I haven't seen any good pictures of it yet, was wondering if anything is gonna get put up soon.

Rich

Me too! They really want to keep us in suspense I guess. I'd like to find out more about the USB interface as well. Are they going to provide drivers and software to control the unit from a network or is it just to plug in a pen drive with MP3 files on it. Hmmmm.....or maybe you can attach a wireless access point and go completely remote. Can't wait to place my order.

Have been checking back for photos every couple weeks and still nothing. I thought Outlaw said they would be posting pictures in a week. I believe that must have been more than a month and maybe closer to two months now. Seems like everytime Outlaw introduces a new Audio product it takes for ever to get a simple picture. Were not asking for a production date or a possiable release date. Come on guys it only takes a couple minutes to post a photo.

So far all I've seen is the picture from Audiogon. It was a pretty big pic, and I can't find the link, but I've got a piece of it --



Haven't seen anything else (may be getting close to time for a new newsletter, maybe even with some word on the s-video cables), but then I've been a bit out of touch for a good chunk of this week...

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Thanks Gonk, it looks nicer than their other stuff, imo.

Rich

Personally, I like the black a lot better. The styling was actually one of the reasons I liked the Outlaw. No frills, sleek and mean.

Although, I'd like the RR2150 much better without that particular blue. It looks like a kid's toy to me.

-Joe

------------------
Remember the Intellivision?
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

Geesh. I hope thats NOT what it really looks like. It looks horrible.

Retro sure, but you can still make it look sleek and stylish.

The other Outlaw products have a nice minimalist touch. This is just too busy and tacky.

Well, maybe we will get a 'monthly' newsletter in September that will give us an update. Seems like a long time to release the details of the product. Maybe they had to redesign it after reading the reactions to the pics on this thread!

Yeah, right, they're going to redesign a product because Dinkoh doesn't like it and Nostalgia has reservations about the blue.

Sheesh....

No, but perhaps we're not the only ones who feel that way and they've received such feedback through email. Maybe they did read the thread and decide to look at the product in a different light. *shrug* Who knows?

-Joe



------------------
Remember the Intellivision?
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

I meant it tongue in cheek...I'm sure we will be told about some testing that needed to be done or shipments from suppliers in S. Korea that were sunk in a pirate raid or the desire to release information only after final specifications were available or yadayadayada.....they're not fast but they make good stuff that the rest of us can afford. Not a bad trade off.

Hey, whadayano...they're changing the blue knobs.....Nostalgia must have an uncle working there or something. Nice that they are giving us USB connectivity to our PCs but how many people have a computer within 5M (max USB cable length) of their entertainment systems. There are RF bridges that run off USB ports to extend the range and make the device wireless but I don't know how well they work. Might have to look into it some.

I'll never tell

-Joe

------------------
Remember the Intellivision?
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

Last Call -- Keep in mind that one of the applications they are suggesting for the RR2150 is the office / dorm room sort of environment, where the computer and stereo tend to get all lumped together and it's entirely possible that the RR2150 would be within 5M of the computer (or at least a USB hub attached to the computer). In college, my receiver was anywhere from five to ten feet from my PC, and if I put a stereo in a home office it would probably be similar. I do agree that an RR2150 in the living room will probably not be able to get much use out of the USB port. There's always the HTPC crowd, although folks with an HTPC typically have a multi-channel setup of some sort associated with it. And who knows, maybe the USB port could come in handy for some future incarnation of the IR1000...

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I wish they would just put an ethernet port on the back of it. Rather than have a glorified sound card it would be nice to hang it on a network and be finished. I enjoy my AudioTron, but it would still be nice to just put a receiver in a room, hook it up to some speakers, plug in a network cable and be done. Even if it didn't have the logic to pull in MP3 feeds of the internet at least it could play songs from my home network...

Nice idea, TurnerF. I like it. It'd be cool, but there would be a lot involved in hanging it on the network. The latest newsletter talks about what the RR2150's USB port will do -- it's an input that appears to be a USB speaker (which they can probably use some relatively straightforward and readily-available tech to accomplish) plus a DAC to feed analog to the rest of the unit. Putting the RR2150 on the network would trade that USB speaker disguise for an equally straightforward network interface, then add enough brains to coexist with your network of choice, hook up to that network (IPX, TCP/IP, whatever), grab data files, and then know how to decode them and play them back. Oh, and keep the DAC from the USB interface. It would get a lot more messy and pricey, and I think it probably still belongs in a stand-alone unit like the Audiotron if only for the cost involved. The Audiotron, like Outlaw's planned IR1000, uses a processor running the WindowsCE operating system (why have I ended up talking about the IR1000 twice today? ), so you get to add the OS licensing cost in there too. If a network interface for music playback did get included in a receiver, the RR2150 would be the best candidate -- it could stand completely alone in an office or kitchen or somewhere and pull tunes from a computer elsewhere in the house -- but it would be a pretty major addition.

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I beg to differ. A network connection would be no harder to implement than the USB port. All of the software would run on the server/pc side and the receiver would simply be the output device. Only difference would be the method of connection. To this point I refer to the Lynksys device that will connect to your TV and receiver via standard connections and then wirelessly connect to a server to allow a person browse files, display pictures, or play music from the server. The technology is already there, all they have to do is intigrate it and we'd be set. Just one man's opinion.

The technology is there, true enough (although I hadn't seen Linksys's WMA11B before you mentioned it), but what does it cost? The WMA11B's list price is $200 (and HP has their ew5000, with costs $300), whereas a generic pair of USB speakers can be had for $5 or $10. That's the main reason I question the wisdom of incorporating a system like that into the RR2150 -- it would increase the cost of the product for a secondary (albeit very cool) feature.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not saying I'm opposed to the idea. I'm just theorizing at the reason Outlaw hasn't included it. Making a stand-alone product for network media access would be a safer bet.

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited August 22, 2003).]

Perhaps, but there is really not much to incorporate into the unit itself and the NIC would not cost as much as a USB port since it is old technology by comparison. The cost, as you pointed out with the CE device, would be in liscencing the interface from an existing provider. No sense reinventing the wheel you know, and third party software is usually not that expensive when it doesn't say Microsoft....look at all the free burner software that is sold with cd burners. Seems feasable to me, but I'm more computer geek than business analyst. Besides, at the end of the day I just want it to sound good. I'll work out my connection issues with a wireless USB bridge or something.

Yeah Gonk, I guess I can see your point. My original thinking was with the USB option you would have to develop drivers for the PC to recognize the RR2150 - but I suppose whomever you buy the USB chip from might already have those ready to be supplied. There are some companies starting to make high end PC speakers that are self amplified and I just don't see how this product would fit in. I find most of my listening is either streams from the internet or MP3's. When I buy a new CD the first thing I do is burn it to my server (mainly so I can access it via my IPod) then it's just so convenient to access through the AudioTron that's all I use. If I was looking for a higher end solution for my computer I would go for speakers directly into the PC, but I guess that's just me.

I think that there is a standard USB audio device class which is supported out-of-the-box with most major modern consumer computer operating systems. This permits someone with compliant USB speaker device to simply plug in without any additional software required. Surely the 2150 would be such a device.

Now that I understand the USB port a little better I can see how it is a good solution for me. Not too long ago I set out to create a centralized digital music server onto which I could store my entire collection of music in a lossless compression format. My first attempt used a leftover computer but ran out of disk space and was aesthetically unpleasing. My second attempt was more pleasing but was still just a big, powerful computer with a high end sound card and quiet components. Now I can see how I can use the RR2150's USB port to send to digital information to the receiver and make use of its high quality (I am assuming) DAC. Couple this with a highly integrated motherboard, passively cooled low-power CPU and quiet hard drive and I can build a very tiny device the will sit in the component rack! Of course, I will still need a display but an LCD of moderate size shouldn't be problematic.

So overall I am very eager for this to come out. IMHO a non-retro product would look better in my living room but to each his own.

My only question is about the 'phono section'. Does this mean that a turntable will not need a phono pre-amp? I've been shopping Pro-Ject and Hall Audio and have been very encouraged.

Yep, the phono section does mean that a phono pre-amp would not be required between turntable and RR2150.

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Terrapinion,
If you get that device built I would be interested in seeing it. I'm still working on the server in a closet strategy but you never know. My Samsung has a VGA port on it so I guess I wouldn't need the LCD screen but it would rank high on the geek factor.

USB is nice, but I'd like to see both. LinkSys used to make a $25 100tx/10t router - how tough could it be?

Yeah, it might be a few months but I have a good idea of what I want to do at this point. If you want to see some neat hobbyists at work then head over to www.mini-itx.com and see what those people are doing with these tiny, highly integrated motherboards. Some of them can be completely passively cooled so you wouldn't have to hide them in closets. I've been really taken by their ingenuity and have been looking for somebody that had an elegant but broken piece of stereo equipment that I could gut and turn into a little music server.

As for the display I could go with a little alphanumeric lcd for playlists and such, or I could do what that one guy did with a picture frame and hang it on a wall.

Lots of neat ideas out there but I suppose it belongs on a different thread. Thanks for the interest though!

Terrapin