Can't wait to hear the reviews on these. Probably will not be buying another pair of speakers for a while but it's always interesting when a company like Outlaw branches out in a new direction.

I suppose that since they are planning to offer individual speakers, somebody could get a package with five or seven of these plus a sub.

Hi Gonk, could you please answer my question over on the 7500 forum if you know the answer? Thanks

How about an apology to gonk and the other readers here Mr. Pappas? You may be frustrated my the problems you are having but that's no excuse for your childish outburst and attack against someone who openly tries to help people here. If you're having a problem with Outlaw Audio you should take it up with Outlaw rather than acting the unhappy fool here, it accomplishes nothing.

Many other audio boards are crawling with similar pointless personal attacks and abusive comments all issued from behind the shield of the Internet. If you can't be civil then take your comments to one of those forums please.

Sat/Sub enthusiasts: just think of this bookshelf speaker as a ‘large satellite’ speaker. While I have not spent much time pursuing small satellite speakers for my own use, in any of the trade shows or conventions I have attended – quite a few – I have not heard any small satellite speaker that would satisfy me. That’s one reason I have three-way speakers all around that the manufacturer called ‘mini-monitors.’ With a 6” woofer, 6” mid-range and 1” tweeter, they are 18 7/8" x 8.5" x 10.5" and weigh in at about 40 lbs. each. For performance reasons, I’d even like to see them have a second 6” woofer and a larger enclosure, but then that would be stretching the term ‘mini-monitor’ beyond it’s meaning by a great deal.

At least two things intrigue me about the Outlaw offering. One, the Outlaws have customizable response settings that I usually only see on internally amplified speakers. To be implement this properly, Outlaw’s passive crossovers have a level of complexity and flexibility not seen in many well-lauded loudspeakers. Two, the commitment to make sure that all speakers of the same model will perform within half-a-dB of spec so that a buyer could start with two and expand later without fear of unmatched sound.

(Don’t know if they ever would, but I’d like to see Outlaw offer versions of their budding loudspeaker line available without any internal passive crossover components at all, instead matched to an active-crossover/multi-amplifier designed specifically to drive the associated loudspeaker(s). Of course Outlaw would likely have the majority of their business in the passive crossover configuration, since that what most of the market is used to buying and using. But having fully active crossover variants would certainly raise an eyebrow of interest on my face.)

I’ll be waiting to see a few reviews of these, although reviews of loudspeakers tend to vary much more than the electronics as loudspeakers tend to influence the ‘flavor’ of the sound more than almost any other component. I almost feel sorry for a loudspeaker heading for reviewers’ auditions. Even if the sound were somehow perfect, reviewers still have to find details of differentiation – and Outlaw is not claiming perfection. Watch out for the slings and arrows!

Mr. Pappas
One can understand frustration, but not an irrational, unprofessional, and crude attack on another persons' integrity. Could it be that Gonks' posts along with others on the forum helped guide you to an Outlaw purchase, and now you feel betrayed. I for one take your tirade personally as a member of the Outlaw family, and I hope we never see another such post again on this site from you or anyone else.
UMtiger

Hats off to Gonk for his dignified repsonse to Mr. Pappas. His remarks were totally uncalled for. Gonk is a true gentleman and has helped many people on this board -- myself included.

I don't want this thread to veer further off topic, but as a fellow 970 owner, I cannot fathom why Art's 970 problems are so severe it has been banished to the closet. I encountered problems with my 970 that have been previously enumerated on the 970 board. But I have since had minimal issues since the firmware upgrade; and now that I understand the basis of the problem -- which seems to relate to an inability (at times) to lock onto the correct surround mode when switching sources / channels -- I have been able to mitigate it.

The unit has otherwise served me faithfully and has certainly exceeded my expectations in bypass mode as a 2-channel preamp. Is it perfect? No; but it's a darn sight easier and less expensive to maintain than my previous $2K vacuum tube preamp (1988 dollars) and a lot less noisy.

Art mentioned his audiophile friends' snub about the 970's "features." As someone who has been both a hobbyist and, at one time, a seller of high end gear, I guess I'm a bit jaded since I've been around the block a time or two. But I have to scratch my head at how a few minor issues with a budget unit like the 970 have grown to such huge proportions.

True frustration is a $40K pair of IRS Series III speakers that you can't demo because they keep blowing EMIMs and EMITs; or hoping the silicone goo in the tonearm well of a $2,000 turntable will make it to your customer's house without spilling all over the platter. The 970 --warts and all -- is a cake-walk compared to the mega-buck, finicky audiophile-grade stuff out there. Put that in your audiophile pipe and smoke it. :p

I hope Outlaw fixes the last of the 970's issues soon so we can all put them behind us; but I hope owners keep things in perspective on an otherwise great pre/pro and will enjoy the unit for something other than an expensive door stop.

I am surprised and slightly disappointed that Outlaw did not consider a horn type of speaker ie. Klipsch. After all , Klipsch speakers are used in more theaters nationwide than any other speaker system. The speakers that they are making look very much like Polk Audio, which is a fine speaker but again, it is not found in AMX theaters.

"All of the loudspeakers will be manufactured here in the US to our strict criteria"

Kudos to the Outlaws for paying the price for quality components and craftmanship.

The room response settings sound very interesting and I would think folks with narrow rooms would find the feature particularly attractive.

It will be interesting to see how these fare in a pretty tough market.

Using that type of speaker technology would make it a bit large for a bookshelf, and that appears to be their goal here.


If you look at the speakers in a typical cinema, the only ones with horn type drivers are the speakers behind the screen. Look on the side walls of your local mega-plex and you'll see speakers with more conventional drivers. Those speakers are more akin to a bookshelf speaker than a large line-array or other type of "big venue" speaker. In addition, I might suggest that Klipsch is not the leader in cinema installations, that is probably a title held by JBL Professional. Look in an AMC Cinema and you'll probably find JBL or something else, but NOT Klipsch.