Just got my 950 and love it except I'm have issues with my subwoofer. I'm running a Hsu Research sub which worked flawlessly with my previous B&K processor. With the 950, I am experincing two problems. First, in bypass mode, I am not getting any signal to the sub. Second, in any other mode I'm getting a serious hum coming thru the sub. With the internal crossover on the sub on, I get a low level hum which by turning the cross over way down <40 Hrz I can at least minimize. The sub, of course, becomes useless when I do this. If I leave the sub's crossover out, using the 950's crossover, I get a much louder hum, which from time to time changes volume. I have checked all the connection multiple times to no avail. I'm very sure it is not the sub as I switched back to the B&K and the problem went away.

Anyone have any ideas on how I might have set thing up wrong to cause this, or could I have gotten a bad unit? How is Outlaw about repairs? Quite frankly, I'm very disappointed to get a bad unit and tend to be a believer in the lemon rule - if it starts bad it won't get better - so just get ride of it.

tj,

First, try the 'cheater plug' that comes with the Hsu, if you haven't already.

Which BYPASS mode yields no signal to the sub?

Are your front speakers set to 'small' or 'large'?

In stereo bypass mode with the mains set to "large" you should get no signal at all to the sub. In stereo bypass mode with the mains set to "small" you will likely get a little -- in that scenario, the 950 sends the unaltered analog signal to the mains, but also passes a copy of the signal through A/D conversion and bass management to produce a sub signal based on the crossover point set for the mains. I've got a detailed overview of the 950's bass management here that you might find useful.

Outlaw's very good about repairs when it is necessary. As bossobass suggests, you may be running into a ground loop hum of some sort on the second item -- at least so far, it doesn't sound like a defect in the 950 itself.

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

1) The fronts were set to large - when switched to small solved that problem quick enough - Thanks! BTW, great write up.

2) Cheater plug? I assume you're not talking about the foam port plug?

So I assumed the "cheater plug" was some sort of a 3=>2 prong grounded adapter with a wire for the ground. In any case, point being that ground in the power cord itself was the problem. I found an old power strip and broken off the ground pin on its power cord to test the theory. Guess what - no hum anywhere...

Thanks a lot for the help guys.

Excellent. Glad you got it all sorted out.

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

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