I have a 950 from the middle of Sept. with no dot. I am using a Panasonic CP72 DVD player as the source and have all the interconnects for both analog stereo and 6 channel bypass for DVD-Audio.

I have the DVD player in the audio menu setup for 2-channel, not multi-channel.

950 bass management is set to Small for all speakers with mains at 60 and the others at 80 with sub turned on. I do have the 80 cutoff in use on the 950 for 6 channel bypass, which I leave on all the time.

Now, when playing a regular CD, I notice a much fuller sound, wider soundstage with more volume, and more extension when I use the 6 channel bypass over the 2 channel bypass on the 950 with the above mentioned settings. This applies also to DD/DTS when playing a movie, too. Also, I can adjust the tone settings if needed in the 6 channel bypass.

I do notice a different subwoofer effect too. I had heard it is out of phase on the 6 channel bypass, compared to all the other digital and 2 channel bypass options. Is that true?

On the 2 channel bypass, adjusting the tone controls has no effect. They move but sound doesnt change. However, now there is a Balance adjustment that is in with the Tone adjustments and that does change the sound the way it is supposed to. It is the only place I have seen a Balance adjustment on the 950. Any reasons for that?

Has anyone else noticed these things?

The 2 channel bypass sounds better than the digital, but there is another big sound jump when I go to the 6 channel bypass. Go figure.