The posts on this thread have been very interesting and informative to me - and as a result I am asking for help.

My family and I have watched a lot of movies at home (and very few in the cinema) for a number of years. After moving to DVD about 18 months ago - the timing driven by the belated availability of DVD titles - the performance upgrade is so startling that we have decided to upgrade from a 32" TV to a rear projection (Toshiba 65 inch). As a result, and also as a result of moving house with a more home-theater-friendly room available (i.e. larger: 22 x 25 with an 18-foot ceiling), I have decided to take the plunge and move from using my standard two-channel stereo to adding speakers etc. and accessing the Dolby / DTS / whatever capability of the DVDs.

Having always been a "components" chap - I gather the word today is "separates" - no other approach interests me. When I started gathering information about nine months ago, I was disappointed to see that there was very little available in the way of components unless one had a virtually unlimited budget (I don't - we established a saving plan and a defined budget for our upgrade, and have nearly completed it). I investigated the Adcoms - they appear to me to be over-priced junk with fundamental flaws such as highly audible hum and hiss. Marantz had a home theater pre-amp (I think it has been discontinued) which, although a bit better, also clearly did not meet my quality criteria. In fact, I was so disappointed by the available price/quality ratios that I put the whole upgrade project on hold (upside: by lengthening the savings period, the budget has been modestly increased). The then-available model from Rotel was better quality but, in my own opinion, poor value and a budget-stretcher at $1600 list / $1400 street. (By the way, so much, if I may say so, for the oft-stated view that one gets "more for less" in AV equipment as time goes on.)

I became aware of Outlaw through the Web and, combined with the appearance of a both better and cheaper (compared to prior Rotel offering) Rotel unit, have brought my upgrade program to, well at least the mid burner and hopefully soon the front burner. I have no desire to spend another $400 or so just to get a brand name, but on the other hand the price difference is small enough that I want to get the better, in terms of quality, of the two units: while I may upgrade other components down the line, I would expect 15 - 20 years' service out of the pre-amp / control unit.

Given my overall time frame, it really isn't a problem if I have to wait, say two months for a 950 should I choose that route.

While I know the Outlaw people will take the unit back if I'm not satisfied, no local Rotel dealer will do the same. So the ultimate test - an in-home comparison - simply and very unfortunately is not an option.

In that situation, I would like to make some observations and would greatly appreciate feedback:

1. Although my 30 years' experience with audio equipment is that pre-amps (unlike amps, or especially playback units with moving parts) will either fail under warranty or last indefinitely, I'm still concerned about the longevity of the Outlaw company's support / service. Thoughts?

2. A couple of months is OK. Based on the posts, I'm wondering if the reality is more like six months, which is NOT OK. Opinion? Is the backlog shrinking, stable, or growing?

3. A consistent theme of all the posts / reviews / etc. appears to me to be that quality control in the manufacturing of the 950 is a major problem; like American cars, the unit I actually receive could be a crap-shoot as a function of manufacturing not design. If true, this is not a product that I would want to buy. Am I being unfair to Outlaw in this regard?

4. In all of my audio purchases, I have always tried to buy the most "accurate" equipment I can afford. This word certainly has subjective elements and may even be "charged". To me, it means in particular that the equipment makes a trained human voice, from a high-quality recording, sound nearly identical to the "live" sound. For example, one of my references for auditioning speakers is "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega. It also means absolutely tight bass without any boominess or exaggeration. (For reference, my musical tastes are eclectic but do not include heavy metal or "heavy" rock and roll). The posts clearly indicate that there is a sonic difference between the 950 and the Rotel, but - as even the posts themselves have acknowledged - one man's "accuracy" may - or may not - be another man's "harshness" or "brightness". Could we possibly pursue this dicussion theme further? It might (or might not) help for me to say that after an exhaustive search last year, I chose Linn Ninca speakers to upgrade my 16-year-old Cantons and, as an example, found the B&W to be a bit harsh but found Thiels to be far too warm and colored.

5. I've auditioned many home theater set-ups, and to my personal ear, all of them have been sub-par in reproducing conventional stereo recordings. Music will continue to be most of my "critical" listening, and my home situation does not allow the luxury of separate rooms / systems for home theater and music. My third-party and no doubt inadequately-informed view of the posts that laud the 950 in this regard is that all things are relative: when I read about the systems these individuals were using previously, to say that the 950 offers great stereo music sound is perhaps relative only. In this regard, good news bad news so to speak. I plan to continue to use my existing pre-amp for music. Its specs are an order of magnitude compared with either the Rotel or the 950 in terms of THD, IM, and frequency response, and while specs are one thing and listening is another, from my auditioning I believe its transparency is unmatched by sub-$2500 home theater equipment (maybe higher; I don't believe in auditioning equipment that is far beyond my budget, becuase it leaves me disappointed with what I can actually afford even though that too may be very good). Also, while perhaps just an "old fogey" in this regard, 99% of my CDs and discs were intended for conventional stereo play-back, and my auditions of multi-channel systems left me unimpressed in terms of music. SO: I really am only looking at the home theater capabilities of the 950 and the Rotel.

Other comments: (a) I couldn't care less about the tuner in the 950, I will continue to use my MacIntosh tube tuner connected to a rooftop antenna. But it occurs to me that Rotel, by not even including a tuner, is focusing more directly on my own needs. (b) The ergonomics of the remote are not very important to me. I will either learn to master it, or replace it with an aftermarket product. (c) Quality of control knobs and switches is a concern. Its not just a matter of whether or not you like the feel; from the posts on the 950 controls, I have to wonder how long they will last (bear in mind that my current pre-amp is 18 years old, therefore has no remote, and the [very high quality] controls have had to endure thousands of actions).

Current equipment:

Crown Straight Line Two pre-amp (audio only, no video capability)
2 x Crown DC300 amps (190 watts RMS / channel), 1 is currently not in use but excellent condition (was used for bi-amping during my "wild and crazy" years)
MacIntosh MR71 tube tuner
Denon DP-3000 direct drive turntable with SME Type III-Improved silicon-damped tone-arm
Samsung Model 711 DVD/CD player (I hate changers)
Panasonic PV-4660 VCR (used only for occasionally re-playing VCRs from our modest tape library, and occasionally taping NFL games)
Linn Ninka floor-standing main speakers

In the first upgrade phase, I will add a Linn center speaker and a good-quality active sub-woofer. Rear speakers will have to wait a year or so for budget recovery.

Gentlemen, your thoughts / suggestions?