I received 950/770 two weeks ago and am very happy with the combo. I also got a sony XA777ES SACD player on Ebay from Red Rose music in NYC for half of its original cost. It was supposed to be a "mint in box" but it came without a power cord, manual and the remote. I contacted Red Rose but it is going through financial crisis and every one has been let go. I got to talk to Mark Levinson just before he was meeting with investors. He told me he was going to call me back, but he hasn't, yet. I must be too small a fry for him to worry about at this point. I had a spare cord from an old PC, downloaded the manual, and the player is working just fine. I am really impressed by SACD format especially the multi-channel thing. Dark Side of the Moon and 1812 overture are really different on SACD and for the better (subjectively speaking). I do wish I had a remote though. It's annoying to have to go to the player to change tracks. Anyone have any idea how to program the 950 remote (without a remote to learn from) to control this player? I have looked for a replacement remote and can't find any on the net.

That's a serious bummer. The 950's remote (a modified SL-9000 ) has a pretty good code library, so you could use one of those codes. The XA777ES probably uses CD player codes, although it might borrow from the DVD code library -- I'd try Sony CD codes first (225, 097, 126, or 133 from the 950's manual; 048, 081, 097, 126, 133, 177, 225, 226, or 164 from the SL-9000's manual ), then the DVD codes (007 from the 950's manual; 033, 053, or 110 from the SL-9000's manual). Worst case -- if you could find a local dealer who had an XA777 on display, you could take your 950 remote there and borrow his display remote to program yours. A dealer might even be able to get you a replacement remote. It's also possible that you could experiment with the JP1 remotes (well documented on HiFi Remote ), download a code set for that player, transfer it into an inexpensive JP1 remote, and use that to control it or to learn the commands to the 950's remote. There are some folks around here with quite a bit of JP1 experience, and there's a Yahoo group with some good resources.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I would definetly go the route gonk suggests. I was going to tell you to look in the manual for the codes but gonk did it for you

Gonk,
Thanks for the advise. I will try the codes, but I wonder what button would let me choose modes among cd, sacd 2-channel, and sacd multi-channel. If it does't work I can try a local dealer to see if I can program off theirs. Would they be "friendly" to an Outlaw?

It'll probably take some experimenting -- the mapping is often pretty odd. As for the local dealers, some will likely be pretty uninviting but others may be reasonable. It'll depend on the shop.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Threers,

I also have a XA777es and am very pleased with it. The tinkerer I am, I have purchased the Sony service manual and have been thinking about modifying the the analog output stages. It's hard for me to leave well enough alone.

In regards to the remote, it is nothing speacial so I would suggest calling Sony and telling them what you bought and that it did not come with certain things, although it was supposed to be "mint in box". Let them know that you have brought this to the attention of the place that you purchased it from and have not had the coutessy of a response.

Hopefull, Sony will make good.

Paul

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the 1derful1

Thank you everyone for the inputs. I have been thinking of using a universal remote anyway. I got this Sony Commander thing for being in my sister's wedding last year. It just seems like a pain in the butt to program let alone use this thing, but I guess I will give it a try. Since it's Sony, I hope it will recognize the SACD player. I just don't think it will be any simpler.....

If the Sony Commander remote can operate the SACD player, you could then teach those commands to the 950's remote -- Sony's big universal remotes are pretty powerful, but the documentation (particularly on the older ones) is some of the worst I've seen. That's assuming, of course, that you prefer the 950's remote to the Sony (which I did, replaced a Sony RM-AV2100 with the 950's remote, which I in turn replaced with the excellent MX-500 remote from Universal Home Theater).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review