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#66576 - 10/26/07 11:41 PM 990
Audster Offline
Deputy Gunslinger

Registered: 10/25/07
Posts: 3
Loc: California
I have a new friend that is currently installing my home theater system. He is a Parasound, and Marantz dealer, but has told me to check out Outlaw preamps instead. I currently have a Denon 3805, and looking to upgrade.
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Audie Martin

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#66577 - 10/26/07 11:46 PM Re: 990
Audster Offline
Deputy Gunslinger

Registered: 10/25/07
Posts: 3
Loc: California
Any word as when an updated 990 will hit the streets?
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Audie Martin

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#66578 - 10/27/07 02:42 AM Re: 990
Otto Offline
Gunslinger

Registered: 01/12/06
Posts: 128
Loc: Longmont, Colorado
I think the current best guess is "sometime next year," but there doesn't seem to be much more detail than that. Perhaps someone has more information, but I think that's it.

If you can live without the TRUE-HD and DTS-HD audio (I think that's what they're called), then the 990 may work for you. It's a great preamp, especially at its current price. Since I'm still on the fence about HD-DVD and BluRay, I don't care about the HDMI stuff. Even when I get an HD-DVD or BluRay player, I'm willing to use the preouts of the player itself.

I wouldn't rule out the 990, or any other non-high-def-audio preamp just because it can't process the latest audio formats. To me, most other bells and whistles are also irrelevant. As long as my preamp works well for audio, and has a 7.1 channel input, I'm OK.

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#66579 - 10/27/07 02:48 AM Re: 990
gonk Offline
Desperado

Registered: 03/21/01
Posts: 14054
Loc: Memphis, TN USA
Your friend offered you some pretty sound advise. Granted, I'm probably a bit biased, since I've got a 990 sitting across the room from me right now. wink Outlaw currently has a sale running on the 990, so it's an excellent time to consider one. Through next Wednesday, the 990 is only $799 . There is also a free shipping deal on amps if you buy one with the 990. Along with that announcement, they offered some information on the next generation of processors might arrive:

Quote:
The Outlaws are hard at work creating new world-class products with all the bells and whistles, but the development time line is a long one and some of the critical path items are outside of our control.

For example, as recent as late last month, we learned that the newest version of the Cirrus Logic CS49700, the DSP chip powering these new products, will have an eight-week delay in the production schedule for samples. This cascades to a greater delay in the schedule, since the samples need to be in hand before we can finalize the board layout and freeze the firmware/software. We could use the current version of the DSP chip, but we want to deliver the increased stability and lightning-fast acquisition of the latest "lossey" and "lossless" audio formats transmitted over HDMI.

Similarly, our plans also include new, advanced codecs that are not currently available in any product. Unfortunately, there is also a delay in the delivery of the final microprocessor code for some of these codecs to the chip suppliers. All of us at Outlaw are waiting for final word on how to implement them. The net result is that our new processors will not be scheduled for production until some time late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2008. To bring these processors to market sooner would deprive us of offering you some hot new features and the advanced stability that depends on component-based hardware, not upgradeable software.
Basically, developing for the next generation is a messy proposition, as can be seen in the time it has taken (or is even still taking) for the big manufacturers to get new products to market. In light of the obstacles that have cropped up so far, my suspicion is that we won't see an HDMI v1.3 Outlaw product before spring of '08, and one that that hasn't been touched on yet is whether that first product will be a 990 successor or a 970 successor. Launching both replacements at once is unlikely, so my suspicion is that one will probably end up having to follow the other, probably by at least a few months, and there's no way to know (at least right now) which will be first.
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gonk
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#66580 - 10/30/07 01:00 AM Re: 990
Audster Offline
Deputy Gunslinger

Registered: 10/25/07
Posts: 3
Loc: California
I appreciate the help and advice. I think I will wait for the next version to come out.
_________________________
Audie Martin

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