I just received the email from Outlaw announcing the final stock of the 990 and the discounted sale price. I've been lusting over a 990 for years now, and still remember when it was $1100. Even then I thought it was a deal - my current processor is a Parasound P/SP 1500... bought new in 1996 for... gee, how much was that thing? Not sure, but I know it was expensive. So, I've been listening to 5.1 surround from a 12 year old processor. I'm wondering, how much better will the Outlaw sound? The big question is, should I take the plunge and get the 990 at the reduced price? Part of me wants to wait for "new technology", part of me says that what I have is "good enough". With two kids in college, will I ever cough up $1400 for the latest greatest? Probably not... so if I don't get the 990, I'll probaly end up just living with what I have.

I would love to hear opinions!!!

A 12 year old processor will lack Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro Logic II/IIx, sophisticated bass management, and any sort of useful video switching (edited to fix redundancy). Coming from that, the 990 will be a great upgrade for you.

I bought the Parasound DD 1500 (digital decoder), just so I could move up to digital audio... unfortunately, it never really worked right. In addition to an annoying high-pitched sound when no signal was present, every time the dvd is paused, and sometimes between chapters, the processor loses signal and needs to be reset. What a pain.

I would love to experience digital connections, DTS and newer generations of Pro Logic.

Then it sounds like the price drop may be just the thing for you. A good DD decoder (with fast signal acquisition), a DTS decoder, and the significant improvements made to Pro Logic with PLII/IIx will be a great deal of fun for you, and the overall audio performance of the 990 is very respectable.

I agree with Gonk that the 990 would be a step up at a great price, but to play devil's advocate -- if you have an interest in the next generation of gear, why note wait a bit and see what the Outlaws come up with for the 990 successor? If you decide you don't like what's coming down the pike, you could still pick up a 990, either from the Outlaws or from one of us who will be upgrading.

I just had to step in here.

Even at its original price of $1100, the 990 has been regarded as one of the best performing processors anywhwere. At it's newly reduced price of $699, it is an absolutely astounding product.

In our nine-year history we have never offered a value like this. Similar in reputation to our original model 1050 receiver, the 990 will become an audiophile's collector's item.

Just my two cents.

Peter Tribeman

My two cents:

The digital arean and surround is not old and there are new formats coming out. The older units do not support these formats so for surround the old ones may not be for you. The trend is for surround and not music.

My 1070 when i used the multi-channel DVD input and the bass MGMT set for analong was great.

Tubes Rule!

Over 90% of the time my 990 is turned on it's playing music. Even if I had 5 (never mind 7) channels that's what they would be doing most of the time. It nourishes me in a way HT simply cannot.
This is not to deny that "trends" are important for manufacturers, but can someone explain what possible authority they should have over us as consumers, except as they support our pre-existing personal tastes and lifestyles?
Just a little venting . . .

Unless you get the 990, you may end up DYING with what you have.

Another consideration (see the other threads), to my ears the 990's recent firmware upgrade has improved the sound dramatically for stereo music listening.