Hey Cowboys and Cowgirls

Audioholics had a best in-class picks and for "budget" multichannel amplifier they picked the Outlaw 7500 amp. This is the one I have. Great to see that they acknowledge not just this amp but the company. See what they have to write about it. Very flattering.

Here's the link for those interested:

Audioholics Best Amps

With the top of the line Boulders coming in at $205,000 a pair there is something for everyone.

As anybody else bothered by the price gap in that ranking? I mean we know all about how firms often price their "flagship" so it covers ALL the R&D / exotics components and still "loses money" -- that is the oft heard lament of firms like Ferrari, Aston-Martin, Porsche, McLaren and others in the "supercar" business.

That said their "hypercars" really do have such immense amounts of bleeding edge tech that it almost makes sense to pay the premium if you are in fact a lotto winner or lucky enough to be born into the Saudi royal family --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_One-77

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_918

http://www.caranddriver.com/mclaren/p1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaFerrari

When these "ne plus ultra" examples of automotive art / engineering are priced 8-10x more than mere 'super car' I can almost grok what sorts of "mission to Mars" commitment is needed from the firms.

When I look at the specs or even the admitted 'fancy' machining no doubt these things are much more complex to build the more "down to earth" $22K McIntoshish but really 10x??

Anybody else feel that way?

What bothers me the most about that price gap is that the supposedly independent reviewers have a hard time finding new superlative adjectives for gear which costs so much. While I have no doubt the quality is high, there is a lot of snake oil included. When reading these articles it is hard to read a single sentence without coming across a word which is very esoteric and soft in its meaning such that the supposed attribute cannot be proven but only described in flowery rhetoric. That is why many of the older mags are combining with others of their ilk so they can exalt over the same equipment.

I would like to know what kind of performance increase in a multichannel amplifier for home theatre use would a Krell Foundation, an Anthem Statement, a Lexicon, Theta Dreadnaught have over an Oultlaw 7500. I'm not talking specs but practical listening evaluation given the huge price points of the 7500s competitors mentioned. Also you can throw in Parasound Halo.

Way past the point of diminishing returns. Without having all that gear in one place at one time and doing a double blind test of some sort you will just have to go with the specs and the seat of your pants.