Greetings Outlaw Owners. I'm a longtime reader on this forum and I post today as a new 950 Owner...well it will be here tomorrow..(close enough). Tried to get a head start by printing the Manual already.

Couldn't swing the Amp yet so I have to settle using my Pioneer ELITE VSX-21 for power (80 x 5). Are there any special considerations (i.e. connections & settings) when matching a 950 with another receiver just for power? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts/comments on this.

Well, it's got a six-channel analog input, so you'll be connecting to that for the five speakers. I'd set any speaker delay or trim settings on the Pioneer to 0, so the 950 is the only one taking care of such things. You'll probably need to putter with it a bit to find a volume setting on the Pioneer that works for you, since the 950 will be responsible for volume now. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

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

Thanks Gonk. You basically read my mind. I know I wasn't very specific above but I was thinking about delay & volume settings on the Pioneer and how they may impact sound if not set to 0.

As far as LFE output..I assume I should use the 950 and not the pioneer..right?

Yep, you've got it. I'd connect your sub directly to the 950.

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

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited November 11, 2003).]

D.Rowe,
I am in the same boat as you.
I just ordered a 950 and am going to use my receiver as the amp for a while.
Fortunatly my receiver has preout/main in jacks, using the main in jacks bypasses ALL the receiver functions except the amps.
Meaning no volume, no delays, no nothing.

If your receiver has these main in jacks you might want to use those instead.

I don't think my Pioneer has any inputs that allow me to bypass all that stuff(volume,delays,etc.)...although I am double checking since my 950 arrives today. What receiver are you using as an Amp for your 950?

I guess the next best thing is to set all delays, speaker distances, sound level settings to 0 on the Pioneer, as Gonk suggests above. In addition... I am planning on setting the SUBWOOFER to 'OFF' and setting all 5 speakers on the Pioneer to LARGE so that crossovers don't come into play. ( I assume they would if any speakers were set to SMALL on my Pioneer)

On the 950 my fronts will be set to LARGE...(no sub yet) and my center and rears will be set to SMALL (not sure where I'll be setting x-over yet...probably 60Hz or 80Hz.

Not my ideal situation here but no choice until I can afford an Outlaw Amp. Shouldn't be too long of a wait. In the meantime my wife keeps asking why we need 2 receivers in our Home Theater ?

I looked a little bit at specs for your Pioneer receiver, and also didn't see any sign of a set of mains inputs. Your idea of setting all speakers to "large" and the sub to "off" is probably worth doing, although typically the bass management isn't applied to the multichannel analog input that you'll be using -- the bass management is handled digitally, whereas the multichannel input is left analog all the way through.

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

Gonk..thanks so much for taking a peek at the inputs on my Pioneer. Hoping I can get all the 950 settings right tonight when I hook it all up. I guess the Master Volume setting on the Pioneer is an unknown too.

No problem. As for the receiver's volume, that'll be trial and error. I'd probably start with the knob in somewhere around the 10-o'clock or 11-o'clock position, but you'll definitely want to experiment a bit with it.

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

D.Rowe, I am using a Marantz SR-96.
At the time I bought it it was their top of the line receiver.
I know currently there are very few receivers that have main in's but it use to be more common.

As for your volume dilema I would probably set the 950 to 0db and start the test tones, then raise the volume on your pioneer until you are about the 75 db spec on an SPL meter.
Set your individual speaker volumes on the 950 from there.

Definatly take a pencil and mark the pioneer's volume in case it get moved by accident.

Got my tracking number today so now I'm just waiting to rip my whole system apart