Not a happy Outlaw customer 7125 amp

My under 1 year old 7125 amp lost 14 transistors and thermistor just before the holidays. For a month or so before I was hearing a fan like sound from the back channels, but thought it was a computer fan in an adjacent room.

Previously our RR 2150 receiver switching selector logic failed, like the amp, fixed under warranty but shipping is not free! A few year ago I had noise issues, and the auto level/mic set set up with a 990 preamp. I sold that, and bought another 990 after auditioning Rotel and Emotiva.

I really like Outlaw's look, their FM section, the internal USB "decoder" set ups but has Outlaw's QC gone sour?

If I have any more issues I am seriously looking to return to Rotel or Denon equipment, both of which I have owned in the past.

It seems, and I could be misremembering this, that most of the concerns I've read with Outlaw's amps are the result of people not giving them enough room to breathe and cool down properly. What's your space like? Is it tight and enclosed? You may be having failures because of overheating issues.

I ran Outlaw's 1050 for a decade or so with one board failure after about six or seven years. I've had my 7125 (paired with the 1050 and currently with my 975) for four or five years now, I think, and no problems at all with it. Our system gets used all the time as it's our primary entertainment space and gets TV, game systems, movies, video chats, and streaming (hulu, netflix, prime, etc.). All this to say that I don't think there's an inherent QA issue but it could be an installation concern or just bad luck. All manufacturers have failures from time to time. What makes a company stand out to me is how they handle them and I have yet to hear of an instance where Outlaw didn't put forth the very best of efforts in such times.

Sorry to hear you have concerns about our QC here. We have been selling the 7125 for years with a very very low failure rate, though sometimes things do happen. Your DOP was 5/2012 on the 7125 and we initiated the repair on 12/2013. If it was poor QC, it would have failed in a month, not in a year and a half.

Re: Shipping - like most other companies, in-warranty shipping is split between the two of us - you pay inbound. we pay outbound. - that's pretty industry standard and fair.

We appreciate you being a loyal Outlaw customer and always strive to make our customers happy even when things do go wrong.

I currently have a 7125 that I bought around April 2012. Not any issues thus far and it gets heavy use as well. I recently changed things up in the system and now it gets warmer due to no fans. Perhaps I should add the fans again, it does get very warm in that space. But no issues to speak of.

The 7125 has about 3 feet of air space in a rack. So I was careful in the operation of the unit. Same with the RR 2125, lots of air on top.

As a former radio engineer I am painfully aware of heat and cooling needs.

Regards,

C.E. Rorabaugh

My 7125 just went out too; there is a spark when it is powered on, even with all interconnect, etc. unplugged. Unfortunately, it is just out of warranty; so I will decide if I want to pay shipping both ways to CA from NC, plus the cost of repair. Wish there was an east coast repair center for a company out of MA. It's tough to consider investing over 30% for a repair on a $1k amp.

I just sent you a PM.

Hi Nancy, I received the PM.

I knew the unit was out of warranty as I mentioned in my post. One of the main reasons I purchased Outlaw was the location of the company (East Coast) to minimize cost if there ever was an issue.

Wish there was an east coast repair center for a company out of MA. It's tough to consider investing over 30% for a repair on a $1k amp.

Sigh...not sure what I'll do with this...anyone need a 7125? :-(

Get it fixed is what you do with it. Buying a brand new amp is the only other option, and it's obviously an expensive option, much cheaper to fix. It's rare, but these things do happen from time to time and you just got unlucky. You say it's just out of warranty? Perhaps you could ask for consideration of partial coverage since it failed just out of warranty?

LOL Yeah, I just hated the idea of being without it for six weeks! Moreover, if Outlaw had offered any type of deal on a 7500, I would have jumped on it just so I wasn't without sound during that time.

That said, about an hour ago I received the repaired amp and the overall cost including shipping was less than anticipated. There was a concern of spending 33%-50% on the repair versus buying a new amp (7125 or 7500). Hopefully, the repairs made will last for years to come. :-)