To all,

I have a rotel rsx-1056 receiver used as a pre/pro only connected to a rotel rmb-1075. My question is, is it worth replacing the pre/pro with the 990? Any recomendation is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Nip

I can't comment on whether or not the 990 would be an improvement over your RSX-1056. I can say that the 990 does sound very nice with the RMB-1075. Before the 990 was released I demo'd the Outlaw Model 950 against the Rotel RSP-1068 and RSP-1066 through my 1075. The 950 was the hands down winner. (At least to my ear it was.) I've since upgraded to the the Outlaw 990 which was an improvement over the 950.

hope that helps...

later,
simp

My experience is a close match to sraber's - I preferred my previous setup (Model 950, Model 750, and Paradigm Reference) to a co-worker's Rotel 1068 (which was connected to a 1075 and B&W's), and the move from the 950 to the 990 was a very rewarding upgrade. Disregarding features, I suspect the 990 would be a nice upgrade.

The 990 is a slight improvement in audio over the 1056,and a step backwards in features/control(unless you need balanced out).For looks,well judge for yourself.I had a 990 and a 1068 in my house for a month,the 1068 was more pleasing to my ears even though it cost about $400 more,plus $100 to send the Outlaw combo back.I'm not rich so money matters but so does sound.

The 990 is a great product(less a few bugs)and for its price in a prepro can't be beat.The Outlaws as a company also were great.

I'm curious what features the 1056 offers over the 990. The 1056 lacks the 990's the balanced outputs, DVI switching, headphone jack, quad crossover, and phono input. Processing modes are basically the same (the 990 lacks the 1056's "music" DSP modes but adds Dolby Headphone). The user interfaces are different, of course, and personal preference will determine which is better in that regard (I personally find the Rotel manuals to be pretty difficult to dig through, so that may bias me a bit against the Rotel's interface).

I am more interested in the audio capability of the 990 than any of its other features. I listen to music 90% (CD, DVD-A, SACD) and 10% on movies mostly musical concerts. I guess I am looking for the WOW factor from the receiver pre/pro to a dedicated pre/pro. Just wondering if this is the case with the 990 upgrade?

The 990's two channel music performance is one aspect that most impressed me when I first set it up last year - it is something that I consider one of the 990's strong points.

2-channel performance (with fronts set to large to get the BM issues out of the way) is exceptional with the 990. I have tried a Boston Acoustics AVP7 pre/pro (built on the same platform as the 990) and the 990 sounds better on 2-channel material. It has better separation and I can hear each instrument a little more clearly. The AVP7 though, seems to do better with movies. Now I'm stuck as I like each unit for a different aspect.

As far as 2-channel performance, I think you would half to spend easily twice as much to get 5-10% better performance. It does very well with movies also, I just heard things with the AVP7 that had gone unnoticed with the 990 in movies.