n_maher

Ok, more pron of Mike's new amp. Definitely up for consideration for deal of the decade at least...

Nah, this a recent production amp, very few bare wires in here. That's a good thing for me, less chance of getting a shock. Installing the preamp outputs looks to be a pretty simple process as well.

Dude, you want to piss off your lawyer, go for it. Me, I want to stay on his good side... Aw hell, one pic can't hurt.

I've asked Mike if it's cool to post pictures of his new toy, just waiting to hear back from him. I have no reason to suspect that he'll say anything other than yes, just want to make sure he's cool with it before I go showing off its guts.

I just got a PM from you so they're working fine as far as I can see.

I found opening the case quite easy, 4 fasteners and pop, naked MPX3.

What, you want all my old and busted stuff?

All I know so far is that it has a stepper in it in place of the standard volume pot. I hope to have a go at opening it up tonight but I'll be working late so I'm not sure how much time I"ll have to play.

I'd greatly prefer something to nothing! I'll probably try to mark them in some way for Mike in case he picks up other adapters. And it's official he got the deal of the century on this amp.

These adapters must be some of the earlier ones Mikhail did, they have no markings to indicate what the hell they're for. Thankfully they're all supposed to be for 5687's but that seems pretty crazy to not have them marked, doesn't it?

Thanks guys, it's the newer style black chassis so that would mean the intput tube is front left with the drivers occupying the center and rear right positions, correct?

Ok, probably a stupid question but without any instructions or any place to download them from could someone please tell me which position is the input tube? I'm guessing it is the rear-most position but guessing with stuff like this is beyond a bad idea. Clearly this doesn't matter if I'm using 3 6SN7s for testing purposes but considering this amp came with 5687 adapters I figured that its owner will more than likely want to know this info eventually.

My HT rig almost never sees critical listening so I'm in no position to give any meaningful advice about their relative value, worth, etc.

I could probable be convinced to build some speaker cables. Not sure if they're up to par with what you'd be expecting though.

I think a lot of stuff uses the 1792 and the '94 is said to be an upgraded version of that chip. Google and ye' shall find.

Music Hall, Shanling, and I'm sure some others.

So I was mixing changes. There are updates to the original Opus design as well as a totally new DAC.

NAD PP-2 Need something to tide me over while I finish up the Bugle.

Where's Jay to bitch about the blue LED's?

This one is really only about 3 years old.

Have you looked at the revised Opus, Filburt? I don't know if it's better than the first or not but I do know that they're now going to offer a choice of passive or discrete IV in addition to a few other things.

I swear he said it in the original announcement but I can't find it now so perhaps I am mistaken. He's nuts if he's including the battery in the warranty...

Thanks Dan, I might very well take you up on that. I've posted on Outlaw's forums to see if anyone has any bright ideas. This receiver has been repaired by Outlaw before so it has a slight history, but mostly a good one. I'm also no keen to go without sound while watching TV for the next several weeks although I might not have much control over that. And yeah, I saw the combo deals on Outlaw's page. You'd understand if I was a bit down on them at the moment...

Or how I discovered that the right channel of my HT receiver is toast... So I finally had some time to myself tonight and figured that I would undertake the task of building and installing new speaker cables. Built the cables in about 45 minutes and was feeling pretty good about how things were going. Installed them in less than 10 minutes and I settled in to give the system a quick once over. Fired up the Outlaw 1050, ran the test, no right channel. Figure something must be wrong with the new cables, break out the DMM, nope continuity tests fine. Decide to try the cables in situ, cable tests fine with L channel. Decide to see if problem is limited to front Right, nope Surround Right is dead as well. Decide to check and make sure that it is the amp, not the speaker that is the issue, plug cable into Left channel, tests fine. So I figured maybe it was just bad luck, power down the 1050's main power switch, triple check all connections and fire it back up. Run Test program, no right channel, although this time I detect that there is just the slightest amount of signal leaking through the Left channel even though I'm testing the Right. Try to turn up volume a bit to see what happens, oh dear, the word "System" starts to scroll across the display and it instantly goes into shut down mode (standby). I'm guessing that can't be a good thing. So I'm sad, very sad, that my 1050 appears to have gone tits up exactly one week before Christmas. So I guess I'm shopping for a new receiver and forgoing the much needed replacement of my DVD player. I'm not keen on shelling out well over $100 in shipping fees + parts to have it repaired considering what I paid for it and what it's worth. Or at least I don't think I am. Suggestions in the <$1000 appreciated.

I don't quite know how to take the life-time warranty. Allow me to put on my cynical asshole hat for a moment... A. In the auto industry this is one of those things that you see as the last refuge of the damned. Honda has a 3yr warranty on all their cars (last time I bought one anyway) and they've never advertised using their warranty as a marketing ploy. Why? Cause everyone knows the f'ing thing is going to run forever. B. Is there so much profit built into the product that it just doesn't matter how many he has to fix? From what I've seen this is a Bithead with a better battery, sexier case (presumably) and that's about it. Seems plausible. C. Is it just that dead-nuts simple a device that nothing can or will go wrong? Hard telling but given the lipo battery (which I believe that he's already excluded from the warranty) I would think there was enough potential for failure that some rate of failure is expected.