Picked this up for very little to be used while my EAD Ovation is in for some repairs and mods. I had little expectations, but to my surprise, it's very nice sounding. Movies are quite astounding and with the 6 channel input, the 6 channel analog output from my OPPO allows for DTS HD-MA, Dolby TrueHD, multichannel SACD, etc. where the EAD can't. Music sounds very good as well, almost as good as the EAD. Quite impressed.

I've tried numerous processors over the past 20 years and none have sounded as good as the EAD. This 950 is very close.

It's very easy to set up once all of the connections are made. The onscreen menu is quite basic, but it does the job.

Model 950 is an earlier version of Model 970. I have the 970, and find it to be very low quality.

Please read my review of the 970 on the appropriate page. I cannot imagine the 950 is any better than the 970. I also find it odd that one of the people who provided a review to this page was dissing another user as a 'Marantz troll'. Quite frankly, from what I've heard out of recent Marantz products, I would say that Marantz sounds very much like Outlaw Audio. That reviewer must be very disappointed to see Marantz equipment is now being sold on the Outlaw website.

Sounded great till I upgraded my mains.

tricky bass management setup
heat

Sounded great till now. I bought some full range mains and even with the setting I had before(which sounded great) the sub is not playing as loud or sounding as dynamic as it used to. I dont know if my new mains are sucking the juice out of the 950 or what but I plan to buy a new pre/pro soon.

Customer Service

great as far as I can tell Ive never actually contacted them

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old kenwood

Sounds great, has all the processing power you will ever need. I can't think of any reason why anyone should pay more when this unit costs under a thousand. Don't waist your money on any expensive processor they do not hold onto their value due to new technology every year. I like this model because it is relatively small and can fit on my shelf below the TV, other processors are large and require more space.

Remote is not my favorite, took me a while to understand how to use. I am planning on getting a universal remote soon.
The screen on the unit is very small and hard to read when you are sitting 10 feet away

Excellent surround processor has everything you need to enjoy music and movies. Can be compare to processor selling over $1000. Not much to add that already has not been said. My priority was music and this unit delivered in that department. I don't see myself upgrading this gear for many years

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Sony TAE900ES
Auditioned many high end products at stores costing in the thousands

The price for the quality is a 10. The build quality is as good or better than most. Customer service (Steve) is very helpful. My wife can even use it!

No phono jack. Many universal remotes do not recognize Outlaw products.

I have had this unit for 3 years and it is great. The yahoo complaining about the 2 channel imaging is a Marantz troll - do not believe a word he says. DVDs and regular TV sound amazing considering all the sound optionsthat are avaliable. The price was right and the only complaint I have is that there is no phono jack on the front. Oh, and the remote - most other universal remote don't have a code for Outlaw.

Customer Service

Easy to contact and polite.

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Too numerous to count

The price for the quality is a 10. The build quality is as good or better than most. Customer service (Steve) is very helpful. My wife can even use it!

No phono jack. Many universal remotes do not recognize Outlaw products.

I have had this unit for 3 years and it is great. The yahoo complaining about the 2 channel imaging is a Marantz troll - do not believe a word he says. DVDs and regular TV sound amazing considering all the sound optionsthat are avaliable. The price was right and the only complaint I have is that there is no phono jack on the front. Oh, and the remote - most other universal remote don't have a code for Outlaw.

Customer Service

Easy to contact and polite.

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Too numerous to count

great versatility of settings, and the sound is magnificent for music and home theater.

remote contro; is complicated (though logical) and took some getting used to, before it becamed secons nature.

the sound is clear, precise, and musical, with more than enough choices for surround modes, as well as sn outstanding purist direct, two channel choice as well. The five and seven channel cirrus possibilities are awesome, a word I never use in this context. The tech support is the best I have ever seen by a company.

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Denon 3801

Soundstage, clarity, power, smoothness, price (nothing can beat it, just ask any honest dealer).

Remote Lack of custom settings for each source unit.

I've had the 950/7100 combo for about three weeks now, and have but a few complaints, and even those are extremely minor. This is the third unit I've demo'd in a search for a replacement of my Denon 2800, the first two being the latest Denon 2805 (I ventured a guess that if the 2805 wasn't cutting it, the 3805 would be much the same) and a Rotel 1056. I've submitted a review on each of those in their own section. Anyway, back to the 950. I basically found out about it by a comment in a magazine and checking the reviews posted here. The $1,500 special (combo deal with the 7100) wasn't a huge stretch from the $1,170 I was willing to spend on the Rotel, so I took a shot on it. My first initial thoughts once I took delivery was that the components were as advertised, pretty plain and the amp was a chunk (around 50 pounds). Once I plugged everything in my second thought was that I had purchased a piece of crap, in that the sound was awful. Very thin and quite unbearable (this was not nearly the case while demoing the brand new Denon and Rotel), but I figured I was already into it by $135 for shipping (30 day free trial period), so I prayed burn-in would remedy the problem. Sure enough, after 4-5 hours of running, things started to clear up, and after a day I couldn't believe the difference over the other units. Even without a direct a/b comparison, I could tell this setup was leaps and bounds better. Soundstaging was better (where extreme "toe-in" of the speakers was necessary before with prior units, it isn't with this setup), reproduction was leaps and bounds clearer, and finally playback in 2 channel bybass mode off my cd player was incredible (no more harshness). In home theatre mode, these components are every bit as incredible. There's no comparison to this unit with respects to the Rotel 1056, in any regard as far as I'm concerned, and I liked the Rotel. The obvious power/reproduction advantage of a separate amp is obviously apparant with the Outlaw setup. My only complaints with the 950 pertain first to the remote, and second to flexibility as far as settings. The remote is no doubt cheap, even if it's the same one offered with other companies units at 3 times the price. Of all the remotes I've dealt with, this one's the cheapest. Secondly, flexibility with remembering custom settings is lacking. Selecting bypass every time I want to listen to the cd player is annoying, and the fact that you can't customize speaker levels and tone for each source is pretty poor for such a component. I'm sure these things will probably be addressed if Outlaw comes out with a replacement for the 950, but overall they're definitely "livable" problems in light of all you gain. For reference, my setup consists of: Rotel RCD 1070 with PS Audio Lab cable Toshiba SD 9000 DVD Monitor Audio Silver 9's Monitor Audio Silver 10 Center Monitor Audio FB110 Sub Audioquest Bedrock bi-wire spkr cables Tributaries Interconnects Shunyata Research Hydra 4

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Denon 2800 and 2805 Rotel 1056

Value, decent build quality, *excellent* Outlaw Audio service.

Poor 2 channel sound, lack of high enough bandwidth component video switching, no S-Video to component upconversion, cumbersome and user unfriendly remote.

I confess that I am thouroughly disappointed with the Outlaw 950 pre/pro. It replaced a Marantz SR-7400 receiver that I was using as a pre/pro when it broke down and had to be repaired. I expected to see an improvement with the dedicated Outlaw pre/pro, but I find (to my chagrin) that the Marantz used as a pre/pro is light years better. The Outlaw has a terrible 2 channel stereo image, and the various digital processing modes take a long time to recognize the signal being inputed... Build quality is very average, and I find it quite ugly looking. Lastly, the remote is extremely poorly designed, and I find it a true annoyance to use (unlike the fabulus Marantz remote that comes with the SR-7400). Needless to say, this pre/pro was not what I am looking for. Maybe it sounds good on other peoples' systems, and it just is a poor match for mine. That said, I think I will have to sell this unit to someone it will work better for, and switch to something else... I am trying out a Cary Cinema 6 next (much more expensive, so it won't be a fair comparison to the 950). By the way, as an aside, I should mention Outlaw Audio is a very nice company to work with. I may not like the 950, but I love their people, and have bought other items from them with great success (and would do so again).

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Marantz SR-7400 Denon 3300 Cary Audio Cinema 6

movies /music/tv/they all play well on this preamp

there are no weaknesses

I cannot believe the over all improvement the outlaw prepro 950 made to my system!The highs and mids in my lsi 7"S never sounded so good the over all clarity just can"t be topped.After spending the last few years trying to find a system i would be satisfied with'not to mention a small fortune!I"m amazed.............The hunt is finally over! wow.. better than i could have imagined! Steve and Jennifer from outlaw audio were fanastic. Answerd all my questions and returned all my phone calls promptly !Excellent service!After hearing the sound quality of the outlaw preamp 950 I"m definitly going back to them to buy an amplifier

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none this good;denon harman kardon jvc onkyo