Could someone explain exactly what the different night modes do?

The only thing it says in the manual is it decreases dynamic range. I could not tell much of a difference on setting 1.

I guess I would like to know what each of the several night modes does.

Yeah, the manual is pretty lame when it comes to describing the nightmode of the 1050.

The only reason I know what it's doing is from playing electric guitar and using sound compressors.

That seems to be exactly what the 1050 is doing. It compresses the sound and basically keeps it all at an even playing level. You know how you have a quiet scene in a movie and then WHAM!!!!...something explodes onscreen and is incredibly loud? Well, with nightmode, it limits that loud explosion. With each press of the nightmode button, it appears to be bumping up the amount of compression being used. The 1st level is pretty light, while level 4 is max compression. It will really limit the peaks of the soundwave and keep everything at basically the same volume level.

Hope this helps.

BTW, I rarely use this feature. I wake my girlfriend up all the time! :^D

Thanks! That explanation makes sense. There are times that I probably should use that mode My wife does not like to listen to movies as loud as I do. I love to crank it up to near reference levels.

I'm looking to get one of those SVS subs to really blow the morter out of my bricks!