Fed-Ex dropped off the 990 and the 755 in two separate shipments yesterday. I was so excited to get them up and running that I skipped an evening bike ride and I’m a dedicated exerciser. Let me say, It was well worth missing a bike ride for! This is my first venture away from mass-market consumer electronics and into the realm of audiophile gear. I’m coming from a Yamaha-Onkyo-Denon background with the Denon receiver being the sound I liked best; followed closely by the Yamaha. The Outlaw 990/755 combo is instantly and noticeably better. From a size and weight standpoint alone, the 990 is bigger than my Denon 3803 receiver and weighs nearly as much. I also think the Outlaw gear is a bit more elegant to look at in person than it comes across in pictures.
Setup was easier than my Denon 3803. I used the auto setup feature and those test tones are loud. It correctly distanced all the speakers and I tweaked the setup a little. Set front Klipsch Ref-3 II speakers to ‘large’ with an 80hz crossover and LFE set to both sub and mains. For my taste, I found this to provide the fullest sound. Setting inputs and renaming sources was also very easy for a first time user like me. It’s very intuitive and I never even opened the manual.
The first source I tried was PL-II from my satellite. It sounded much better than the Denon with far greater channel separation, clarity and definition. Moving to two channel audio was also a big improvement. I tried all the stereo modes with a re-mastered version of Judas Priest’s “Screaming for Vengeance.” Lots of in your face sound here! The Outlaw gear sounds fuller with more dynamics and punch than the 3803. I did notice the bypass mode drops in loudness, which was kind of strange and does sound flat and neutral as I expect a true bypass to sound. I really liked the up-sample mode on older source disks best. I even tried a disk of MP3s in up-sample mode with very favorable results.
I ran out of time to test DTS and digital 5.1 sources, but I can’t wait to play with it again tonight. In summary, as an audiophile gear virgin, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to go with Outlaw. I initially considered Rotel gear, but found them to be a little harsh sounding. I first became interested in audiophile separates after being blown away by a friend of my dad’s Madrigal Proceed system. Without doing a side by comparison, I’m still willing to bet the Outlaw 990/755 combination sounds as good as the several year old Proceed gear. It’s that good!
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