I want to preference this post with a little background that I may have posted before -- I have been an audio hobbyist for a long time. I worked in a little hi fi shop in college. I have been around both mainstream and more "speciality" audio products for going on 30 years. Over that time I have seen LOTS of products and I know what "trade-offs" basically all manufacturers are willing to make and I think I have a pretty good working understanding of what happens when some of those trade-offs that have pretty obvious sonic consequenses are baked into a system. I help out with "sound reinforcement" projects for local community groups. I get the hows and whys of things like sheilding and the subsequent effect that "noise" can have on eating power that would otherwise be availble for sound amplidication. OK, I do not have "golden ears". I do not waste huge sums of cash on magical products. I know that even some products with a legitimate techincal basis for "superiority" are not really going to manifest those differences except on test instruments.

Preface over.

I do not like or trust pretty much any mainstream AV reciever these days. Most have way too little sheilding, way too optimistic a power rating, fair too little attention to the basics. Low quality components that literally leak signal and have poor physical and thermal stability.


I do not think I am alone in this regard. In fact there is a legitimate "cottage industry" of people that can be called "audio hot rodders / performance modification specialists" that try to address these short comings. One such firm that occaisionally gets discussions lit up is "The Upgrade Company". While I do not doubt that they make a healthy profit on many of their enhancements, and some are likely " 'scope only " in nature, the fact is they charge $1400 to upgrade a top of the line Integra Pre-Pro which is already WAY better built than the run-of-the-mill Onkyo stuff. I am not going to say that Outlaw will deliver results that match the test results of the fully "hopped up" DHC 80.3, and it sure as heck will not be a ladden with features, but for those who get hung up price you really need a litttle perspective : The Upgrade Company Signature Edition DHC 80.3 Pre-Pro Gulp. $3,300 .

I mean, perspective, folks perspective...