OK, I owe many of you in this forum an apology, even though you may not have known this before now. Let me say that I'm sorry that I did not truly believe you when you've stated how tremendously better the sound was when you put a 950 into your system. I had assumed that it sounded better, but that much of the improvement may have been heard to justify spending the money to purchase the 950 and an amp. I now know that you were not exaggerating with all of the superlatives that you were saying about the sound produced by the 950. I'm sorry that I doubted you.

Up until yesterday I was listening to music and video through the following system:

Yamaha RX-V2200 receiver
(2) Outlaw 200-Ms (front (L/R)
Boston Acoustics VR-M90s (front L/R)
Boston Acoustics VR-MC (center
Boston Acoustics VR-MX (L/R surrounds)
Boston Acoustics VR-M/EX (center back)
Yamaha YST-SW800 (subwoofer)
Sony Sat-T60 (DirecTV w/TiVo)
Yamaha DVD-S520 (doubles for CDs)
Sony SLV-688HF HiFi VCR
Crosley 27" console (stop laughing) TV
all protected by a Panamax 5300

I had added the 200-Ms because I was never fully satisfied with the sound that was coming out of the M90s. The addition of the 200-Ms to the Yamaha to drive the fronts helped to open up the M90s, but I still felt that something was missing.

Well I've been spooking around these forums for some time, occasionally joining in, but mostly learning from the wealth of accumulated knowledge that all of you have been kind enough to share. Last week finally decided I was tired of dreaming of a 950/770 combo and ordered a 950 b-stock/new 770 combo with the free shipping offer. On Monday the 770 arrived, and on Tuesday (yesterday) the 950-b and PCA cables arrived. I didn't have anybody to assist with unboxing the 770, man that thing is a monster, so I swapped out the Yamaha with the 950, just using the fronts for all sound. I was truly astounded at the sound that came out of my M90s when they were driven by the 950/200-M combination (with the subwoofer also attached and working). The clarity and detail were truly amazing. I finally heard my rather expensive M90s producing the sound that I'd always hoped that they would, but could never quite get them to do. I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to music from the DirecTV receiver and CDs through my DVD player.

Last night a friend and his son stopped by and helped me to unpack the 770. They then took off before I had a chance to get it hooked up in its temporary location, on a couple of shelf boards on the floor behind the TV. There is no way that this beast is going to go into my A/V rack, not enough clearance for good ventilation and it would probably break the bottom shelf. (I'll have to put together some form a shelf to get this raised up a little, but it will remain behind either the TV or the A/V rack.) The sound produced is every bit as astounding as what I was hearing from the 200-Ms, but now through 6 channels. I calibrated the 950 with the 770 and have been been listening to music through the various modes. It was difficult to turn this off last night and go to bed.

As of this writing I still have not popped in a DVD and experienced the sound quality of DVDs through this setup. I can't get myself to stop listening to music, as it sounds so wonderful, especially in stereo mode, which is my favorite way to listen to music. I'll try to post an update to this when I can finally put away the music and start watching DVDs.

Let me close by saying thanks to Outlaw Audio for making such excellent and affordable products, and to also thank all of you who have shared such valuable information to me through these forums. Based upon all that I'd read here, I was able to get my 950/770 setup in no time at all and begin to appreciate my CD collection all over again. Oh, well, the music is calling.....

Jeff

Gonk - Thanks for posting your setup using the MX-500 remote. I was able to make a few minor adjustments and have mine working very similarly to what it was with the Yamaha. Thanks.

[This message has been edited by jeffdavis (edited October 06, 2004).]

Jeff - Congrats on the new gear, and it's great to hear that it has worked out so well for you. I remember some of the fun of re-visiting favorite CD's. When you do finally get around to it, I suspect you'll enjoy the DVD's too.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

I remember back in march when I got my 950/7100 hooked up and did a review of it that you were one of the people who wanted to know what my impressions were going from a Yamaha reciever to Outlaw. I'm glad to hear you finaly took the plunge and had the same results . When you get the time to run them through their paces Please come back and post a review of your own. I'm still stunned every time I play music and don't plan on upgrading until the new Outlaw "970?" is released. Congrats on the new gear!!!!

Lasher

OK, it's almost 11:30 PM on the first full day of living with the 950/770 combo, and I still haven't yet gotten a movie into the DVD player to give it a try. I'm on vacation this week (just hanging out at home) and so I have plenty of time to see what these puppies can do. This afternoon I had just put in the DVD "The Concert for George" when some family members stop by and they weren't really into it, so I stopped it after a song or two and went back to music from DirecTV. Since then I've been listening to CDs and still being amazed with the clarity. I promise to eventually try a movie to see how it sounds, but I'm having difficulty stopping the music.

Lasher, I was going to hold off until the "970" is released before taking the plunge, since I was thinking that the 950 was not really offering much of a difference in the way of features than my Yamaha offers. Since I really did have the upgrade bug anyway, I was thinking of purchasing a 7-channel amp to augment the Yamaha and then be able to use it with the 970 when it is released. But when I did the math on the b-stock 950/new 770 combo with free shipping compared to the price of a new 770 with ground shipping, it turns out that the difference is only $424. So I rationalized that I was getting an excellent 7-channel amp that should do all that I need for many years to come for list price, and then picking up a decent pre/pro to go with it for about the price of a mediocre receiver, which would hold me over until the 970 comes out. And if I would get the modest improvement in sound that I was expecting, it would be a good $424 investment. After spending the day listening to the sound being produced, I feel that I've gotten a value way beyond the amount spent on the 950.

The best things I've done to my Hometheater have involved Outlaw.

Added a 1050 to my Klipsch 5.1 RF series
Added a 950/770 to my Klipsch 6.1 RF series

Cranked up my 950/770 with my Klipsch RF series to watch some Exorcist (TVYNS).

Joy!

hehe, outdated sig!

OK, I've had the 950/770 combo for a little over a week and a half, unfortunately for four of those days I had to leave it behind while I was working in another town. Now I'm back and we've been reunited. Joy!

Since my last post I've managed to get a few movies into the DVD player as well as some through the movie channels with DirecTV. I've listened in Dolby Digital, DTS, DPL II-C, etc. I've been very pleased with the results. Based upon all of the reviews that I've been reading for some time, both here and those published by "paid" professionals (didn't want you to think that I don't think of you guys as pros), I was expecting to be pleased with with the sound for cinema. I have not been let down. This is an incredible sounding setup. The clarity and separation is truly amazing. It sounds as if my surrounds and center rear have finally decided to join in. I believe that I am getting much more presence out of these speakers than I had with the Yamaha or the Sony before that. As I had stated previously, I am finally getting the sound out of my Boston Acoustics speakers that I'd always known they could produce, and not just the fronts.

Overall I am very pleased with the sound that I am getting out of this setup. I am especially pleased by the quality of the sound in stereo mode. In many of the reviews that I'd read, the 950 was always rated high for home theater, but was not nearly as often mentioned for it's exceptional ability to faithfully reproduce music. My only regret is that I had waited so long to purchase the 950/770. I've probably spent almost as much or more replacing receivers multiple times and adding the 2 200-Ms as I would have if I'd just broken down and bought the 950/770, I definitely would have been ahead if I'd gone for the 950/7100 combo.

I guess that I'll wrap this up by saying thanks for letting me share my impressions with you. If you are sitting on the fence about purchasing the 950, don't wait any longer. You'll be very pleased with it. And if you mate it up to a 770, or 200-Ms, you'll be astounded at the sound that this will produce. I imagine from all that I've read the the 7100 would be equally as good. Thanks for taking the time to read these posts. I hope that you're enjoying the sound as much as I am.

Jeff