Gonk...you are just too

950 arrived yesterday..4:39pm. Met UPS guy @ my front door with a big smile as he handed me the box. My 2 year old son and 3 year old yellow lab helped me open the box.

I was able to make the connections from the 950 to my Pioneer, speaker setings, and x-over's but not enough time to calibrate individual speaker levels with SPL or set speaker distances.

Got positive feedback from the wife watching T3 even with volume down. (son was sleeping)
Hoping to complete initial set up tonight and then the fun really begins.

Question on "Channel Trim"....do people use this ? Seems like a nice function. I'm worried that I will always be questioning if I should make a minor adjustment to Trim settings each time we watch a movie.

Qyv10....thanks for your feedback and thoughts. I like the pencil idea to mark the Pioneer volume level. Enjoy putting it all back together when your 950 arrives. Enjoy.

I thought the exact same thing...I'm a fiddler However, I almost never touch the trims. The only time I've used it is to adjust the subwoofer if I feel a movie's LFE channel is too hot/low. I think I've done it twice in the 2 months I've owned the 950.

-Joe


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Remember the Intellivision?
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

Channel trim is very useful during setup, but I generally don't revisit it unless something has changed. Ideally, you'll want to pick up a sound meter at Radio Shack (analog meter sells for $30 or so, but at the moment they are only listing the digital meter on their site) and use that to set all of the channels to the same level. Qyv10's idea for setting the volume on the Pioneer was quite good, but will also require a sound meter. The 950's manual discusses using a meter some on page 27 (including the settings to use -- Slow and "C" weighting). By holding the meter in the listening position, tilted up more or less upright, you should first set the 950's volume to 00 and go to the channel trim for the left or right main (leaving it at 0), then adjust the volume on the Pioneer until the meter reads 75dB -- that's the position to leave the Pioneer's volume at. Then use the 950's tones and the 950's trim settings to make each other speaker read 75dB. This way, you don't have to second-guess yourself while watching movies.

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

The only difference between your and my day is my 5 year old and cat helped me, and we did our initial listening with YES The Ladder The only downside to my experience is I only listened to a couple tunes, and errands kept me away the rest of the evening.Now I'm at work

Thanks to all for the feedback, thoughts, and ideas thus far. It's awesome knowing that I can maximize the performance of my 950 thanks to this Forum. Best part is..this is just the begining...

RayBan...always a challenge to tweak once the family gets started (and the dog). I often find myself doing it at ridiculous hours.

I've got new rears (Definitive Technology BPX's) arriving before the end of the month..so this will require another round of re-calibration, etc.

I agree with your sentiment, VADER, and it's worth reminding us as we go through this exercise of pairing 950 to receiver. But...



Sometimes budget dictates timing, and in D.Rowe's case (as he stated in his original post) the amp will have to follow later. In the meanwhile, though, we've got him on track to enjoy his 950 as much as possible. From the initial feedback, it sounds like the 950 has been well received (positive feedback from his wife) even with the amplification being handled by the receiver. When the Pioneer gets to retire and surrender its spot to an amp, it will be yet another improvement.

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

D.Rowe, soooooo what's the word?

Have you noticed big improvements?

I'm getting antsy.
Mine is suppose to arrive monday.

I want it NOOOWWWWW

Now that's not entirely true, Vader. I'm a big believer in headroom, but not only do we have the principle of diminishing returns, there is a point of *no* returns. Why have 1000 w/ch when your transient peak is only 300?

It's not that 85 w/ch RMS is too little (unless you're driving Bose or Magnepan), it's that receiver amps have little in the way of current reserves, and generally sound cheap.

Power isn't the end-all ... unless you're into annoying rice boomers.



[This message has been edited by DMF (edited November 13, 2003).]