound better on many recordings. Maybe the New DPL 2, DTS music, or Cirrus 7 will change my opinion when I have the equipment at home. John M.