Outlaw Audio 1050 Receiver.

Manufacturer: Outlaw Audio, Inc., 18 Denbow Road, Durham, NH 03824; 800/392-1393; www.outlawaudio.com

List price: $599 (factory direct)

Source: Manufacturer Loan

Reviewer: Howard Ferstler

The Outlaw receiver, which is in the same, slightly upscale price category as many everyday "generic" A/V receivers, is not your typical everyday, generic receiver. I want to make this clear, because we live in an era when audio electronics, particularly CD players, DVD players, amplifiers, and receivers, are becoming more and more like appliances. (As I see it, interconnects have been appliance-grade from the word go, and speaker wire has been that way since the day somebody came up with lamp cord.) Most work fine, but few of those "appliances," including some very good models, indeed, have any real character. Well, the Outlaw 1050 receiver has "character," and it couples that character with some very good performance.

In terms of the basics, the unit offers 65 watts on each of its main, center, and three (yes, three) surround channels, has Dolby Digital, DTS, PCM, and Dolby Pro Logic decoding (including Dolby-3, for use if you cannot hook up surround speakers), has a 6-channel input for current and future outboard-decoded surround systems, employs easy-to-use level-trim controls for the center, surround, and subwoofer outputs, and comes with a back-lit, multi-function remote control. Topping off these basic features is a front panel that is both informative and attractive, and also somewhat different looking from many of the more generic units currently available.

The panel controls and features (all duplicated on the remote) include a power button, volume control, a button to select the 6-channel outboard inputs, a headphone jack (which defeats the speaker outputs when used), a surround-mode selector, a digital-input control, preset and tuner controls, tone and balance controls, an input-source selector, the input-trim controls, a crossover-adjustment control (more on this, below), a delay-time control, a test button for setting output levels, and a control to accommodate varying speaker sizes and hookups. The panel's fluorescent display is not as slick looking as some other receivers I have seen, but it is functional and like any display, once you are used to the way it works, understanding the readouts becomes pretty straightforward.

The rear panel is also pretty straightforward. Speaker hookups are five-way binding posts and there are two-channel analog inputs for CD, DVD, tape (including an output for recording from any of the other inputs), three video sources (with one having an output for recording from any of the other inputs), an auxiliary source, and the six-channel input for an outboard digital decoder.

There are two optical and one coaxial-digital inputs, and each of those can be assigned to any of the input modes available on the front panel. All inputs and outputs for video sources also have corresponding composite and S-Video inputs and outputs, as well as monitor outputs for routing the video signals to a TV set with monitor inputs. The 1050 does not have component-video input switching, however.

The back panel also includes a 12 VDC trigger-out jack for use with other devices (like powered projection screens), as well as an IRT remote signal output to control other devices. There is also a master-power switch that is normally left in the "on" position, and there is a 75-ohm jack for FM radio connections and a jack to handle the included AM loop antenna. Note that the rear panel also has a switch that you set to optimize the unit for use with speakers of varying impedances. The manual notes that this switch should NOT be touched when the 1050 is turned on.

For those with LP record collections and turntables, I should note that the unit has no LP record-player input or on-board phono preamp. If you want to have that function, you have to purchase an outboard preamplifier (Outlaw does not offer such a component) and then plug it into the auxiliary input. I know that some of you will consider this as a deficiency, but I am just as sure that a few others will consider it as the wave of the future. The back panel also lacks any kind of A/C power connections. This means that all of your input-source hardware will have to be plugged into wall outlets or a remote on/off switch controller.

The remote control is pretty straightforward, and is able to operate most infrared-controllable hardware made by other companies. Indeed, the unit can be configured to operate up to seven different components. (The manual has a list of codes in the back that you activate to tell the remote just what brands and models you wish to have the unit be able to operate.) As I noted, it is illuminated, and any time you hit any of the buttons all of them light up and stay lit for several seconds.

The button layout is fairly good, although the one that engages the AM or FM radio function is not in with the group that contains the other input-selecting buttons. In addition, whenever you engage a function that allows the remote to operate other components (DVD player, CD player, TV set, etc.), you have to remember to hit the TNR button at the top if you want the remote to get back into the receiver-control mode.

One of the first things that strikes the individual about the 1050, assuming that they take the time to do some reading before they start to unpack and fiddle with wires and controls, is not the unit at all. Rather, it is the owner's manual.

Mainstream audio-hardware manuals (particularly those that come with receivers and CD players, and more recently with DVD players) continue to be a turn off for me. Most are written as if two or more committees were involved, and in many cases it almost appears as if none of the committees tried to coordinate their efforts with those of the other committees. Some manuals are navigation nightmares, and many, particularly those which because of national pride are written by nonnative speakers, are grammatical and syntactical jokes.

This is not the case with the Outlaw 1050 manual. While it is not the picture of expository perfection by any means (more on this, below), it is definitely written in the King's English (albeit in a somewhat casual manner), and it deals with the required topics in such a way that an intelligent reader will feel as if he is dealing with an equally intelligent writer, rather than an out-of-adjustment cyborg or deadline-oriented clerk with a dual-language dictionary in front of him.

The manual's attractiveness notwithstanding, the first and most notable feature of the Outlaw package is the incorporation of Dolby Digital EX. This involves a sixth, powered satellite channel: one that should be positioned directly behind the listener. To my knowledge (at least at the time I was assembling this review), no other Dolby Digital receiver in this price class (the price is supposedly as low as it is, because the Outlaw is sold factory direct and not through dealers) has the EX feature, although I am reasonably sure this will be temporary.

With Dolby Digital EX, the center-rear data is derived from the L+R component contained within the stereo-surround signals available with specially configured, 5.1-channel source material. Steering-logic circuitry within the receiver (similar to what we get with old-style Dolby Pro Logic up front) separates the L+R component from the hard-left and hard-right surround signals and routes it to the center-rear speaker. When a program source has been configured to deliver center-rear sound, an encoded "flag" within the data stored on the disc will automatically turn on the center-rear channel, and, well, away we go.

Most 6.1 processors or receivers, including the Outlaw, will also allow the user to manually turn on the center rear, and in some cases this will work OK. However, a lot of source material it will not work so OK at all (this would emphatically be the case if the program had a mono surround channel), and the result would be a general collapse of the stereo surround data into the center-rear channel. This utterly defeats the purpose of "surround" sound.

Another 6.1 format is DTS ES, and in principle this one works pretty much the same way that Dolby Digital EX does. However, a processor that can read the DD flag is not necessarily able to read the DTS flag, and the Outlaw 1050 is in this boat. It can decode the Dolby 6.1 version but it cannot decode the DTS 6.1 version, even if the user engages the 6.1 feature manually.

I should note that DTS has another center-rear format, called Discrete ES, and it makes use of a genuine sixth channel that does not have to be derived from a L+R mix. DTS claims that it offers better separation than the derived versions noted above (whether DD or DTS), and no doubt it does. However, I consider it to be overkill for the kind of vague imaging and ambiance that is required for most surround-sound movies.

The only 6.1-channel movie I had on hand at the time I had the Outlaw revved up for review was a copy of Gladiator. However, unfortunately, only that disc's DTS tracks were done 6.1-channel style, while the alternate DD tracks were limited to 5.1-channels. I did manually trigger the center-rear feature with the DD tracks and while there were signals coming from the center-rear channel, I am not sure that they contributed enough ambiance or localization to the mix to make for a significantly enhanced listening experience.

While it is not flagged for 6.1-channel use, I manually engaged the 6.1 feature and used some of the panning and localization signals on the Avia test DVD to see just how the center-rear would deal with such program material. The experimenting showed that a center-rear does indeed fill in the rear with a genuine center-rear image.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

This will probably not be a big deal if the surround speakers are located just a bit behind directly to the sides (or further back) and the listener is seated in the sweet spot. They will get a viable, centered phantom-center-rear image under such conditions. However, if they sit away from the sweet spot they will tend to get the same kind of vague and/or shifted center-rear imaging behind them as they get up front with a two-speaker, phantom-center soundstage. This may bother some listeners more than others, but it is important to remember that center-rear imaging is not as critical as center-front imaging by a long shot.

OK, now that we have dissected the 6.1-surround feature, we can deal with other aspects of the 1050's performance, some of which continue to set it apart from most of the similarly (or higher) priced competition. One of the more workable features is a satellite-to-sub crossover that offers six different transition points: 60, 80, 100, 120, 150, and 200 Hz. The last three are not my cup of tea (they invite a subjectively audible degree of mid-bass spillover to the subwoofer when positioned at any location other than at or very near the center of the soundstage), but the first three are very handy options. For example, if you have a satellite speakers that normally exhibit a peak in the 80-Hz range (not uncommon at all), you can set the crossover to 100 Hz and possibly reduce the peak substantially. If it is a whopper of a peak, you could set the crossover to 120 Hz, but then it would be a good idea position the sub somewhere between the satellites and fairly close to the center to minimize soundstaging problems.

On the other hand, if you have big main-channel satellite speakers that can reach down pretty low and stay flat while doing so, you might want to opt for the 60-Hz setting, particularly if you believe that the further down in frequency any stereo bass in the program goes, the better things sound. And, if you have satellites that are THX certified (for example, the THX-Select certified Atlantic Technology System 270 satellites that I favorably reviewed some time back), the 80-Hz setting might be your cup of tea. The 1050 is not itself "certified," but its crossover function should be able to get along with certified satellites OK.

As also noted previously, in addition to having an on-board Dolby Digital decoder, the 1050 also has six-channel, analog hookups for an outboard, 5.1-channel processor or player. This obviously is an important feature, now that we have the advent of DVD-A and SACD. Well, here I am assuming that DVD-A will actually fly and that SACD will someday become a genuinely modern format and have more than two channels.

The external, 5.1-channel hookups are normally straight-through connections, with no bass-management steering employed. This means that your outboard decoder's own bass-management modes will have to be independently adjusted for optimum performance. This is actually a good thing, because some users might want the bass management for discrete-channel musical program material to be set somewhat differently from what they use with movies configured with the on-board bass-management system.

As surround-sound receivers go, the Outlaw 1050 is not particularly tricky to set up, although I did encounter a few interesting situations. In terms of the basics, you hook up the five (or six) satellite speakers as you would with any other surround-sound receiver, and you also hook up a powered subwoofer to the line-level subwoofer output in the usual manner. You then do the usual balance and timing adjustments to get the channels all operating properly.

However, I did discover a set-up glitch when setting the channel delays. On page 23, the manual indicates that you can set up those delays by merely manipulating the "digital select" button, until the red, double-D Dolby Digital logo appears in the front-panel display. However, it does not mention that this cannot be done unless a DVD player is at first inputting a Dolby Digital signal to the receiver. That is the only way the device will lock on the Dolby Digital decoders that allow for the channel-delay adjustment in the Dolby Digital mode.

On the next page, setting channel output levels is also discussed, and again the manual makes no mention of the fact that you cannot set those delays for Dolby Digital without first having a DVD player output a DD datastream to the receiver to turn on and lock the DD circuitry.

Also, when using the receiver's level-calibrating, noise-sequence feature, I simply could not get a proper signal to come from the subwoofer. It was always too subdued. When I used a test disc, either the Delos Surround Spectacular CD (to validate levels for Dolby Surround), or the Avia DVD (to validate levels for Dolby Digital surround), it was easy to set all the levels. However, even with the subwoofer level set properly by means of the test signals on those discs, the output level from the Outlaw's test generator did not emit much bass when the signal was routed to the subwoofer.

Once set up, the Outlaw 1050 automatically decodes all Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, and DTS sources when its "surround" mode is selected, and sends the decoded signals to the appropriate channels.

I had a chance to compare the Outlaw's Pro Logic steering with what is offered by my Yamaha DSP-A1, and from a musical- or movie-program point of view the Outlaw held its own. Only the demanding, continuous-pan transitions offered by the Delos Surround Spectacular test disc tended to be not quite as blended as what the Yamaha offered. The stepped pans on that disc were close to identical to what the Yamaha delivered, with maybe the half-left and half-right focus seeming to be a bit more diffuse with the Outlaw.

The very demanding ambiance/reverberation clicks on the Delos disc were fairly well steered, although they were not as pinpoint-precise as what the DSP-A1 could deliver. However, with those test signals, the Outlaw was considerably less vague with its imaging than the $3500 Parasound AVC 2500 surround processor I reviewed in Issue 83.

Moving on to more contemporary technological requirements, the Outlaw's 5.1-channel Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, being more straightforward functions than what is involved with the DPL steering used with older-style source material, was right up there with the Yamaha. All information was properly positioned in all satellite channels.

In addition, when you select the "3-stereo" mode (sometimes called Dolby 3), the surround channels are intelligently mixed in with the main-channel signals. This feature works with standard Dolby and Dolby Digital program sources (but not DTS), and allows those who cannot make use of surround speakers to have some of the benefits of surround sound. The 1050 also has a "phantom" mode that allows for full surround sound, but with the center mixed into the left and right mains. This mode will not work with DTS source material.

In addition to these surround-oriented playback modes, the 1050 also includes several DSP "simulation" modes for use with two-channel program sources. One is called "natural," and I had nothing but trouble with it. The manual states that "due to the nature of this algorithm, on some program material you might encounter noise in the surround channels." Well, I heard noise with all of the program material I tried. "Natural" appears to be some kind of extraction program, but it did not work well for me at all. Perhaps there is source material out there that will jive with it OK, but nothing I had on hand would behave that way.

Other DSP programs were more successful. One, called "jazz," worked fairly well, although the simulated environment seemed a lot bigger than what one might require for a jazz-club feel. Another, called "hall," was much better - excellent, actually. It simulated a moderately sized space and did a really fine job with classical material, such as Hymns of Vaughan Williams (Gothic 49121). It also worked fine with small-scale jazz combos, such as India Looking West, with the Sai Ghose Trio (Summit 277). I found it to be superior to the other DSP ambiance-simulating modes, no matter what kind of music was being played. Both the jazz and hall modes also mix in a bit of subdued, but unsteered L+R information to the center channel that helps to stabilize the soundstage for off-axis listeners.

You can adjust the 1050 so that whenever you select an input source the receiver will automatically select the appropriate movie-audio decoding or DSP ambiance mode. For example, you can set it so that when you select DVD the processor automatically goes to the "surround" mode, which will allow it to decode either standard Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, or DTS program material. If you select CD, the processor can be set to automatically switch to the "hall" mode. If you select VCR, it can be set to go to the "surround" mode, and so forth.

I used the surround-identification signals and ambiance/reverberation clicks on the Delos disc to check out what was happening with these programs, and discovered that the surround channels get little in the way of out-of-phase signals with the DSP modes. This s similar to what happens with some of the Yamaha DSP programs. The technology allows the receiver to generate completely new reverberation for the surround channels, without laminating it over pre-existing reverb. This allows the recording itself to partially determine just how lively the reverb channels will behave in the various DSP modes. Some reverb is also mixed into the front channels, but the amount is not excessive.

With both of these modes and with some program material, I found that backing off the surround levels a bit helped to keep the surround effects from being too lively. How much they should be backed off will depend upon room acoustics, room size, and where the surround speakers are located. I backed off the surround levels -4 to -6 dB below the Dolby set-up calibration in my big room, and backed it off-3 dB in my living room when I set the Outlaw up in there later on.

Note that whenever the surround levels are backed off for music playing (there are some handy trim-level buttons on both the receiver and remote to handle this), one must remember to return them to the previously calibrated set-up levels for proper performance with movie program sources. Doing this means making a mental or written note of just where those initial-calibration levels were set.

There is also a "stadium" mode that did not impress me at all. Perhaps if one were watching football games on TV it might come in handy. To be fair, no other processor I have heard that offers a stadium mode has sounded good with that setting.

When I set the Outlaw up in my 3400 cubic foot main room, I used Waveform MC satellites for the main channels, an excellent NHT VS1.2 (vertically mounted) for the center, two of my already-wall-mounted Allison Four systems for surround speakers, and a single Atlantic Technology T70 satellite for center-rear duty. The subwoofer was a Velodyne CT-120, with the Outlaw crossover set for 100 Hz, to best dovetail with the Waveforms. I set all the satellites to "small" and configured the 1050 to send all the system bass (surrounds, center, mains, and LFE) to the subwoofer.

Note that with the Outlaw there is no way to configure the center channel to operate in the "large-speaker" mode. Even if you have a large center speaker (or a center channel that uses an independent subwoofer) and configure the center to "large," the center bass is rolled off and sent either to the mains (if they are configured as "large"), or to the subwoofer. This is a rather weird design glitch, and in my opinion the "large" option for the center channel should either be deleted from the set-up options or else the function should be made to work.

I tried a variety of movie-program materials to assess the center-rear feature, but as I noted before the only item on hand that actually had a preprogrammed center-rear feed only was a DTS disc. Nevertheless, with an assortment of other program sources, the feature worked fairly well. How well was invariably determined by the source material. And of course, with different speaker arrangements, in different rooms, the situation might change considerably.

In nearly all cases, when I engaged the center-rear feature I had to back off the center-rear level a tad, no doubt, because the center-rear speaker was several feet closer to the listening position than the left and right mains. While some receivers allow the delay times to the center-rear and left/right surround channels to be independently adjusted, with the Outlaw all three are adjusted together, globally. Because of this, the only way to handle an aggressive center-rear feed is to back off the center level a few dB.

With the center rear in operation, at times it was difficult to determine if anything positive was happening at all, and with some comparisons (both with test signals and musical/movie program sources) I took the trouble to disconnect the front speakers completely and just listen to the surrounds. That made it a lot easier to hear just what the center-rear feature was doing.

One interesting experience involved listening to the 1812 Overture recorded on the Delos DVD Spectacular disc (DV-7001). In the normal 5.1 mode, the beginning chorus on that disc is towards the rear of the hall and on either side of the listener. With the center-rear engaged, the chorus tends to wrap more around the listener from the side walls to the rear. As the music progresses the chorus is supposed to appear to move down the side aisles of the hall toward the front, and with the center-rear engaged the effect is similar, although the effect is a bit more abrupt.

In both cases, I felt that the reverb was a bit excessive, but that is the fault of the recording and not the processor. In all, I would say that with this and similar recordings the center-rear feature will appeal to some people and not appeal to others. It would be impossible to say which mode was best.

All in all, I found the Outlaw 1050 to be a really fine performer. After I did that lengthy series of auditions and tests in my main room, I installed the unit in my living-room system. There is no way to operate a center-rear channel in that area, but I did make use of a pair of AR Phantom 8.3 systems for main-channel use, a Velodyne CT center speaker, a pair of upward-facing RDL AV-1 systems for surround duty, and that Velodyne CT-120 sub that had also been used during the auditions in the main room. The unit has been there for some time and every time I use it to watch TV, watch movies, or listen to music I am impressed by its DSP and decoding abilities with two-channel source material, its ability to deal with any kind of movie source material (from either a DVD player or VCR), and its ease of use.

The Outlaw receiver is a fine device. Enthusiasts who want a clean-sounding stereo amp, a decently performing FM tuner (with up to 32 presets, yet), a programmable remote, well-treated surround sound for music listening, as well as a fine-performing unit for movies or 5-channel audio recordings, would be hard pressed to do better for any amount under $800-$1,000. --HF