I pulled the trigger on a processor upgrade from my Outlaw 950, with the new Onkyo 5507. I have been a loyal Outlaw fan since 2003 but didn't see the cost/benefit to upgrading with the subsequent Outlaw processors. They all seemed just incrementally better than the 950. I have followed the travails of the 997, and viewed the addition of the Onyko 886 as good move/endorsement of the best available processor in today's market.

I wanted to buy the 997, but also wanted to upgrade my system now, not down the road. I bought an Oppo 983 blu ray player recently as well, (upgrading from the 981HD).

I will say the 5507 is pretty amazing. The connection options are over the top, given I am pretty much only using the Oppo at this point. The sound quality through my Outlaw 750 and M 200 amps is great, and I have not had any issues with "slow signals."

The question I have for you all is which video processor to use? I am using the Oppo processor now via HDMI to the Onkyo to my Sharp 10000 projector with 1080i processing. So the question is which processor wins in the cage match, the Reon or the Anchor Bay?

Thoughts gents? I know I could tweak this and find out myself, but before I do this, I thought I would get some feedback from the other Outlaws.

Additionally, I have a now 7 year old Denon 2900 DVD/CD/SACD player that I could put in the mix, with an analog or optical connection. The DACs in the Onkyo have been great so far with SACD and DVD Audio discs coming out of the Oppo via HDMI. Again, I know I could hook this up and test it for myself, but I thought I would get some opinions on whether the you all feel the Denon would hold up versus the Oppo in the sound quality department.

Finally, I have Paradigm Studio 60's v2 upfront, a Studio CC front and rear center, Studio ADP's on the sides, and Paradigm Servo 15 subwoofer in a 6.1 configuration for informational purposes.

Thanks in advance for the input all.

Gary

I am in the same situation but with my old Outlaw friend Model 1050. I want (ed ???) the 997,...but I questioning myself to give it more time. It is time to upgrade my 1050

I'd start out by bypassing the Onkyo's processing and letting it pass the BDP-83's video straight to your projector.

I'd use the BDP-83 for that, as well. What might be entertaining is to hook the BDP-83 up with multichannel analog as well as the HDMI cable to see how the two compare. The BDP-83 has a mighty fine analog section.

Thanks Gonk. I am currently bypassing the Onkyo processing. The Oppo sounds great via HDMI so I will probably leave well enough alone. Thought I would open the thread for the conjecture...

Interestingly, I called Oppo to get their recommendation on which BDP-83 to order, the regular or SE, and they recommended the regular model given the processor I was going to use. I thought this was great customer service and they did not try to up-sell me to more expensive model. What I'd love to know is how the SE sounds vs. the regular model? It sounds like they are coming with a more basic model player in the near future as well.

Now if I could only afford a 7 channel balanced amp...

If you use HDMI output, it would be indistinguishable. As for how the analog outputs sound, I don't know but I've heard lots of good things about the SE.

Should be arriving soon, from what I hear. I'm looking forward to seeing the reaction to it.

I give up (waiting for the 997) where can I buy a Onkyo PR-SC5007

Google it. The places which actually have them in stock are mostly on line retailers or places like Sound Advice.

You can get it from ProAcoustics and GGvideo both claim to be Onkyo Pro Authorized dealers, but I went with Markertek Video Supply. They matched GGvideo's price and I know they are reputable. Proacoustics was out of stock and GGvideo was very low on stock. Not sure about Markertek. You need to call them. They do not show the 5507 on their website.

GGvideo Website

http://www.ggvideo.com/onk_prsc5507p.php

Merkertek

http://www.markertek.com/

So have you set the 5007 to "through" with the Oppo? I recently purchased the 5507 which they say is nearly identical and I have my resolution with the Oppo set to 1080p for the dvd/bd HDMI input on the 5507 and was wondering if I need to change that to take full advantage of the Oppo processing. thanks.

The cleanest signal path would be to have the 5507 set to "Through" for the BDP-83 unless you have the BDP-83 set to "Source Direct." You've already got an excellent video processor, so ideally the processor should just pass the signal through with little or no additional manipulation.