No one likes seeing something they previously bought continue to go down in price...

Unless it means that a new processor is coming soon and at least we'll be able to get a $200 credit on the introductory price (I wonder how long that will stick around).

Wishful thinking perhaps.

well they want to clear out 990 stock before the new models are out, since they won't be able to make much on old processors. But face the facts... pre/pros for HT have a limited life span if you want to be on the cutting edge. I am just glad that is not the case for speakers and amps. Way better investment than computers where everything is worthless in 5 years.

It looks to be a sale rather than a permanent price adjustment, much like the LFM-1 Compact + SMS-1 sale that's still in progress. As for the issue of prices being reduced and the $200 credit, I have two thoughts...

First, the $200 credit is for any 990 or 970 owner and is available for the first six months that any next-gen processor is shipping. That means that if a 990 replacement appears on July 1, any 990 or 970 owner would have until January 1 to order that replacement and get the $200 discount. That's the deal Outlaw gave us all last year.

Second, history has taught us that Outlaw tries to lower prices on their processors over the course of their life cycles. Keep in mind that a processor from a smaller manufacturer like Outlaw (or Rotel, Adcom, Anthem, Lexicon, etc...) will typically spend three years or more in production before being replaced. They have to be that way because these companies don't have the resources to develop new models every year, so they get something developed and keep it around rather than releasing incremental changes every year. A side-effect of this is that at some point they will sometimes be able to adjust the price down because parts costs may drop (Cirrus may not charge as much now for a 49400 as they did in 2005, for example) and because they will at some point have recouped the initial investment in development and tooling costs. As that happens, they can either leave the price unchanged and make more off each unit or pass a savings along to their customers.

ANY current 990 owner, or ONLY owners that originally purchased new from Outlaw?

My understanding was that the original announcement in Oct (Thanks to Gonk, I could not find it originally) was that the discount was for original owners of either the 970 or 990.

I agree with some of the previous comments, the new model must be coming out soon. Maintaining old inventory becomes a real financial loss.

As nomoneybutgoodsound has accurately stated, the deal is good for anyone who bought a 990 or 970 from Outlaw. It isn't a trade-in, so you keep the 990 or 970 (which can then be re-sold, used elsewhere in your house, given to a friend or relative, or used as a monitor stand).

I love my outlaw gear too much to just sell it or give it away. it will wind up in a museum before I part with it!! It is the closest thing I will ever come to Hi-Fi and at my point in life, the only real upgrade appears to be the speakers since my set-up can handle nearly any format.

I bought my 990 back when it was almost full price when the 7700 was about to make it's appearance). I must say though, that I would not have foregone the enjoyment that the 990 has given me over the last couple of years for the incremental difference in price. In fact, I still find that the 990 sounds just as good now as it did before the rumors of a replacement started surfacing. I don't expect to be in the replacement market any time soon.

This may sound premature but I already have plans for the 970 either the kitchen or bedroom assuming WAF of course. As a two channel, it performs better than any reciever I have owned. Now if we can just have a few more hints from Outlaw...

KOYAAN wrote:

I still find that the 990 sounds just as good now as it did before the rumors of a replacement started surfacing. I don't expect to be in the replacement market any time soon.

I, too, really like the 990 and always have. In fact I have two. When considering a new pre/pro the value of a new one must be in the new features that it will bring. What they will be we can only guess, though I believe it will be in new formts like dts-hd etc etc. Whether that would make a significant improvement in the way a wonderful product sounds....I don't know.

Also, whether HDMI 1.3(x) will make a big difference, other than convenience, who knows. We will have to wait and see.

Love my 990!!!

However, there are 3 improvements I would look for in my next pre-pro purchase...

1) Seperate Speaker Settings for each AV input

2) A 2 Channel Mode button/selection that automatically disables the sub and sets the Front L&R to Large

3) Finer cross over settings

Put that in the next Outlaw Processor and I'm all over it!!!

Add to that list: a phono input with 10db more gain.

Amen to that!

Slbenz

If the 990 suddenly sprouted four HDMI 1.3 switchable inputs and one output, I'd be happy with that and nothing else.

Except it wouldn't be able to decode the new codecs. The "only," real reason to replace a 990 besides for sound improvement is the NextGen stuff.

HDMI won't make that happen, but HDMI and a 49700 Cirrus Chip would make that happen!

I think we'd all be happy with a 990 +HDMI/49700.

Blu-Ray players with analog outputs are expensive and do a poor job decoding the nextgen codecs (they lack the right chip as well). I've been to a Dolby presentation where they show what Blu-Ray does and what it's supposed to do.

I think by saying "HDMI 1.3" he was presuming that the inputs would be in conjunction with decoding of the new codecs, which would be equivalent to that 990+HDMI/49700...