Outlaw is one of the newest and highly regarded consumer electronics companies today.  They’re one an online exclusive retailer, designer and manufacturer who makes high quality home theater audio at affordable prices.  You won’t find Outlaw equipment at any retail stores, they only deal over the internet through their website.  Outlaw stands among the high end of the mainstream consumer electronics spectrum, comparable to names like NAD, Rotel, Adcom but sold at prices that make you think of big warehouse operations.  Instead of listening to your new Outlaw gear in a store you get your new purchase shipped directly to you from Outlaw and you can test it for 30 days with a complete money back guarantee if you’re not happy.  This online business model and high quality gear at larcenous pricing has made Outlaw a respected name in the industry.

It is to great fanfare Outlaw ships its newest product, the Outlaw 990 a Pre-amp/Processor for Home Theater.  “Pre-Pro” as they’re called aren’t cheap, this unit is only for those who want the highest quality and are willing to collect a system of “separates” (separate components) to get it.   Pre-pro is a receiver that requires external amplification, either a stack of separate amps or a single five to seven channel power amp.  Having a dedicated component for preamp and surround processing duties guarantees the best performance possible.  Leaving amplification to separate components is the best way to achieve audio purity that will make the highest quality speakers sparkle.

Preamp-Processors like Sunfire’s Grand line or Arcam’s AV8 will set you back thousands.  Along comes Outlaw’s 990 for just $1099.

Check out these features:

• DTS-ES Discrete and Matrix, DTS-96/24, DTS NEO-6
• Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIx fully adjustable, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone Layers 1,  2, 3
• 5 Optical and 2 Coaxial Digital Inputs
• Automatic Speaker Set-up
• 7.1 RCA pre-amp outputs with dual sub out 7.1
• Balanced Audio Outputs
• Room 2 A/V Output with fixed/variable audio level, S-Video and coaxial digital
• Dedicated Room 2 Remote
• 2 DVI Inputs 1 DVI Output

That’s right, two DVI in/outs for HDCP video compliance.  Outlaw would love to have included HDMI.  Outlaw says that since the technology was still in some transition during the design phase of this unit they wanted to go with something they considered upgradeable.  My assumption is that lack of HDMI goes a long way in making this unit more affordable, HDMI based receivers are several thousand more than this unit.  Components that use HDMI only can easily be converted with adapters and voila, back to DVI.  It’s an affordable yet uncompromising way to make your receiver the audio/video control center again since you upgraded to an HDTV monitor.