Quote:
Originally posted by Ed Zeppelin:
Well...you had me sold b/c its all believable till you mentioned the 3805 which I owned and consider a pile a crap for 2ch.It could NOT compete with a lowly Rotel 1056 or HK 630 for 2ch,and that's no BS it's 100% for sure.The 990 is superior to the hk/pioneer etc.. top offerings in my experience(based on 2ch)not day and night but still better.The 990 is no giant killer but it can keep the giants on their toes and is still WELL worth its price.Again,I agree with some of your comments,hey... nobody agrees on everything.
I don't know what to say about your issues with the 3805, which frequently gets reviewed as being very musical. All I can figure is that there might not have been good synergy with your speakers, or speaker placement... I don't really know. I found it to be better than most receivers at stereo playback. It couldn't touch the Arcam equipment, but we didn't have a lot of top notch receivers. If memory serves we had a Yamaha, Onkyo, both Arcam units, Denon, Pioneer Elite, and the Outlaw.

Perhaps the Rotel and the Harmon Kardon would have rated better than the 3805. I don't know. I can only say it was better than a Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite, and the original Outlaw receiver.

The test we did was in a controlled environment and the setting was far better than most people would have in their homes. It wasn't an anechoic chamber, but it was an extremely well designed room for acoustics.

The test was blind, so our findings weren't tainted by manufacturer ties.

I believe I also mentioned we didn't have the new Outlaw Receiver in that test. The new Receiver might have shown the 3805 up. I'm sure it had to be better than the Outlaw unit we had. Which correct me if I'm wrong was one of the first things Outlaw ever made.

The 990 was extremely impressive to me. For the money the 990 and the NAD T163 can't be beat. If stereo playback is important, the NAD is the choice. If DVI switching is important (and it is to a lot of people I'm sure), then the 990 is the choice. Both cost about the same on the street. $1,100 for the Outlaw, and its easy to get the T163 for around $1,200.

There is no doubt in my mind that anyone with a mid-budget home theater being designed should seriously consider the Outlaw. However, if you're designing a high end system and have a well sized budget, there are Pre-Pros out there that blow the Outlaw away in sound quality, features, and upgradability. I can think of Arcam, NAD's Master series, Theta Digital, Bel Canto and Meridian just to name a few. The 25% better that these units might be is justifiable for many of those that can afford it.

Of course there are giant priced Pre-Pros out there that the 990 can stand up to. All that proves is that those units are vastly over-priced.