What is Signal to Noise to noise ratio for this? , I have 7125 and it is: 119 DB A weighted.

Can anyone from outlaw comment? I did not find this in the specs...

Since Outlaw won't comment, then I will take a stab. Because your 7125 is not dual differential like the 7500/7700 then the 5000 would most definitely not be >120db A. This amp is made overseas like the 2200 and is not built by ATI, who builds ATI house brand, Theta, and Cinenova. All of these are high-end amps.

I am going to guess and say that the 5000 will be closer to 112db A like the 2200.

Thanks Beyond 1000... that seems reasonable...!

Now it would be good that Outlaw puts a "see it huge" option in the gallery. Maybe they don't want to advertise "Made in China..sorry...made in P.R.C." or maybe "Made in Taiwan".

When I bought my first Outlaw equipment back (gosh) 10+ years ago, they were at the forefront in terms of value for what I deemed to be audiophile quality gear. I remember having folks over to listen to my 990+755 through a Magnepan-based surround system + LFM subs and watching their jaws drop. The jaws dropped further when some of them realized they'd paid 4-5X the cost and were getting similar sonic results. And then things went stagnant with Outlaw. We had a series of head fakes with processors that they were unable to deliver on after much hand waving and an amplifier line-up that until now has been mostly unchanged. The only development of consequence has been their uptake of the HPAS speaker design. That's it. The rest has been mostly "race to the bottom" gadgets produced in China...including this new amp.

Perhaps I'm just a really harsh critic, but I haven't seen any reason to spend money with Outlaw since that day I initially joined the cult over a decade ago. Other than the service, which I think we can all acknowledge is top notch, what keeps folks coming back? With the exception of their HPAS speakers and ATI-produced amps, what do they produce anymore that's of high quality AND price competitive? Ipod docks? Really? What am I missing?

Best,

Can anyone that actually owns one of these amps please provide some input. The OLD argument about where a piece of gear is built is pretty much hashed out. Those of you that care where it is built will not buy one anyways. Those of us who don't have a problem with the origination location will at least try to consider it on its merits knowing it was designed by Outlaw to provide a balance between performance and value.

I do not have one of these amplifiers but own several pieces of made in China gear. I am mostly concerned about the longevity of the lead free soldering processes which seem to be the current world wide standard.

I would not expect a company like Outlaw to be an innovator in the amplifier market and do not think they have ever tried to go that route. Looking at the spec sheets the Model 5000 design is based on solid foundations. I would prefer to see the power supply located centrally so the heat sinks could be faced outboard around the perimeter of the case for better heat dissipation but that is just me. At the designed output levels I doubt heat is much of an issue.

For $600.00 it looks like it could be a great value to someone starting in separates.

Gettin the lead out has been the standard since 2006 in the EU and almost all electronics produced since then have been lead free. It would seem at this point that it is reliable and not only a China thing.

Maybe things have improved in the past few years. When I worked depot service for a notebook manufacturer half of the hardware failures we saw were due to issues with the lead free solder. Half of those were connectors so blame a few on the customers but not all because we did not see those types of failures prior to the change.

I was trying to make the point that it is the process I do not trust more so than where something is made. As far as where something is made we get what we pay for. There are some excellent Chinese manufacturers and there are some very bad ones just like every other country.

While reading up trying to decide which pre/pro I was going to buy I started in the reviews eliminating companies based on the number of "it did not work out of the box" to the number of first 90 days hardware failures. Since the implementation of lead free solder the DOA rate for electronics larger than tablet/notebook size has increased. Outlaw did not factor into that category so they seem to be going to a decent manufacturer.

As far as longevity goes heat seems to be the enemy now more than ever. I am shocked at how much hotter the Model-975 runs compared to the old school active/passive 2 channel unit it replaced. I have it on top of the cabinet now with spacers under its feet so should be good to go until software makes it obsolete.

I have no idea who rolls the boards for Outlaw but they seem to be done well. I would like to find an out of warranty non-mosfet unit for a bit of experimenting.