I finally went ahead and ordered one. Next weekend there will be a shootout between the Yamaha 2500 and the 990. One will end up going back (990) or being put on ebay (2500). I have a lot of things to do in the HT room this weekend to get prepared as I had a leak in the room last weekend. Looking forword to hearing the 990 and I'm hoping it will actually better the 2500 used as a prepro. If anyone is in Kansas City and would like to compare the two let me know, I'd welcome a second opinion.

Doug I am really intrested in how this shootout shakes out as these are the two units that I am considering as a pre/pro for the 7125 that I just ordered. The 990 has gotten nothing but praise but the 2500 can be had brand new in a box on ebay for $540 and it too has received a lot of high marks for its performance as a pre/pro. Keep us posted on your results.

I would like to know also. I am planning on the 990 7125 combo as soon as I get my HT close that I can justify the purchase...

I got a lot done in the room tonight. I just need to finish running the sub wires as I was measuring SPLs at with the subs in different places throughout the room and putting back my ceiling tiles. I am fairly impressed with the performance of the 2500 with the 755 amps. The Outlaw has its work cut out for it. I am somewhat certain the Outlaw will have no problems besting the 2500 in 2-channel, but I have no idea what will happen with movies as the 2500 does perform quite well here but I have also heard great things about the 990. I will make sure I drag someone else to listen with me so I have a second opinion.

Doug,
I am very much interested in your findings as well. I have the Yamaha 5790 which is similar to the 2500 and have been on the fence as well. Please give us a detailed report of how the 990 sounds in comparison.

Thanks,
Ryan

I am thinking that I will actually route the preouts of the Yamaha to the 7.1 input of the 990 as I have heard the 990's 7.1 is very clean. This would allow me to switch back and forth between the two units very quickly as well. As I have lived with the Yammy for ~ a year now, I should be able to tell if there is any difference in its character as a result of doing so.

I was also lurking around over at AVS forum today and found the following link pertaining to Outlaw:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=612124

Does anyone have any information on this or is it just a rumor?

An Outlaw 970? As in, not a 990? That is interesting. Wonder if it would have some ties to the 1070 internally?

I am certainly new to the world of seperates but it would seem to me that someone would take a mid-fi reciever remove the amp section spruce up the output circuits a little and they would have a capable lowend preproe for $499 or so. What if the outlaws were to remove the amp section of the 1070 wouldn't you think that they could sell it as a prepro for around the $500 mark. Like I said I am just starting my journey into the world of seperates so maybe there are lots of reasons this could not happen but it seems to me that a lot of people would welcome this product.

It would be a first for Outlaw, but others have done it before - in fact, the Sherwood P-965 chassis on which the 990 is based was developed as both a processor and as a receiver (the R-965, and the reason that the chassis is as tall and deep as it is). I hadn't tried to guess on a price - there are a lot of components that will have to remain, so I doubt you'd see that close to a 50% reduction in price, but I'd expect a pretty interesting price...