This being my first trip to a big audio/home theater show, I wanted to give a special mention to the Outlaws.

Theirs was the first listening room I and my friends visited. It was great to see everybody ducking for cover while the four LFM-1+'s shook the room... Of all the rooms I visited, theirs was the only one that I felt completely duplicated the sound and feel of a modern movie theater. And the Outlaws themselves were just as I'd imagined, straight-talking and square-dealing.

I also saw some Outlaw gear driving other demos, in particular Aperion (a 1070 in their "budget" room), can't remember the others for sure. But all performed very well.

Good to see so many serious exhibitors. I had plenty of opportunity to listen to some serious ear candy, usually for fifteen minutes or more at a stretch. Most places were willing to play whatever music we had with us.

A few that stand out in the "affordable" vein -- Dr. Hsu comes first to mind, a name that should be familiar to all Outlaws. As Sanjay remarked in the other thread, Hsu brought an amazingly good system, especially considering he had less money in his whole room than most had in their power cables alone! laugh Two more that impressed me were Totem and Usher.

Many of the high-end rooms were nice but far from amazing. Though several were very good indeed. I found the Lamm setup to be wonderful... if utterly out of reach... also particularly enjoyed the McIntosh line arrays and the Vandersteens. Ah, maybe someday.

Overall, had a great time. Would have liked to see more horns and electrostatics, but I got in much more quality auditioning than I'd expected. Also picked up some multichannel music at good prices.

After I got home I immediately fired up my own, modest little system, while the megabuck sounds were still fresh in my mind, to try to do some critiqueing. Cued up the same test disc and waited for disappointment.

It never happened! There's better systems to be sure, but I'm still impressed with my old-fashioned 950/7100. Especially for what it cost. So here's a sixgun salute to the Outlaws. Thanks for living up to all your promises, and for making the trip to L.A.