My contention is that there is so limited a set of offerings in the pre-pro category that it is all but impossible for there to be some firm cranking out "generic reference designs" ... Similarly if one was to speculate that perhaps Outlaw partnered with a firm like ATI to supply some schematics / prototypes for the 978 I would wonder if there would ever be anything "under the covers" to link the "heritage" of that firm's costly solution to the likely much more affordable 978...
While it can be fun to speculate on "who makes what for whom" in my limited experience the similarities between the various products assembled by large off shore firms is all but nonexistant.
renov8r:
I find your statements above almost bizarre given Outlaws own history which you appear to know little about. As an example here is the lineage of a previous Outlaw prepro the 950 as quoted from the 950 thread.
... Outlaw Audio and Eastech Manufacturing worked together to design the Model 950, with the understanding that Eastech could then offer the design as an OEM product for other companies once Outlaw has the 950 on the market. The Sherbourn PT-7000 and the Atlantic Tech P-2000 are both manufactured by Eastech under this agreement, and are sold through traditional retail. The list price for both is around $1400, with the differences due to the added cost of the retail channel and some different component quality requirements (although it has proven difficult to determine if the upgraded components offer an audible benefit). The chassis was also the basis for Fosgate Audionics' FAP-T1 pre/pro, with an additional component input, a composite video output for zone two, and a front LCD video screen added.
Now there are two Eastech's (possibly related). One in Malaysia (that OEM'ed the 1050, 950, 970 and 1070) and the other in Taiwan. The latter does manufacturing in China and is exactly the type of company you say doesn't exist. Note: I don't know if Eastech OEM'ed the 1050, 970 and 1070 to anyone else.
Going back to history for a bit. The 990 came from Inkel in Korea who owns Sherwood Newcastle. The 990 and Sherwood P-965 lines are extremely similar from the pre-pro perspective (as was the R-965 - Outlaw at one point sold the remaining R-965's). Inkel was also the partner on the failed 997 which had its own Newcastle equivalent the R-972 including the Trinnov.
A little bit of googling on Inkel found this:
Sherwood's parent company, Korea's Inkel, is one of the world's biggest OEM for home audio components. Inkel has owned Sherwood since the mid 80s. They made amps/receivers for the likes of Denon, Outlaw Audio, Atlantic Technology, Boston Acoustics, etc. Sherwood's own components are quite good as well.
Previous Topic
Index
