Replace a Yamaha Cr 840 with a Yamaha,NAD, Denon?

Take a look at Outlaw Audio's RR2150 . I just replaced a Marantz 2240 receiver that I was using in a bedroom system with the Outlaw. What impresses me the most about the Outlaw is just how good its tuner section is. Not only does the tuner pull in a ton of FM stations cleanly (with just a set of rabbit ears ... no mean trick in NYC), but the tuner sounds just as warm and musical as the vintage receivers do. From first impressions, the amp section on the Outlaw is pretty sweet as well.

For background, I had purchased the Marantz on eBay three years ago for about $250. I spent about $225 to professionally refurbish it and now some of the capacitors are starting to go. I just did not want to drop more cash on a 30 year old receiver.

Regards, Rich

Rich,
I noticed from a previous post of yours that you at one time had a NAD c320bee. You may still have it. I have a c320bee with Dynaudio A42's in my bedroom. The 50W is plenty of power for me. I feel it lacks resolution. Other than the addition of a tuner section how would you compare the two? Any thoughts would be appreciated. BTW I looked on Outlaw's website and see that the RR2150 is currently out of stock.
Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

I have been using the Outlaw for just about a week now (Christmas present to myself) and so, I still have not put the amp through all its paces yet. After about 30 hours of burn in, the amp sounds promising ... it will be at least on par overall with the NAD C320 BEE. I am noticing slightly improved lower frequency resolution (electric organ). But I am getting the impression that the Outlaw will require quality source components to be paired with it to get the most out of it. The bedroom system currently stands at: the Outlaw 2150 with a SONY RDR GX 300 DVD recorder/player and NHT SB2 speakers. The SONY does a good job overall with CD playback, but it is not a substitute for a dedicated CD player, especially with the higher frequencies. We'll see and I will report back probably in the form of a review of the Outlaw.

Just a few words on the NAD C320 BEE. I like this amp a lot, even though it is not the most refined sounding amp that I have ever owned. I just gave away the NAD, along with some other components that were not in use, to a cousin. Even though NAD would say that the 320 BEE did not require the best quality associated equipment (part of the NAD and the BEE marketing), I found that not to be the case.

The NAD performed the best for me when paired with a Music Hall MMF CD 25 cd player; NHT SB2 speakers; Better Cables Silver Serpent interconnect; and Signal Cable basic speaker cables. These pairings made for an incredible system ... the resultant synergy was magical sounding. I tried other quality CD players (Pioneer PD 65; SONY SCD 555 ES SACD player) and speakers (Omega Super 3; AR 302) and interconnects (Cardas; IXOS) ... but these did not get nearly all that was possible out of the NAD.

I see that the RR2150 is out of stock. It was out of stock around Thanksgiving ... then back in stock two weeks later (when I pulled the trigger) ... and is now out again (Christmas). I'd give it a few weeks and see. If I did not go with the Outlaw, I was also considering the Rotel RX 1052 and the Yamaha RX V657 ... but I am glad that I went with the Outlaw. I had tried the Arcam AVR 200 exactly a year ago and just did not like it and sold it two weeks later. I had met Outlaw's president at the NYC Stereophile show in May 2003 and we spoke about the RR 2150. Pete is a big AM Radio/Baseball/Red Sox fan and he held up releasing the RR 2150 for two years, until the design team got the tuner right. That impressed me.

Regards, Rich

I have owned the larger amped and better featured CR1020 as original owner. It's still wonderful and beautiful. At this moment there are 2 of these units on EBAY, two CR840, and one even larger amped, even better featured CR2020. Each I'm sure you can steal for less than $250 since not everyone knows of the high quality Yamaha built into these units. They all have the typical "CR" problem of the little lamps burning out but this of course does not impact performance. This series of receivers came out just before Yamaha downgraded their equipment and shot more for the mass market.