What is the couple hundred dollars for? If we are talking about the mod to disable the amps, the cost is $75.

Factor in shipping both ways if you already have one or if you want it reversed. I am just wondering what the real advantage is since the amps should be almost unused withoutany power through them and should last forever. If the amps are so noisy when connected what's the point of owning them.

I wasn't thinking about people who already had an SR5005 doing this mod. It's probably not terribly cost effective from that perspective. Frankly, I doubt the amps are ill-behaved enough to make this a substantial audio upgrade. If they were, I don't think Outlaw would have gone so far as to acquire a large stock of them to sell as budget processors. This strikes me as a change that can offer only subtle improvement. If I were considering one of these, I'd probably do it - but I'd want to do it in large part because my system is in a closed cabinet and the mod would reduce the heat output slightly.

Without any current going through the inboard amps (without the mod and just using the processor) I would think that the heat load would be minimized to a great extent. I agree that the amps quality is not really a question and they don't contribute anything to the noise floor. That leads me full circle as to why anyone would do it when they could get similar life and performance without the mod. I am sure someone will want this change but I am not sure there is a real performance enhancement.

I've used receivers as processors before and found the heat output to be higher than expected, specifically because I was anticipating the same thing you are - amps with no load on them should have no current draw and thus no heat to dissipate - so I wouldn't be surprised for the mod to help with heat output.

The mod will definitely help reduce the heat. Transformers generate heat even with nothing going on. (Even a cell phone charger plugged into the wall outlet without a phone connected will warm up.) You might get a good idea of the improvement by turning on your system, letting it idle for a while and seeing how much your amp warms up. (For those who have separates.)

Can't really comment on any A/V performance improvement. No specs have been released. No test results. Haven't heard it side-by-side with a stock unit.

Disaster strikes again. Thanks to Lipa another power surge took out my hdmi booster. Rather than replace it I purchased a 35 foot hdmi cable from Blue Jeans (series 1) and after plugging it in to the Marantz HDMI out to my projector I got no picture and no sound. A call to Outlaw again confirms that 35 feet long is too long. However, when I run the cable directly from the blueray player to my projector i get a good 1080p signal. I am back to running analog cables from the player to the Marantz. I will either have to move the pre-amp and amp with the blue ray player closer to my projector or leave things as they are with the analog outs.

jefny

What's Lipa? Get a good surge protector/power conditioner. Lightning strikes take out more equipment than any power surge.

Sorry. I should have been more explicit. LIPA is our local power authority on Long Island that provides electricity. I did (and do) have power surge suppressors for all my equipment but I neglected to have one for my signal booster. On Long Island blackouts are frequent but occasionally they are accompanied by a power surge such as the one I had recently. In addition to my signal booster I lost a couple of old TV's, my microwave oven, a toaster, etc. Neighbors even had worse losses. In other words anything that was not protected by a surge suppressor was in danger.

jefny

Hopefully insurance covered at least part of the losses.