I have a question about 2 channel bypass. The manual states that putting an analog source in two channel bypass mode allows "pure two channel stereo" and that the source will be passed through without any digital processing. Now, I have my 950 set up with speakers set to small and crossovers set for 60 - 80 depending on speaker (fronts, rears, and center are different. I assume that the crossovers are digital. When I play CDs in bypass I have output from my sub. How is this output derived if not digitally, implying that all of the 950's digital processing is not bypassed is "pure two channel stereo"? If I set my fronts to large and turn off the center, surrounds, and sub I have no sub output. One I switch the fronts back to small the sub cuts back in. I mention this because I have a couple of D/A converters that sound quite differently when played through my old analog Adcom preamp but sound suprisingly similar through the 950. They essentially sound the same as using the 950 as the D/A. Any insight on how the 950 is handling the bypass signal would be appreciated.

Good question!

There was a huge amount of debate regarding bass management with the 950 around the time that they first started shipping units in early April. One part of the debate was bass management and the stereo bypass mode. It turns out that the 950 does bypass a full-range signal from the analog input to the volume control and on to the pre-amp outputs, but it also tosses that signal into the digital domain and applies bass management if the mains are set to small to produce a LFE signal and discards the rest. The result is an analog bypass for the mains, plus (if the mains are set to small) a digitally-extracted subwoofer signal.

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