$300 for older Rotel/Outlaw or do something else?

I have an Outlaw 950 and am very familiar with its I/Os and capabilities. It's a very good analog line stage.

I recommend (as Mmnc also did) that you get a Blu-ray player with on-board processing and at least 5.1 channel analog outputs. Then connect the HDMI cable from the Blu-ray player directly to the TV to get 1080p video only, and use 6 RCA interconnects to connect the Blu-ray player's analog outputs to the Outlaw's analog inputs. The Outlaw works very well in this mode and you'll get lossless surround when the disc is encoded with TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio.

Just be sure you get a Blu-ray player with onboard decoding and full analog surround outputs. The Oppo certainly has it, but so do some of the Panasonics. It's mostly the entry level players that don't.

The Outlaw 950 is only so-so as a digital decoder, but it is an *excellent* line stage and controller preamp, whether in stereo or multi-channel.

I picked up a used, but mint, Rotel RSP-1066 (for under $300 delivered) from a forum member here. I swapped out my old preamp for the Rotel and so far, so good.

Since I didn't have a Blu-Ray player, I started a little research, but it seems the only real choice in the entry level price range is the Oppo BDP-80 for $289.

The BDP-80 has the on-board decoding and multi-channel outputs, and thankfully, the Rotel has the multi-channel inputs! I'll be able to make the same connetion as Johnnyb53 suggests.

I don't have a subwoofer at this point, but I suppose I can add one later. To someone used to listening to two speakers, five speakers seems like a good start.

Thanks to the forum members for the tips.

Outlaw over Rotel by a margin. Not even close in my opinion.

"Outlaw over Rotel by a margin." That won't help me much at this point, but it may help others. Why so? The features of the two are certainly similar. Is the sound or video quality much better with the Outlaw? Two channel mode better, too?

02-22-10: Alpha220
"Outlaw over Rotel by a margin." That won't help me much at this point, but it may help others.

Don't even give it a second thought. You made a good purchase decision, maybe the better one. I have an Outlaw 950 and had their "Retro Receiver" for almost a month before I sent it back. I don't think Outlaw is all that. As I said the 950 has a good line stage and so-so digital surround processing. I've also heard the Rotels from that era and they stood out at their price points, especially for a very natural, un-electronic sound quality. Your Rotel has a more usable set of I/Os and all the ones you need to connect a Blu-ray player's analog outputs. If you plug other SP/DIF digital cables into the Rotel for Dolby Digital, DTS, and the like, you'll get excellent surround sound. The Rotel's even nicer looking.