I bought the Outlaw 1070 to replace an aging Harmon Kardon AVR unit that had started to have power issues; powering down for no apparent reason. (Internal short? Occurred sporadically even after all speakers were disconnected -- i.e., no external short).
Anyway, summary of my experience to date with the Outlaw: just do it.
At this price-point, the audio is outstanding.
-- Logistics --
I ordered the Outlaw 1070 through the web site on Jun 26. Got a quick email back later that day letting me know that the ground shipping would be slightly more than expected ($66 instead of $49) because the online cart didn't recognize that I was in Canada. Sure, no problem, looking forward to this unit!
Order processed on the 27th.
UPS first delivery attempt exactly 1 week later.
Nice solid packing job meant that the whack it got in transit damaged the outer box only. Peeked inside, looked great, and I waited until after dinner to play ...
-- Install --
Install went cleanly. The rest of my system is circa 4-5 years old, hence, all component video / optical audio cables.
Ins: DVD (480p), Satellite receiver (720p), xbox (480p)
Outs:
- Monitor Audio Silver speakers + Paradigm subwoofer for 5.1
- Bi-wired front left / center / front right (only), and was very impressed with the Outlaw solid speaker bindings (oh what an improvement over the old unit!)
- Component out to 42" rear projection Hitachi HDTV (supports 720p/1080i)
-- Playback --
On-screen set-up (OSD) worked seamlessly and intuitively. Switching between sources (xbox / DVD) worked well. Oddly, was getting audio only from satellite. Re-powering the satellite receiver fixed this. Maybe Outlaw wasn't getting a video signal if satellite had slid into standby mode?? Can’t duplicate problem – which suits me fine.
Sound was incredible. How to describe this: it is akin to listening to a good DTS stream after being accustomed to Dolby Digital – a crisp (not muddy) and uncompressed sound. I’m hearing things that I swear weren’t there before.
I was fiddling with Star Wars I (Dolby Digital, Duel of the Fates music with Darth Maul), and Fellowship of the Ring (DTS, intro scenes, including dialogue in the forest with absolutely lovely surround environmental sounds -- felt like I was there).
By day 2, I wanted to test some music, and I equally impressed. Nine Inch Nails’ The Hand That Feeds (Photek Straight Mix) – wanted something that could very easily distort at concert-level volumes. Nope – clean and clear as a bell, even at rock-concert volumes. Played some Sarah Brightman to listen for female vocals. Again, extremely clean sound at any volume. Few other disks, all equally impressive. (Tip: make sure you pick some suitable test tunes to get wife-approval fairly early on.
By the way, I like the fact that I could just pre-program “a different video setting” which still reads from the DVD source, but processes the sound in stereo instead of converting using Dolby Pro Logic II to a 5 channel sound. So push of a button toggles between DVD (5.1) and CD (2-ch) even with the same DVD/CD player.
---
Admittedly, a few minor issues to date:
- Online tracking didn't recognize correct shipping cost (very minor, and had a nice email from company to correct this).
- Component connections at back of Outlaw showed some "give" in them when sliding the tight video cables over them (i.e., you can push them slightly into the receiver). A little worrisome, in that I was concerned a plate would break off. But they’re on now …
- Odd that Outlaw wasn't passing along the satellite signal initially. Working now though …
- The User Manual on outlawaudio.com is v0.9, whereas I was shipped a paper version of 1.0. Suggest updating web page.
- Audio starts up a half-second late upon switching audio modes (i.e., a DVD that switches from stereo sound in the title screen to dolby digital in the movie -- you miss a fraction of the MGM lion's roar). I’m thinking that this might be auto polling (referred to in prev posts), and will examine this later.
Things for me to continue to investigate:
- DVDs seem to have adopted a slight redish tinge to the colours that I don't remember when the DVD player was connected (again, component video) directly to the TV. No problem, have slightly dialed back the colour saturation in the TV, and it looks good. It appears to come through more in the red channel than others. Using Monster Cable Component Video 2. Haven't cross-checked with other cables nor on the other component input ports.
So in summary: few very minor nits, but by far the overwhelming feedback is that I’m very pleased with the build quality and sound quality.
Thanks, Outlaw!
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