With the end of another year in sight, the Outlaws would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. It has been an interesting year for the Outlaws, and we are looking forward to a very exciting year ahead.

We have a number of new products that will be introduced and shipped in the next few months, with more to come throughout the year. We are also working on a new look for our web site to complement the improvements to our shopping cart. In fact, we’re even taking the phrase “moving into the new year” seriously, as the Outlaws have just moved into a new and expanded hideout.

As with all things, the past year has not been without its disappointments. We regret that the new products you will soon be hearing about were not ready as quickly as we might have liked and we missed the opportunity to meet with you in person due to the unfortunate cancellation of the Home Entertainment Show in November. However, on the whole, it really has been a year of great growth, and we invite you to join in the celebration as we kick off 2005 with a bang!

Let’s get this party started!

Promotion and Price Reduction News


The current special combo package pricing promotion has ended, as scheduled. However, we are pleased to announce that the value offered by those packages will now be available permanently due to an important change in our everyday pricing. Effective December 15, the price of the Model 950 Preamplifier/Processor, is being reduced by $100, to $699! That means that the promo pricing is now our standard package pricing. In addition to the newly reduced single unit Model 950 price of $699, the new price for a “B-Stock” Model 950 is also reduced, to $649.

With this price reduction the Model 950 reinforces its position as the best value in home theater. Thanks to a forward-looking design, it has a performance and feature set that’s acknowledged by reviewers and home theater enthusiasts everywhere as “best in class”.

To remind those who are “on the fence”, the Model 950 includes a wide range of Dolby Digital and DTS modes, including ProLogic II, component video switching, high-end DACs, triple-crossover bass management and our exclusive analog bass management system for the “direct” inputs that provides a perfect match to DVD-Audio and SACD players. With its two-line front-panel display, programmable and learning remote and extensive menu programming options there is simply no other product now on the market or on the way that can match the Model 950’s combination of performance and features at this price point.

If you have been considering separates as part of an upgrade to get your home theater system charged up for those new DVDs or a season full of play off and Bowl Games produced in HDTV with full surround sound, the Outlaws have now ridden to the rescue.

There is still plenty of time to order
a Model 950 at the new low price, or any other Outlaw product or combo package for holiday delivery, with apologies for having missed Hanukkah. (We’ll make that up to you next year.) However, as we move closer to the 25th and the shipping systems get overloaded there is always the possibility of unavoidable delays. If you order during the week of December 20th and MUST have a delivery by the 25th, please call to make sure we are able to accommodate your requests.

The bottom line for all of this is that the best values in home theater just got even better. With a $100 price reduction the Model 950 remains the most affordable high performance preamp/processor/tuner on the market. For complete information on combo packages that include a Model 950 and one of our award winning multichannel amplifiers, check the Outlaw web site at www.outlawaudio.com.

New Product News

Although the Model 950 will remain as our front-line processor for some time to come, we do have a number of new products in the hopper in other categories. We are now working with “fifth-spin” prototypes of both the Model 1070 multi-channel receiver and the Model RR 2150 stereo “Retro Receiver”. If our internal testing continues on the very positive path it has been going, we expect to begin Beta testing before too long. However, rather than solicit beta testers for each product, as we have done in the past, expect to see a “call for testers” e-mail from us before the end of the year. This will give you the opportunity to fill out a one-time application that describes your home theater system so that we can select the beta testers best suited to work with a particular product. Once the applications are submitted we will contact the testers individually. Please do not e-mail us with a request to test a specific product, as we will not be able to honor those requests.

If you are new to the world of Outlaw, our previous Newsletters (available in the “Latest News” section of our web site) contain extensive information about all of our announced new product plans, including the Model 1070 and the RR 2150. In brief, the Model 1070 will be a fully featured 7.1 receiver that includes a wide range of state-of-the-art features along with the superb “all channels driven”, high performance audio quality made famous by our first receiver, the award-winning Model 1050. Anyone who owns or has heard a Model 1050 knows that it set a high benchmark standard. We have already tested and approved the amplifier section of the Model 1070 and are able to report that its “all channels driven” design not only outperforms the Model 1050, but we are confident that it will give the popular “100 watt” receivers being sold with less demanding specifications a real run for their money.

The RR 2150 will be our long awaited stereo receiver, designed after the look of classic radios of the past, but packed with contemporary features such as a high performance tuner, a separate tape output bus, a USB input for use with computer audio, and an amplifier section built in the Outlaw tradition that will knock your socks off. Our “inside” testers were amazed at the way the unit looks and sounds, and we’re in the final stages of fine-tuning everything so that it meets the highest audiophile standards for two-channel music and all around listening. The very few outsiders who have heard and seen it are already calling it “The last great stereo receiver.” We’re confident you will too.

Development work is also continuing on our Model 790 amplifier and the new additions to our line of cables, and we’ll have more to say about that early next year.

Finally, before we leave the topic of new products, let us answer any speculation that might arise as the result of the price reduction for the Model 950. It is no secret that we are working on plans for a new preamp/processor; we’ve mentioned such a product before. However, it is way too early to discuss any specifics as to the feature set, and the introduction date has not been determined other than by saying that it will be at some point during 2005. Other than acknowledging that we will eventually have such a product, our only other comment is that the price is still a moving target subject to a final determination of the features, the rising cost of raw materials, particularly steel and copper, and the currency fluctuations that impact the value of the US dollar in the world market. We can say with certainty that the new processor’s price will be higher than that of the Model 950 when it was introduced, but you can rest assured that it will also deliver features and performance that will be as big a breakthrough when it ships as the Model 950 has been from the start – and as it continues to be with the newly reduced price.

OK, we can’t help ourselves. We’ll tempt you with one more hint that those of you who saw our new cable products and the prototype of our Model 790 power amplifier at the Home Entertainment Show in New York might have already figured out. The new processor/preamp will include balanced outputs, which is one of the reasons that the pricing will be substantially above that of the original Model 950 price.


Housekeeping Department

Current Product News: All current Outlaw products, including the Model 950, our full range of multichannel amplifiers, the Model 200 M-Block, the amazing LFM-1 subwoofer, the ICBM and all of our current cable products are in stock and available for immediate shipment. However, as noted above, please remember that we are occasionally subject to circumstances beyond our control at this time of year, including manufacturer shutdowns, weather delays that impact the shippers and supply chain, and a variety of other forces beyond our control. We will do all we can to help you meet holiday deliveries, but please let us know if it “absolutely, positively” has to be somewhere by a certain date!

Hideout News: Thanks to your support, we’ve outgrown the old hideout and the Outlaws have moved to a new campground. Despite the move, we’ve been able to keep all of our phone and fax numbers, and the post office box number for snail-mail deliveries remains the same. Please bear with us this week as we may have some brief periods when the data lines will be out of service while all of our new communications links are installed.

Show News: Some of you have asked if the Outlaws will be at the CES next month. The answer is both yes and no. The Outlaws will be attending the CES as individuals so that we may keep up with the latest trends and technologies and to hold meetings with key component suppliers, but we will not be there as an exhibitor. You may have read that the CEA, the show’s sponsor, is discouraging attendance at the CES by consumers, and since our customer base is totally end-user with no dealers or distributors, it would be somewhat on the wrong side of what the CEA is trying to accomplish for us to exhibit. We will, however, participate in the Home Entertainment Show again this year. We look forward to seeing everyone in person in New York this spring, and we regret that we will not be exhibiting in Las Vegas.


That’s it for now, as we have to get back to work on a wide range of products and projects, along with keeping up on the crush of end-of-year orders. The Outlaws will be available to help you throughout the holiday season, so please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be back in touch with you early in the New Year, and until then, our thanks for your support throughout 2004, and our wishes for a very happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2005.
Regards to all!

The Outlaws