This is a review and detailed measurements of the Outlaw Model 5000 five channel home theater amplifier. It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me. Despite the number of channels and power of each, the Model 5000 costs only US $649 though shipping adds fair bit to it.
The shipping is expensive because this is thing is super heavy. It is at the limit of what I can reasonably carry upstairs to my lab (50 pounds):
My back nearly got killed just rotating the darn thing in my photo booth:
Sadly, as you see, there are no balanced XLR inputs. You are given heavy binding posts though which is nice.
Left and right channels are far apart which is the right away to do it as they, and the center channel get beat the most. And is most logical layout in my book.
In use the Model 5000 never complained, shut down or anything of the sort. The heatsinks are below the top cover so you can't exactly feel their temps. I would imagine it would shut down though if it got too hot.
Not much else to talk about so let's get into the measurements.
Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz at 5 watts into 4 ohm load:
Nice to see the gain at 29 dB which is the only recommended standard in the wild (from THX).
There is fair amount of mains hum and power supply noise. I improved them a bit with messing with grounding but this is the nature of the beast when a linear power supply is used.
Distortion is dominated by second harmonic which combined with noise and hum gives us a middle or the road SINAD:
Speaking of noise, there is our signal to noise ratio at 5 watts and near full power:
I like to see 96 dB or better at 5 watts to clear the dynamic range of the CD but we don't get there. At full power though, we meet that target and a bit more in the good channel.
Frequency response is basically flat in the audible band:
Testing with my simulated speaker model did not change the response hardly at all:
Crosstalk was good as it should be in modular amplifiers like this with independent amps:
Amplifier Power Measurements
Most important deal with any amplifier is its power versus distortion and noise so let's start with 8 ohm load:
Nice to see the Outlaw 5000 completely outclass our NAD AVR both in much lower noise, distortion and available power.
The picture is almost the same with 4 ohm load although distortion rises:
These are two channel tests. Adding two more 4 ohm loads power drops a bit naturally:
That is over 800 watts delivered into the load which is great.
Back to two channel power, here is what we get with short bust (simulating what you may get in music) and more steady state -- both at 1% THD+N:
The toughest test I run is power versus frequency while trying to achieve 0.1% THD+N. The amp has to deliver its output while being stressed the entire 3 to 4 minutes the test runs. Many AVRs quit. Not so with Outlaw 5000:
As you see, it not only passed the 2 channel test, but also 4 channel. A quick statistical analysis of my high-res music library shows highest peaks at 40 Hz and that is where the cursor is. We are getting 252 watts at that frequency with two channels and 207 watts with four channels. Yes, it is lower than 1 kHz peak I use in other graphs but still a lot of power.
Conclusions
Despite its bargain price, the Outlaw Model 5000 is solidly built and delivers tons of power without complaining. It provides a clear setup over the built-in amplifiers in home theater AVRs. No, it doesn't deliver state of the art distortion and noise. For that, you will have to pay a lot more money. For what it is, it is very good and I am happy to recommend the Outlaw Model 5000.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Feeling pretty poor after spending so much money on Christmas. Appreciate all you can do to get me out of that by donating generously using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The shipping is expensive because this is thing is super heavy. It is at the limit of what I can reasonably carry upstairs to my lab (50 pounds):
My back nearly got killed just rotating the darn thing in my photo booth:
Sadly, as you see, there are no balanced XLR inputs. You are given heavy binding posts though which is nice.
Left and right channels are far apart which is the right away to do it as they, and the center channel get beat the most. And is most logical layout in my book.
In use the Model 5000 never complained, shut down or anything of the sort. The heatsinks are below the top cover so you can't exactly feel their temps. I would imagine it would shut down though if it got too hot.
Not much else to talk about so let's get into the measurements.
Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz at 5 watts into 4 ohm load:
Nice to see the gain at 29 dB which is the only recommended standard in the wild (from THX).
There is fair amount of mains hum and power supply noise. I improved them a bit with messing with grounding but this is the nature of the beast when a linear power supply is used.
Distortion is dominated by second harmonic which combined with noise and hum gives us a middle or the road SINAD:
Speaking of noise, there is our signal to noise ratio at 5 watts and near full power:
I like to see 96 dB or better at 5 watts to clear the dynamic range of the CD but we don't get there. At full power though, we meet that target and a bit more in the good channel.
Frequency response is basically flat in the audible band:
Testing with my simulated speaker model did not change the response hardly at all:
Crosstalk was good as it should be in modular amplifiers like this with independent amps:
Amplifier Power Measurements
Most important deal with any amplifier is its power versus distortion and noise so let's start with 8 ohm load:
Nice to see the Outlaw 5000 completely outclass our NAD AVR both in much lower noise, distortion and available power.
The picture is almost the same with 4 ohm load although distortion rises:
These are two channel tests. Adding two more 4 ohm loads power drops a bit naturally:
That is over 800 watts delivered into the load which is great.
Back to two channel power, here is what we get with short bust (simulating what you may get in music) and more steady state -- both at 1% THD+N:
The toughest test I run is power versus frequency while trying to achieve 0.1% THD+N. The amp has to deliver its output while being stressed the entire 3 to 4 minutes the test runs. Many AVRs quit. Not so with Outlaw 5000:
As you see, it not only passed the 2 channel test, but also 4 channel. A quick statistical analysis of my high-res music library shows highest peaks at 40 Hz and that is where the cursor is. We are getting 252 watts at that frequency with two channels and 207 watts with four channels. Yes, it is lower than 1 kHz peak I use in other graphs but still a lot of power.
Conclusions
Despite its bargain price, the Outlaw Model 5000 is solidly built and delivers tons of power without complaining. It provides a clear setup over the built-in amplifiers in home theater AVRs. No, it doesn't deliver state of the art distortion and noise. For that, you will have to pay a lot more money. For what it is, it is very good and I am happy to recommend the Outlaw Model 5000.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Feeling pretty poor after spending so much money on Christmas. Appreciate all you can do to get me out of that by donating generously using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/