Liz - I do agree the DAC's could use an upgrade. Bypass is great, but I do find music using the 1070/970 DAC's to be kinda disappointing.

Agreed Chas!

What are you using , your whole system these days? Mabe make a signature like mine?

Heck of a post, Lizard King. I've got to run to some meetings shortly, but want to toss out a few thoughts about what we might see in a future Outlaw receiver...
Price will drive this one. I have no doubt that they'll do the best they can for their target price point, but with everything else crammed under the hood of something like the 1070 there are only so many ways to control cost.
5Hz increments might be a bit more control than is really needed, but 10Hz increments could be handy. Analog bass management, however, is not likely to get any better than what the 1070 does now. Even a global adjustable crossover takes a lot to implement in the analog domain. Doing more than that would require a 7.1 version of the old ICBM, and it still doesn't allow for time delay or channel trim. That's a mighty big cost to add to any product, especially when the trend is to move away from analog input. The only folks using the multichannel analog input on a next-gen product are going to be folks with really high end sources (like a modded 3930) or folks with older DVD-A/SACD players that they don't want to replace. Everyone else will be using HDMI inputs to deliver multichannel PCM, DSD, or bitstreams of DD+, TrueHD, or DTS-HD to the receiver, and those signals will have no use for complex and expensive analog bass management. If the next generation Outlaw products retain the analog bass management that they introduced with the 950, I bet it'll also be the last generation to offer it. HDMI's support for multichannel PCM creates a digital pipe that comes very close to making multichannel analog inputs obsolete.
I think a few discrete controls like sub trim would be very well received - center trim would likely also fall into this category.
Like number 1 above, this is going to be a place where they have to balance cost and benefit.
I really doubt we'll see this one. Three or four years ago, this might have been more useful (when we had DVD-A and SACD standalone players in the last format war), but today the only time you'll see even a single multichannel analog source connected to an HDMI v1.x receiver will be an existing DVD-A/SACD player. Blu-ray and HD-DVD folks will be using the HDMI connections just as soon as they get the chance, because that is the connection around which the hardware for both formats has been built.

Almost forgot - it would be nice to have a display on the front of the unit that was readable from more than a few feet away.

I second this!!!!!

Personally on any future device, I'd rather it just overlay volume and other important information onto the video source.

These days there's so much info that has to be crammed onto the front display that it's hard to make any of it readable from far away, unless they go to an OLED or other type of pixel display, which would probably increase either the cost or system noise prohibitively.

Much easier these days with a modern video processor to just overlay it onto the video stream. As long as you can do that without adding noise to the video stream, that's the way to go.

That's my two cents on that anyhow.

I agree it's definitely nice to have the display on the video source...but I do like to turn this off for movie viewing so I can adjust the volume in "stealth" mode. It would also be nice to see the display when using a non-video source (like CD).

David_W,

I am please to tell you that I now have the Anthem amp in the system. At this time, I am using the amp just for the front speakers. I am hoping to hook up the other three on Thursday If my buddy can help me and if the 2 pair of Banana Plugs arrive from BlueJean Cables.

I am using brand new IC's with Bullet RCA's and also a brand new Power Cord that is used on the 1070.

New cables take time to break in and I am told to give these Ics and power cord 70 hours.

I was playing FM, My PC and then some HD broadcast material and the DVD player I have is very high resolution.

Before I went to bed, I stayed up really late and played two Rocks SACDS. SRV Texas flood sounds nice and when I played the live tracks, I was really loving them. The Bass is tighter, punchier and more detailed. The HF's are better and I hear more detail in the Mids. The transparesy is also better. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet SACD was next. The same traits apply to that one to, I was really into the music. I can say I have not heard these two Discs sound this good before.

I will report back soon yet I know to let the cables break in.

The 1070 is fine as a preamp, works well! I do not have the bugs the some people do so I say Hail Outlaw for this great unit!

The amp is an Anthem MCA 5 series two amp. What I really like is what I read about this amp. When listening at low levels, the music is more involving, esp the bass. I also like the transparent sound.

What I do not like is the lousy speaking posts. The ones on the 1070 are better than these buggers.

Should I decide to mod this amp, the first things I want is new speaking binding posts.


More to come.

Liz out


PS All hail GONK!

Liz:

Keep us posted. You have mixed a lot of new gear into the equation, so it may be hard to isolate just what's contributing what. So at some point, it would be interesting to swap out some of the new cables for old, and then put them back in, to get some individual A/B comparisons.

What power cord did you buy? You may want to play around with that on your amp and CD player too. That's where I've noticed the biggest differences. But get ready to don your asbestos suit when you report back on that one!

PS: (tongue firmly in cheek) If you really want to throw some extra napalm on that fire, name your power cord "Charlie."

VD,

The Power Cord that is on the 1070 is Signal cables MagicPower Digital Reference. Here is the link: http://signalcable.com/digitalpowerHC.html.

I do not like to A/B comparisons, they make me nuts.

As far as IC's go, you can't do better than using good cables with Bullet Plugs!


VD,

Interesting setup I was checking out your pics. Seems like you are more setup for HT than Audio Yet you do like Vinyl.

I really fell my modified Denon 3930CI DVD player when playing a goood sounding CD, esp SACD is the best sounding ANALOG like Player!