Durham, N.H., October 3, 2001 -- Outlaw Audio, Inc., the only consumer electronics brand sold exclusively via the Internet, has launched its ICBM, Integrated Controlled Bass Manager, to make up for a major shortcoming of the new DVD-Audio and SACD players. The ICBM is now available for immediate sale at www.outlawaudio.com.

While DVD-Audio and SACD players are designed to produce audio sound quality that is superior to that of compact discs, most of these units lack the bass management systems needed to make this audio output fully compatible with the popular 5.1-channel satellite/subwoofer home theater speaker systems. DVD-Audio and SACD deliver up to six channels of "full range" audio signals designed for large speakers with plenty of bass. However, is no way to extract the bass from all these channels to feed to the subwoofer of a 5.1-channel system. Furthermore, the small 5.1 satellites must absorb this excess bass energy. This can cause these speakers to distort.

As one Outlaw noted, “Early adopters and audio reviewers of DVD-Audio and SACD playback systems have been very critical of the lack of bass management in these products. We listened to the concerns of our customers, the audiophile community, and the press, and decided to correct this problem with our own proprietary design solution."

The Outlaw Audio ICBM provides a complete bass management system for these players. This "sonic missile" is a product that will be welcomed by audiophiles for its ability to control and enhance the low-frequency sound quality of music.

While primarily intended for DVD-Audio and SACD, the ICBM is also useful as a high quality alternative to the less-comprehensive digital bass management included with home theater receivers and even some expensive preamp/processors.

The slim, one-rack-unit high, ICBM allows individual adjustment of the bass re-direction cross-over point for each channel and logical channel pair in a home theater system. With the ICBM, the front left/right, front center, surround left/right and rear center speakers may be individually set to roll-off bass information at 40 Hz, 60 Hz, 80 Hz, 100 Hz, or 120 Hz, or to bypass bass management when it is not needed. Bass information is then properly routed to the main channel speakers, or to a subwoofer. This capability, though standard in digital-audio systems for conventional inputs, is missing in all but a handful of DVD-Audio and SACD players, due to the use of analog outputs on the player and analog “pass-through” inputs on the receiver. Without the use of the ICBM, low frequency performance is compromised and damage to individual speaker components can occur.