Purchased the a 990/7700/LMF-1/SMS 1 last Thursday and expect delivery late next week. I have Klipsch RF-7's up front and Klipsch Synergy's for the side, back and center channels.

I have been out of the loop for the last twenty years. Boy have things changed.

Anyone have suggestions for DVD and CD players that will fit nicely with the Outlaw equipment and be functional for 7 to 10 years? Thanks in advance.

If you have HDMI or DVI inputs on your TV, the Oppo DVD player is supposed to be pretty good, particularly for the cost ($200). If you only have component ins, perhaps a Denon? I guess it all depends on how much you want to spend.

I wouldn't expect to keep a DVD player for 7 to 10 years right now though as the new format players (Blueray and HD DVD) are coming out supposedly sometime this year.

As far as CD players, that is if you want a dedicated one, I've always liked the Marantz units.

I'm sure that the other Outlaws have other opinions on what to buy, but those are my $.02 worth of suggestions.

Oh and enjoy your new stuff. Don't know, personally, about the subs and amps that Outlaw make, but the 990 is definitely a good piece to have. Be interesting to hear your thoughts on the whole setup once you get it all put together.

The Oppo is a good choice for performance if you have HDMI or DVI inputs (the component output is limited to 480i on the Oppo, which is why it is generally recommended only for displays with HDMI or DVI). Denon is a good brand, but if your budget isn't up for a mid-level Denon you might try Toshiba. If you spend a good chunk of change on a Denon, it should go for the seven years you are hoping for. The Oppo's too new for us to know how it'll last long-term, but I haven't heard of units failing after a year of growing popularity online so they can't be skimping too badly on build quality - and at $200 (as compared to $350-$750 for a Denon that isn't overly stripped down), it's not so big an investment you couldn't replace it after three or four years if it did give up the ghost.

The 990 has some nice DAC's, and with the upsample capability it really does a good job with CD's in stereo. You could probably use your DVD player as a CD transport and get some very pleasing results.

Take a look at the UDP-1 from McCormack

http://www.mccormackaudio.com

Only $3500.....hmmmm!

And worth every penny!!!!

Oh yeah.....?

Well, I'd certainly hope it'd last 7 to 10 years. The video side didn't do a particularly great job in the Secrets shootout , but it apparently has a strong audio section. It would probably fit nicely from an audio performance standpoint, but it may not be a good fit with olness's budget - if you start moving toward the $1000 range, something like a Denon 3910 might be worth considering.

I recently went through this same delima and at first I decided on a Denon 2900 which had recently been discontinued; really wanted this Universal Player and seached hard for a couple of weeks and could not find a new, used or refurb. My budget was $800 so I got a Denon 2910 and a Pioneer Elite 59AVi to compare; the Elite 58AVi was the better of the two and since Pioneer had just released the new 79AVi the price dropped so it was actually cheaper then the Denon.

59AVi Elites can be found on the Web for much less that their origional price of $1,800 which went down and stayed at $1,200 6 months after it's release. I paid around $700 for mine; it's a very nice Universal Player!

I would like to know the Serial # of the one tested. I have a problem with the test results. As with any piece of A/V gear, a great deal depends upon the "other gear" in the system. Measuring "tests" can yield results that are not the actual case.....ie..loudspeakers are "subjective" at best, and depend upon all the factors that are present....mainly the listeners ears and the "acoustic environment".
In my A/V syatem, to my eyes and ears, this is an excellent unit....expensive..yes.
I have owned "high end" audio gear for years...starting with ML JC-1(s) and ML-2(4)in the 1970's, Sequerra Model 1, and other "esoteric" audio gear.
You get what you pay for....but the gain in "high end" gear is logarithmic...Spend 1K, get a .1% gain....spend 10K....maybe 1%...if that. Over the years, I have "invested" a small fortune in A/V gear...in search of the "Aural Grail".....yet to be obtained. Will I quit...No Way...It's my passion...and what is life without passion!!!!
Will I replace the UDP-1...."fer sure"...and that is a given!

I would suggest a Pioneer Elite
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_15020671_278147278,00.html

I paid $700 for the DV-37 a few years ago when it was the top of the line.
I have no need to upgrade, since my HDTV was made in 2001 and only had Component inputs.
Once the 1080i DVD wars end, then I might upgrade.
Would like a tube CRT HDTV that would convert 1080i to 1080p.

If you're talking about the Secrets review, DaveR, the shootout's testing procedures focus solely on the video section but use a mix of reference video material and directly-measured data - it's about as non-subjective a metric as they could develop, and has been refined since the late 1990's to be as consistent and accurate as possible. Considering how widely-regarded the shootout results are, I doubt that McCormack would have kept silent if they believed there was a problem with the review sample. The main point made by Secrets (and to a degree confirmed by McCormack) was that the video quality wasn't representative of the price because the cost was mainly due to the focus placed on the audio portion of the player. Having said that, I will also say that a low score does not necessarily equate to an ugly picture - a number of the tests look at severe challenges that many players may never be asked to face (unusual cadences, errors in disc mastering, and the like), and of course it will also depend on the strength of your display to reproduce the issues (or not reproduce them, depending on the display). I have three DVD players connected to my 32" HDTV right now, two of which were tested by Secrets. My Panasonic DMR-E80 DVD recorder wasn't tested, but its predecessor the DMR-HS2 was - and it scored a lowly 48. My Yamaha DVD-S1500 scored a 63, and my Oppo scored a 94 (98 with a firmware update). The E80's progressive output is underwhelming, the S1500's is actually pretty respectable (at least to my eye), and the Oppo's is a clear upgrade from the S1500, but the differences in picture quality aren't directly proportional to the differences in score.

Yes, I was referring to the Secrets review, and I know of the designers statement re the UDP-1. The unit is "on loan", for evaluation purposes. I am going to give the video "another chance"...just talked with a friend of mine who distributes/calibrates Lumagen. I will try the UDP-1 with this video processor in the loop. The results will dictate the "fate" of the UDP-1.
Maybe separates are the answer..a CD, CD-A, SACD unit and another for DVD. With other video formats on the horizion, the impending "Blu-Ray vs HDVD war", I might just opt out for this solution. The Oppo (what's in a name) would be a reasonable answer...if it upscales.
Thanks guys for the help and advice.

I've taken the approach of not trying to find a single player that does everything exceedingly well, and I'm now in a position where I will be very content to stick with what I have and wait a couple years for the format war to go one direction or another (or mimic the DVD-A/SACD format war and go nowhere). In my case, I'm using the Yamaha as a universal audio player (DVD-A, SACD, and a transport for CD's, even though it has always seemed a little weak sonically on SACD) and the Oppo for DVD-Video. The Oppo does upscale to 720p and 1080i over the DVI output, but if you lack a DVI or HDMI input on your display I can't recommend the Oppo - it's component output only supports 480i.

Gonk, I agree...."DUZ doesn't do everything" (my age is showing...). I will be using the Lumagen Vision HDP (VP) .... http://www.lumagen.com
It has HDMI capability....My HDTV, Pioneer PDP-4360HD has 2 HDMI inputs, so no problem. My "Video GURU" says....DVD player out..into VP, as well as cable...then output to the TV HDMI in! Simple....Audio connections are into prepro combo...Bryston SP-2 with Bryston SPV-1....amp is Bryston 9B-SST. Now to find a good upscaling DVD.....any suggestions???
Am looking at the 990 to replace the SP-2/SPV-1 combo. The amp stays!!!!
Again, thanks for the input

I may be in the minority, but for the most part, assuming you don't get a radioshack model player, you will do well with just about anything. Toshiba and Panasonic models $75-125 do quite well. I would get a cheap one, use it for a year or two, and upgrade to HD-DVD or BlueRay (sounds like BlueRay has the upper hand).

In short, get a cheap one now, let the market sort itself out with regard to which format will win, then let them work the kinks out of production, and buy a High Def. model in 1-2 years. Price will come down and quality will go up.

--TDA

I don't know enough about the Lumagen's capabilities to know what it will work best with.

Read the review in Secrets for the VisionProHDP.

I have owned and own many DVD players, Toshiba,Panasonic,Denon,Pioneer,Awia, and others priced from $34 to several $1000. None have had the Video Quality of the $200 Oppo, at least to my eyes.
Of course most of the others did not have DVI output. IMHO, if you have HDMI or DVI inputs on your video display, you can do no better that the Oppo. At $200 it is a throw-away when the HD-DVD/Blu Ray mess is sorted out.

I agree. The "Blu-Ray v HD-DVD" battle dictates not spending $$$$. If the Oppo "upscales", it is the one to buy.