Saturday i ordered the 7500 amp
and Tuesday i ordered the the 990
(its like waiting for new Audio Equipment WoW)
????? will the 990 come with the latest updates ?????
Replacing Yamaha / Cinepro hope it works out

At one point, the 990 was not shipping with the latest updates, but I do not know if that is still true. Pressing "SELECT" and "INPUT" on the front panel at the same time while the unit is in standby displays the version number (that number should end in 3.11 for the latest firmware), or you could bounce the question past Outlaw before it arrives.

My 990 came in last week with 3.07. I had to upgrade last night to fix an AM tuner issue but it wasn't a big deal.

i just checked my version number is says.. 3.10.04 so i guess i didn't ever install the last upgrade.

There's only one difference between 3.10 and 3.11 anyway - a bug that slipped in with 3.10 caused the sub trim to jump to 0dB if set to -15dB (the lowest setting). If you don't turn your sub trim down to -15dB, you won't ever know the difference.

Got my 990 today still waiting for AMP (maybe tommorow)
First thoughts looks nice but i did have some problems using the remote power button
so i checked the forum and Bam fixed
I'll complain and praise all that i learn after i get the AMP and put this stuff to a test (BIGTIME)

Supertom

Got my 990 about a month ago, checked the version and it was 3.07-something. If the "new" firmware came out in June '06 and wasn't installed on my machine, that's simply unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. I did upgrade, but the entire process took a fair bit of time.

par1957, I spoke to Steve at Outlaw and he mentioned that rather than open the box after they were all taped up and have it appear that thy are not new, they shipped the 990's with the older software. I found that the r232 cable worked quicker and easier than the usb with the upgrade.

This is the last I'll say on this subject. If that's their response, it's pretty weak.

Every company that sells upgradeable hardware suffers the same problem...to open the box and upgrade the firmware...or leave the original tape as it is and let the customer do the firmware upgrade. Do you really want your $1000 purchase to arrive in box that's not factory sealed? The vast majority of people do not.

I work in the IT industry. And for many, many years before that I worked in the home electronics industry. Of course back in those days there was no such thing as upgradeable firmware. If there was a defect in the operation of the equipment it eventually ended up getting 'fixed' in a repair facility. And if we performed the fix before the equipment was sold we had to deal with a customer who absolutely did not want a repack...possibly someone else's return. They paid good money and they want a sealed box. After all, opened boxes come with a discount!

I imagine most folks want to see the original packing tape on their new purchase. I know I do. When I received my 990 there was a scuff mark on the side of the cabinet. I know the factory did that when packing the unit. And so does Outlaw. And so does the factory because Outlaw didn't open the box to do a firmware update. And so the factory will have to ante up the cost of a new lid for the unit.

When you stop and consider that other firmware upgrades are likely in the future, learning to do the upgrade now should seem more like a learning adventure rather than a pain in the keester. Okay, I haven't yet done mine and it may indeed be a pain. But I fully understand why Outlaw didn't do it themselves.

I purchase new routers, switches and servers, etc. on a regular basis. Some of this equipment costs tens of thousands of dollars and every single piece requires firmware updates right out of the box. HP, Cisco, et al want this equipment functioning correctly and installing those firmware updates before putting the gear into full operation gets us familiar with a process we know we'll have to do again sometime down the road. And I certainly don't want a $20k server arriving in an opened box.

This process is all perfectly natural in our new computerized world. Personally, I think it's a great thing that we're able to do this process ourselves rather than let a bug in the firmware annoy us for the life of the equipment.

Enjoy your Outlaw 990. It's a fine piece of equipment at an extremely fair price. Firmware upgrades, new boxes and tape and the time it takes to do all that at the distribution point would no doubt add $200-$300 dollars to the price. That money could be used for some new goodie, instead.

BobZoom,

Very well said indeed.

Aaron

Well put BobZoom. Don't open the box unless the firmware fixes some critical flaw.

When you mentioned Cisco, it made me think that Outlaw could include a separate envelope with a CD containing the latest firmware, installation instructions, a serial cable, and even some test tracks. That would be a nice touch and it's something Cisco, Compaq, HP and the like do (at least last time I checked) routinely when you buy their hardware.

The cost would be minimal and the customers would love it.

Last time I bought a Cisco router, it came with every possible accessory that I might need - I was very impressed. They had me at hello. I would buy Cisco any day.