I'm loving my 950! Very very clean sounding and no his or hum at all.

I am having some issues however. Mainly with 7 channel stereo, and to a lessor extent 5 channel. It seems that when I switch into that mode when listening to a cd, the surrounds and especially the subwoofer gets way too loud and overpoweres the fronts .

This is after calibrating all the speakers to 75db as directed by Outlaw.

In all the surround modes available, PLII, Neo, etc, this does not occur.

I do have several different amps. A Adcom 5802 for the fronts, and a Outlaw M 200 for the center. The surrounds are powered by a McIntosh MC-2200, and the rear surrounds are powered by an Adcom 545. The Sub is a older JBL PSW-1200 that at the very least gets the job done.

Also, what is this I hear about a DTS bug? Is it something I need to address now?

Input would be appreciated.

Rick.




[This message has been edited by Innovator (edited November 26, 2003).]

First, the easy one. The DTS bug is old news -- your 950 came with the latest software, which means you are already bug-free. 950's shipped prior to mid-March 2003 have an issue with LFE on DTS-ES tracks that requires a chip swap-out to correct.

As for 5 Stereo and 7 Stereo, it's been a while since I used them. I do recall that they steer more sound to surrounds than other true "surround" modes -- the goal of the 5/7 Stereo modes is just to duplicate the stereo signal all the way around the room. When we used 7 Stereo with some TV material one evening, I happened to walk behind the couch (closer to the rear soundstage) and when facing the left or right surround (both of which are dipoles, not direct radiating) I had a very weird sensation of confusion due to the full audio content being distributed through the surrounds at the same time I was turned 90 degrees from the intended direction. You may be experiencing much the same thing, with the surrounds doing more than you expect. This is why a number of 950 owners have referred to 5/7 stereo as "party mode" -- all-encompassing background music for a party, without the finesse of PLII or Neo:6.

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

Rick,

Regarding the level / volume question: it is because all the channels in 7 and 5-stereo modes play back at the same volume level that the surrounds are so much more noticeable in those modes rather than others. In other modes you are hearing mostly effects and ambience sounds - rather than the full meal deal. But then again I have some 5.1 music audio DTS demo CD's where full range, and distinct, material is fed to the surrounds - and they really stand out. I imagine that those folks who are using the DVD-Audio and SACD analogue inputs would have similar listening experiences - depending on the source material. Bottom line: there's nothing wrong with your 950 or its calibration. What you are hearing is to be expected in those modes.

Jeff Mackwood

I kinda have this problem also but mine is mainly when I use the "bypass".

Listening to 2ch stereo CD and hit bypass and the volume jumps a good 10db.
Scared the heck outa me the first time.

I would assume it's caused by the output of the CD player being a bit higher voltage then when everything runs through the "digital path" circuits.

It's not really a big deal as I won't be using bypass very much.