I took several years for the industries to get quality lead free solder as the rule. Like every new tech, as experience with the technique has increased so has the quality of the devices. As electronics get smaller and faster the lead issue has decreased dramatically but it is a good thing to get out of the environment. I shudder to think all the times I have closed lead splitshot sinkers using my teeth when fishing.

I don't understand why your 975 would run hotter than older equipment since it is basically a computer in a bigger better ventilated box. I don't own one but neither my 990 or either of my Onkyos run warm. I saw somewhere that one of those laptop cooling platforms worked well.

My new cabinet was still in the garage being finished so I placed the 975 inside the cabinet where the Adcom unit had been. Open front and back but it did not like being there. With the new cabinet in the house it is out in the open and much happier. I can see how a passively cooled, microprocessor based, unit could run hot. There is quite a bit going on inside the case.

The NorthBridge in a desktop computer is passive cooled but you cannot put your fingers on it for anything other than just a touch. Total derail of the thread but the OP seemed to be done with it.

Looks like they fixed the "oops" on the HDMI daughter board. The hand soldered trace wire is now gone.

I have not seen that in a while. I can remember when jumpers were the order of the day. You populate the board then run it through the wave solder machine. Once all of that was done the boards went to the lab to determine why they did not work. On the up side a run of boards will have the same issue so once you know the fix it goes back into production quickly.

The good ol days

Getting back to the OP, the review done by Audioholics says the SNR at 1 watt is about 83. No full power measurement was done.

Unfortunately this is the thing with me as well. If Outlaw does bring out their new hi-end pre-amp the idea is to get it out at $1500 or less. Also I would like to see a smaller 2 channel ATI-based unit in addition to or in place of the 2200s. Outlaw has how many multi-channel amps in their line up now? A Blu-ray player would be nice as well but even Emotiva is not going that route since they don't want to pay licensing fees to that self-cannibalizing Blu-Ray Disc Association.

The idea with Outlaw is higher sonic quality than the Made in China Emotiva brand.

beyond 1000,

Normally, I would not answer an opinion post, but in this case, I will make an exception.

The country of origin does not guarantee the quality (or lack of it). Rather it is the other things that count: the product design, (especially the circuitry), choice of components, attention to detail, and strict production process control.

"Made in USA" does not necessarily mean a product is great unless all of the above and other requirements are taken into consideration. Conversely the same is true for products "Made in China". Case in point: (Many of us own I-phones and Oppo Blu-Ray players (both great products made in China). Be it China,Taiwan, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, Germany or the U.S., the rules are all the same when it comes to designing and manufacturing a quality product. The burden of ensuring those high standards, falls upon the brand itself.

The Model 5000 reviews below (from two very different publications) tell it all. We submitted the amplifier to them because of their very different approaches to an evaluation. That said, their final conclusions are remarkably similar.

http://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/outlaw-5000

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-affordable-...ower-amplifier/


In the end, we have one Outlaw rule. Every product we offer for sale we would all own for ourselves. The 5000 will soon become part of my own system.

Peter

Peter
I totally agree with you. I just took delivery of the new 5000. This amplifier is a real steal. The review on audioholics is spot on. I was looking for a monster amp to drive my Dunlavy LCR speaker system. I looked at the Emotiva XPR-5 and the Outlaw 7700. I have previously owned Pass Lab X250 and Aleph-3. This amplifier really does set a new benchmark. This amp is clearly better overall than the 7700 I previously owned. Even though the 7700 has a higher power specifications this little amp really drives difficult loads. When listening to the 7700 in my system using Outlaw 990/Oppo BDP-105 the 7700 played louder at any given volume setting but when I pushed the 7700 hard the base got slightly softer. The 7700 was extremely quiet and clean at the speakers. The high frequency extension was not that great and the sound field is flat. The amplifier sounded more like a clean PA amplifier. Tonally it was neutral but sterile.
The 5000 keeps the neutral tonal quality of the 7700 but adds more body to the sound. The base also does not change when you throttle it. The amp is extremely clean with a low noise floor. Even though it’s not a balanced design like the fully balanced 7700 the 5000 is just as quiet. I here no noise coming from the speakers at all even with my ears planted into the speaker grills. The 2 most significant factors for me were the extended high frequencies and the sound field. This little amplifier is equal to the Aleph 3 in imaging and depth. The highs provide natural detail and are very airy.
The Emotive XPR-5 provides 600 watts into a 4 ohm load. With that much power it would throw my Dunlavys around the room with great weight to the sound. The base clearly had more slam but the 5000 had better differentiation of different types of base instruments. The Emotiva XPR-5 added a slight sameness of sound to all base instruments. The tonal balance is overly warm on Emotiva but the soundfield is slightly bigger. The 5000 sound is closer to the sounds of real instruments. (I run our church sound system)The Emotiva highs have a slight wiry quality I do not like. The highs on the 5000 are wide open and smooth but retain natural bite.
The 5000 is not a budget amp but the steal of the century.
Make sure it’s powered on its own circuit. When I ran it on a 15 amp circuit that was loaded with multiple devices I first thought this isn't going to be very good. This would have been a tragic mistake. I also found a little tweak that improved the amp further. I plugged it into a Power Wedge 116 line conditioner. Further weight added to sound and even tighter base.
Made in PROC does not have mean cheap. I am very picky. Now that I am retired I have time to really compare components and this really is a good amplifier.

BRAVO BRAVO
Outlaw Audio
You too Peter

Singing
Italian

Singing Italian,


Thank you for your detailed evaluation. As you might have read, since the Model 5000 was our first multi--channel amp amplifier to be manufactured offshore, we put many months in working to get all the details right. Reading positive feedback from one of our customers is very gratifying. We also look forward to more customer reviews.

Best Regards,

Peter