Big Picture Big Sound

I Am Surrounded! And I Like it!

I'm a stereo guy. High End two-channel audio purist. That's me. But I'm no technophobic luddite. I'm just a "late adopter." So now that it's been twenty or so years since the first surround sound receivers hit the market, I'm thinking the technology may just be mature enough to merit my consideration. Maybe it's time to see what the hubbub is about this home theater stuff I've been hearing so much about? Enter the Outlaw Audio 1070 A/V Surround Sound Receiver.

The 1070 arrived in a double corrugated shipping container with huge amounts of Styrofoam padding. It makes sense that Outlaw knows how to ship stuff, since they sell every unit directly on the internet - there are no Outlaw stores or Outlaw receivers on the shelves of your local Best Buy or Circuit City. The idea in selling directly is that it should allow Outlaw to offer excellent value since they bypass the middleman (poor middleman, he seems to be getting skipped over a lot these days). But no worries mate, the 1070 will arrive intact at your home.


Features and Functions

What initially piqued my interest in the 1070 was the feature list. This receiver does it all, from Dolby Digital EX to DTS Neo 6 and Dolby Pro Logic IIx. You will not be kicking yourself in the future should you find yourself looking for a surround type that you initially thought you would not use. As I have just come from the world of High-Fidelity and stereo imaging, I had some decent equipment that I wanted to integrate into the 1070's configuration wherever appropriate, so two-channel stereo listening would not suffer.

In my case, I used the 1070 in place of an Audible Illusions L1 tube pre-amp, running the 1070's preamp level left and right outputs into an Aragon 8008 power amp which then powered my main B&W 804 Matrix speakers. The 1070's internal amps powered the center channel (B&W XTC) as well as the Orbs I'm using for the rear channels (I'm a sucker for cool-looking speakers and the Orbs look really cool, in addition to sounding very nice indeed). I plugged my M&K sub in the usual way, via the 1070's subwoofer line output. I also did some listening using the more traditional configuration, with the 1070 powering all speakers (more on that below).

Style

The case on the 1070 is just sublime. If you're into a lot of flashing lights and LEDs, you are in for disappointment. However, if you appreciate "less is more," then you are going to like what you see. The front of the 1070 is a finely grained powder black coating on a machined front plate. The plate's matte finish does not reflect any distracting ambient light.

The front panel also includes a small but adequate LED display which displays such useful information as source selected, surround mode, digital input, etc. With the help of a few well arranged buttons on the front, the front panel buttons and display even allow you to make adjustments to the surround sound settings, in case you lose your remote. But trust me - you don't want to lose your remote! And you'll probably prefer to do configuration settings using the receiver's monitor output hooked up to your main display (HDTV, projector, what-have-you). Although setting up the basics is pretty simple, there are many parameters you can tweak and these are easiest to view and navigate on your large screen display, using the remote so you can make your adjustments from the "sweet spot."

The one dial on the front panel is large, but not in an obtrusive way. The buttons and the large dial are the color of dull aluminum. They feel great to the touch and when the dial is turned, it feels smooth. The LED display itself is blue. My preference would have been for the display to be red. Why? Because red is the one color of the visible spectrum that human eyes do not have to adjust to when the lights go out. This is why you always see red emergency lights come on in situations when you're inside a submarine that has just lost its engines and the emergency power kicks in. Besides that minor nit, the 1070 looks beautiful.

The Setup

The best way to configure the 1070, or any other surround sound receiver, for that matter - is to be in the sweet spot: an equal distance between the main left and right speakers, with the center channel directly facing you, and with the surround speakers to your rear and/or side. Having to get up and sit down in between audio corrections would be unrealistic in the long haul.

Setting up the 1070 was relatively easy. There are two parts to setup. The first is connecting all the speakers and the components to the receiver, the second is adjusting the system to match your specific listening room and speakers. In connecting the 1070 outputs for the speakers, there are two options: use the internal amplification from the 1070 or bypass the 1070's amplification and use an external amp. Although the 1070's internal amplification at 65 Watts/Channel is perfectly adequate for most speakers and most small to medium-sized listening rooms, an external power amp can make sense if you have a larger room, or inefficient speakers, or just like having some extra headroom for those particularly taxing musical or theatrical interludes. I chose to use an external power amp for the front speakers only, but did do some listening with the receiver in "stand-alone" mode as well.

With all the speakers connected, then you need to connect the components. Brief aside: it's always best to do all this with the power off or better yet, the receiver unplugged from the wall so you won't get any nasty noises that happen when you plug in and unplug audio and video connectors and speakers. The 1070 supports nearly every input available today with the exception of HDMI. For video, you've got DVI, composite, s-video and component inputs. For audio, you've got standard analog RCA jacks, optical and coaxial digital inputs. And if you have devices that only have HDMI outputs, you can get inexpensive HDMI to DVI adapters if you want to route the digital video signal through the 1070 for switching.

The second part of setup is tailoring the configuration to accommodate your room and speakers. Setup here is best done on with the 1070's monitor output connected to your television. The first thing you need to do is identify the low-end (bass) frequency limits of your speakers so you'll be able to adjust crossover settings. You may be able to tell this from the users' manuals, or you can read our "how to set up a subwoofer" article which has some good starting estimates. Once you have these numbers you can select each speaker and set the crossover points for each - front left/right, center, side surrounds (if any) and rear surrounds. To enable the receiver's bass management, select speaker size of "small" (even if your speakers are large). This will send any frequency that is lower then the crossover point to the subwoofer and any frequency that is higher to the main speakers.

Next you set the distance from the speakers to the sweet spot, that is, the distance from each speaker to the main viewing/listening position. This will tell the 1070 how much delay is needed so that all the sounds coming from the different speakers all arrive to your ears at the same time. After that, you will need to adjust the speakers' volume levels. This is best accomplished with the help of a sound pressure level (SPL) meter - point the SPL meter at the ceiling sitting in the sweet spot, let the test tone cycle through the various speakers and adjust the levels so they are all close in SPL readings. You can determine these level settings by ear, but using an SPL meter is more precise.

There are also settings that determine how long the on-screen setting stays on and what the default surround setting is for each input. If you like to listen to CDs, for example, in Dolby Pro Logic IIx Music mode, then you can set this as a default for your CD player input. Once set up, you can forget all this configuration information and get to the real fun: enjoying your home theater.

The Sound

My initial fears of hearing the sound from a solid state pre-amp were that the sound was going to be dry and hollow. My ears have become accustomed to the warmth of my Audible Illusions tube preamp. You see, each component in the audio chain can insert its own signature on the sound. Some prefer a warm "tubey" sound, others prefer the cold yet precise analytical sound of solid state. It turns out that my fears were unfounded because the 1070 delivers a clean neutral sound, neither warm nor cold, just clean.

The next thing all you audiophiles may wonder while I wax poetic on the 1070 is - what can you expect from a preamp/amp combination that houses the bane of all purist ears, the dreaded AM/FM tuner? When on the inside of generous listening levels, cross-talk distortion from the tuner is completely inaudible. Though, when testing the unit with no active source and dialing the volume to its highest point, there was some sound leaking in from the tuner. While this is not exactly your average way to listen to a receiver, I though it was worth mentioning as the isolation between sources is very good but not perfect.

During my listening trial, I noted that the voices from the center channel were very accurate, not throaty, boomy or nasally. For movie watching, center channel performance is paramount. While that may seem obvious, I cannot stress how important this is to the listening experience as 90% of the time, when watching movies, this is where your sound will be coming from. And in this respect, the 1070 did not disappoint.

One area where the 1070 really shines is in its dynamic range. Prepare to be startled. For its 65 watts/channel rating, the 1070 has a lot of headroom and uses it when needed The one drawback to this dynamic range becomes apparent listening late at night when everyone else is asleep. You find a good level for the dialog and then BAM! there goes an explosion, or the thundering rumble of Olyphaunts marching on Gondor. Grab that remote and turn it down a notch. Those with dedicated home theater rooms (or tolerant family members) will not find the 1070's dynamic range to be an issue. And in fairness to those with a "wife factor," the 1070 is doing exactly what it is supposed to. Let the buyer be advised. As with most Dolby Digital processors, there is a "night mode" that allows you to compress the dynamic range, but only with Dolby Digital soundtracks, Also, the inclusion of "Dolby Headphone" processing means that you can actually get some reasonable facsimile of surround sound through a standard pair of stereo headphones, so that's an option if your fellow housemates are light sleepers.

When listening to the 1070 in standalone mode (without supplementing the front channels with my trusty Aragon amp), the sound remained clean and strong, though not as full as when the Aragon is in the mix. Okay, is it really fair to make that comparison? The Aragon 8008 cost two times as much as the 1070 and puts out 200 watts per channel, not the 1070's rated 65 watts. In small to medium sized rooms, I doubt you'll feel the need to augment the power, but the option is there should you choose it.

When the initial euphoria of surround sound wears off a bit and you go back to listening to some of your plain ole stereo CDs, you'll have the option of listening in two channel stereo or using the 1070's decoder to push the sound out to the surround speakers in one of its matrixed surround modes. When listening by myself, I found that the soundstage was more convincing with the 1070 in "stereo bypass" mode (left right speakers plus subwoofer). However, when with others and engaging in conversation, the Prologic IIx mode was more desireable in order to have the music be more ambient and "room-filling" at lower listening levels.

Without adjustment the 1070 created a convincing soundstage in my living room, with front speakers approximately twelve feet apart. Instrument placement and individual voices were easily discernable in their respective positions. For those who have larger areas to fill, the 1070 offers a setting that allows you to "blend" more sound from the front speakers to the front sides to fill in any holes in the soundstage. After experimenting with this setting, I found the default preferable, with no blending needed.

Overall, the sonic accuracy of the 1070 has high-end audio written all over it. Highs are clear and never strident. Mid-range reproduction was full but not bloated. And bass frequencies are sent to the sub output to be happily reprocued by your powered sub with no editorialization by the Outlaw.

Ergonomics and Ease of Use

The 1070 has more inputs and outputs than I could possibly ever use. It supports high definition video switching via component video or DVI, and switches standard def video sources via component, S-video and composite inputs. Relatively rare in a value-priced receiver, the 1070 also offers transconversion of the standard definition analog video sources (composite and S-video) to component video and vice versa. This means you can plug in a VCR into the composite input, a camcorder into the S-video input and a DVD player into the component input, and all of these sources will be available via the receiver's component video, composite and S-Video outputs. This allows you to use a single video cable between your receiver and TV which simplifies things a bit. Yes, there is no HDMI switching, but you can easily convert an HDMI output to DVI (albeit without the audio signal) and still use the 1070 to switch the video source. You can also just plug the HDMI source directly into your TV, but still use the Outlaw to process and switch the audio signal via a coax or fiberoptic digital cable.


In terms of convenience features, the Dolby Headphone processing is a nice touch for getting an approrimation of surround sound through standard two-channel headphones. The 1070 also offers an adjustable lip-synch delay, which you may never need, but for some HDTV displays that are a little slow in processing the video signal, the lip synch delay is key in matching up the audio with the video.

The 1070's remote is ergonomically pleasing to hold. The buttons all light up blue when pressed which makes it very easy to make adjustements in a dark room. However, the remote is odd in a couple of ways. The power button is only used to turn the 1070 off. To turn on the 1070 you need only select the source input. This was surpising since I have never seen any other remote act in this manner. Also, the 1070 is capable as acting as a universal remote, so you may have to press the "TNR" button before selecting the source if for some reason the remote was used to control some other input. While not really a problem, prehaps the power button when pressed could also turn the 1070 back on to the last source as a default as well. That would be the best of both worlds.

In day to day operation, the 1070 performs as it should. No surprises here. When changing sources or TV channels on my HD cable box/PVR, the 1070 recognizes the audio encoding of the source (PCM, Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, etc.) and automatically switches to the proper decoding type. There is a delay as the unit locks to the signal, but this delay is very slight, usually less than a second. If you own this receiver and you're noticing a longer delay or have issues with your receiver locking to digital signals, then you will love what I'm about to tell you.

Support

A quick word about Outlaw support. Incredible. My review sample was initially exhibiting an odd problem where it would sometimes not lock properly to the Dolby Digital signal being fed by my HD cable box. The symptom was that the audio would cut out when changing channels. Very frustrating. This gave me a chance to test first-hand the Outlaw support system.

I posted a note on Outlaw's online forum about the problem and within minutes a friendly Outlaw had posted a reply. Further, I was asked if I would like to be called to talk on the phone to answer any questions I might have. It turns out that the issue was addressed by a recent firmware upgrade which I was able to download to my computer, and install directly on my receiver via a serial cable plugged between computer and receiver. Voila! Problem solved! If you have questions about surround sound in general or Outlaw products in particular, post them on the Outlaw forum - you will not be left hanging. Outlaw wants you to join their posse.

Final Thoughts

Does it sound like I like the 1070 yet? Well it should. The 1070 is a wonderful surround sound receiver. When it comes to sound, I'm pretty picky, with my fancy high-end two channel tube rig. The 1070 insinuated itself into my system without problems, and without my really missing its predecessor, the Audible Illusions L1 (check eBay shortly if you're in the market for one of these). The 1070 can be listened to for hours without any listener fatigue. Plus the receiver comes packed with surround sound features and inputs so now I'm really getting into movies and music in a big way.

If there were anything lacking in this unit it would be to put more power into it. The 1070 is conservatively rated at 65 watts per channel but if you have speakers that are relatively inefficient, or you need to fill a large room with sound, then you will probably want to scale up the power. Fortunately, the 1070 functions well as a preamp/tuner/processor, so if you want to supplement all or some of the channels with more power, then...well "more power to ya!" Outlaw also happens to sell a wide variety of multi-channel and monoblock power amplifiers so you won't even have to go outside the Outlaw family to beef up your rig.

The 1070 occupies a popular niche in home electronics - the entry-level high-end home theater receiver. It's a few notches above the average home-theater-in-a-box solution on the shelves of your local electronics superstore, and only a little shy in performance from the high-end super rigs that sell for thousands of dollars. The 1070 is right in my sweet spot for surround sound receivers and has become my new reference.

Specifications from the Manufacturer:

General Features:

° Price: $899
° Surround modes: DTS-ES Discrete and Matrix, DTS-96/24, DTS NEO-6, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone
° 192 kHz 24-bit DAC's for all channels
° Analog Bypass mode for all inputs
° Quadruple Crossover Control (Separate settings for Front L/R, Center, Surround L/R, Surround Back L/R)
° Upgradeable via RS-232
° Transcoding between composite, S-Video and Component Video Inputs
° 4 Optical and 4 Coaxial Digital Inputs
° Optical and Coaxial Digital Output
° Lip Synch Delay
° On Screen Display (via composite, S-Video and Component)
° 32-Bit CS-49400 Crystal Processor
° 7.1 channel direct input with full digital bass management, analog bass management and pure bypass
° 2-channel subwoofer offset
° 7.1 RCA pre-amp outputs
° High performance tuner
° Direct access station tuning via remote control
° 30 Station Presets
° IR control with 1 inputs and 1 output
° 2 Video Record Out Selectors
° 12-Volt Trigger
° 3 HD capable Component Video Inputs
° 2 DVI Inputs 1 DVI Output
° 5 Audio/Video Inputs
° 4 Audio Inputs
° Channel Level Memory
° Sleep Timer

Specifications:

Amplifier Section:
° Output Power (FTC): 65 watts per channel, 8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20kHz,<0.08%THD, all channels driven; 80 watts per channel, 6 ohms, 1 kHz, <0.08% THD

Analog Section:
° Input Impedance 26Kohms
° Output Impedance (Main-RCA)<600Ohms
° Pre Out 1V
° Maximum Output 6.0V
° Volume Range (Main) -70dB to +10.0dB (.5dB resolution)
° Frequency Response: 10Hz to 100kHz ± 1dB
° S/N Ratio (IHF-A) 100dB
° IMD (CCIF at 15kHz & 1 kHz) 0.03%

Bass Management:
° High-Pass Slope Crossover Frequency (Small Speaker Setting)
° (Adjustable 40/60/80/100/120/150Hz)
° 12 dB/octave (2nd order)
° Low-Pass Slope (Subwoofer) 24 dB/octave (4th order), 40-150Hz as above

Tone Control:
° Bass Center Frequency/Range 30Hz ± 6dB
° Treble Center Frequency/Range 10KHz ± 6db

FM Tuner Section:
° Sensitivity: IHF 10dBu typ.
° 50dB S/N 13dBu typ.
° S/N Ratio
  ° Mono 70dB
  ° Stereo 67dB
°Distortion:
  ° Mono 0.2%
  ° Stereo 0.3%
° Stereo Separation 40dB typ.
° Adjacent Channel Selectivity 70dB +/- 400kHz
° IF Rejection Ratio 120dB
° Frequency Response 20 Hz to 15 kHz ± 1.5dB

AM Tuner Section
° Sensitivity (20dB S/N) 200uV
° S/N 50dB
° Selectivity 25dB
° Distortion 0.7%

Video Section (NTSC Format)
° Bandwidth
  ° Composite & S-Video: 6 MHz -3dB
  ° Component: >100MHz
° Input Sensitivity @ 75 ohms;
  ° Composite & S-Video 1.0Vp-p
  ° Component R-Y Signal 0.5Vp-p
  ° Component B-Y Signal 0.5Vp-p
  ° Component Y Signal 1.0Vp-p

Digital Audio
° All digital audio inputs and outputs are to S/PDIF electrical (75 ohms , 0.5Vp-p), S/PDIF optical (Toslink), or AES / EBU (110 ohms , 5Vp-p) standards as appropriate.
° Processor: Crystal Semiconductor CS49400

General
° Supply Voltage 120V, 60Hz only
° Power Consumption
  ° Standby Power Off : 1.9W
  ° Standby Power On : 37W
  ° 7 CH Load @ 65W Output Power : 855W
° Trigger Output Sequential Delay 50 mA @ 12 VDC
° Dimensions:
  ° (HxWxD) 5.9"x17.2"x15.5"
  ° Weight 40 lbs.

Manufacturer's Contact Information:

Outlaw Audio
P.O. Box 975
Easton, MA 02334

Phone: 866-OUTLAWS(688-5297)
e-mail: information@outlawaudio.com
Web: www.outlawaudio.com