ATI did not create Outlaw and in fact doesn't even have any ownership stake that I'm aware of - Outlaw was created by a group of individuals with a lot of industry experience (the most obvious being company president Peter Tribeman), and because they chose to operate without a factory of their own they turned to ATI to manufacture multichannel amps for them back when they came out with the Model 750. They've since used a number of different partners to provide the manufacturing support (Eastech, Etronics, and I think at least one other).

Topic, topic... Oh, yeah. The AVM20/30 is a platform that has seen a long and successful history, and I doubt Anthem will part with the platform any time soon even though they have scaled up a bit with the Statement D1 and D2. It is a very respectable piece of gear that some reports have indicated still has a slight sonic edge on the 990, but the 990 gets real close for a lot less cash. Considering the fact that neither platform is in a position to fully support the HDMI audio outputs that Blu-ray and HD-DVD will be bringing a lot of attention to (whether or not the formats have much market success). True, the AVM30 may be factory-upgradeable to HDMI 1.1 at some point in the not-too-distant future, but my understanding is that it'll cost you about as much as a Model 970 to get the upgrade once it's available. I don't think either choice is bad, but for a big savings and very close performance I think the 990 is a pretty appealing choice.

Um...Outlaw and ATI share a few key management personnel and share manufacturing facilities. It's hard to say what the ownership structure is exactly since neither Outlaw or ATI is saying. I'm not sure how Gonk can say definitively how things are or are not structured unless he has some insider knowledge. My statement is merely a guess.

As for the original topic, I can't see spending the extra money for the Anthem gear when the 990 sounds so good for so much less $$$. The output impedence of the 990 seems to be a very good match for the Outlaw/ATI amps.

Cheers,

I've talked to a couple of Outlaw's personnel over the years and haven't heard many specific names - just Peter Tribeman and Scott Jackson - so I can't speak to the personnel connection, but without any sort of official information I find it to be an odd statement unless you have some insider knowledge. On the other hand, Outlaw doesn't have manufacturing facilities to share with anyone.

Hah. 8-)

Again, my comment is clearly marked as a guess. 8-) By sharing, I mean that ATI does the producing, and Outlaw does the sharing. 8-)

And now back to our regularly scheduled theater programming....

BTW, in case y'all think I'm new to the online/Outlaw thing, been there for awhile. My comments were more of a "utopian", why can't people get over themselves thread. However, consider myself in a continuing education mode. Thanx for all you've already given!

Back to topic...been looking hard at the AVM-20/30 vs the 990...was really leaning toward the Anthems for awhile, but since I've been happy with the 950 and most of the people who actually have a 990 or who have auditioned them seem pleased in comparison, just about ready to pull the trigger on the 990/7500 combo. While the Outlaw gear is a bit less expensive than the Anthem used, I am more concerned with warranty and quality.

Also I encouraged a friend to get a 990 and he's pleased. My only complaint is it's rather tall, but that's only true of all the better processors.

Has anyone consider the NAD T163? It's $1,500. I'm also thinking about getting a 990, upgrading from my Outlaw 950. I've been comparing these two since they're closer in price.

Have had NAD in the past. Good stuff, but while this might be good, doesn't seem to have a lot of the 990's stuff, like dvi and such. But if you like it, must be right for you. Also seems to be from '04, so I'd wonder about a new unit?

Maybe someone should contact Robert George and find out why he is selling his AVM30. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?homeproc&1144728512

Prolly getting a 990 quietly...not. D1 is my guess.