How about some pics to tide us over . I am very excited about this new product and am getting ready to sell my Rotel 1057 to go with the 997.
An idea I wanted to bring up is a replaceable faceplate. I think it would great to be able to change the face plate to silver/black/custom. It would be interesting to have a customizable faceplate where etching could be done on the faceplate. I know this kind of goes against the Outlaw mantra of simple and clean but could be an interesting idea.

I'd go for that, too.
This is an interesting idea, but I don't know how practical it is. On the one hand, I could see dad and me having some fun with a milling machine and maybe even some anodizing techniques (although anodizing aluminum is not something I ever recall dad doing and none of the metalworkers I know do much at all with aluminum). That'd definitely be cool. On the other hand, the industrial design of the processor would need to be handled such that everything on the face (display, controls, headphone jack) was supported from a structure behind the faceplate in order for this to be "easy". Normally, the faceplate has those things all attached to it and then it is attached to the chassis in a few points, which makes removing the faceplate a pretty major undertaking - not something that you'd want to have consumers doing at will, or even something that you'd really want to have technicians doing on a regular basis to fill custom orders unless you included a pretty hefty upcharge for it. Figure a couple hours of technician labor to swap faceplates, another several hours of somebody's labor to design and make customizations on a new faceplate, the cost for the materials involved (a bare milled aluminum faceplate isn't free), and some extra time to handle the special order - it would easily run hundreds of dollars.

I would certainly be game for that. At least it would give you that feeling that you know it's coming. Funny how Oppo released pics, but no specs and Outlaw released some specs, but no photo.


Windmiller... I have some fun pics on the aesthetics thread.
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/7/t/000309/p/1.html

Gonk,

I figured it would be more work than was acceptable but thought I would bring it up. ANYTHING that can be tweaked, modified, etc. from the stock release is always fun and desirable. But you make a really good point about the design being hard to manipulate. But I can just imagine what a custom silver faceplate or matte black faceplate would look like. For some reason I am kind of hooked on the black matte look.

Retep,

Your last 997 mock up looks so real. Very nice thanks

Gonk,
You could anodize w/ different colors. this issue comes in repeatability of the exact same color for part to part and over how many units?

I have seen sulfuric anodize look pretty consistent - but it is a gray - joy.

the price for secondary plate option would not be that expensive if it is out of a stamped-sheet AL 5052 at .060" plus...

interesting idea...

The metal work is, if anything, the easiest part (although repeatability does become an issue if you start getting exotic with it). It's the logistical part that worries me - the faceplate swaps and the various hardware behind/on the faceplates. A thin stamped "skin" of aluminum would solve that, but it would be just about impossible to achieve as nice a look as a thick machined faceplate. It would forever look like a "skin".