i own the 990 and am very impressed .. so they saved money on the box... the components inside make the difference.. for instance some fellows take the old adcom 545 and 555 amps and do a 200 to 300 $$ upgrade on the power supply and capacitors and you have a way better unit.. the (box ) means nothing.. as was stated earlier the sherwood and Boston use it as well .. one great example of same shell diff components even though they were car audio was the orion company .. the black 2150 the red hcca 50 and the nt 4 .. were the same shell but were 1000$ 1750 and 2000.. just by changing caps and resitors etc..

and yes outlaw uses some help from ATI on their amps .. i use a ATI 1506 with my 990 and love them together .. and believe me ATI makes great equipt ..

bottom line i think is outlaw is trying to give us the best for the lowest $ they can .. if it shaved 100$ off of the unit $ to use a already in production shell compared to doing R & D and coming up with thier exclusive shell good .. or maybe they put that 100 into the dvi switching or balanced outputs or better bass management .. these are more important than the shell .. and well outlaws 950 wasnt known for its sleek looks ..the only downfalls in reviews i heard was the looks so maybe thats why they did it..

bottom line .. dont be (disapointed) due to the fact they used a case already designed .. believe me its all high quality outlaw inside..