If you can't get the 950 to alone to sound the way you want here is onw way to incorporate both preamps.

Connect all your surround sources (VCR, DVD, satellite, etc) to the 950.

Connect your 2 channel analog sources (CD) to your Carver.

Hook the 2 preouts of your Carver to the amps you want to use for your mains. Hook the preouts on the 950 for the center and surrounds to those speakers' amps. Lastly hook the main preouts of the 950 to an input on the Carver.

When you want to listen to 2 channel, you can leave the 950 turned off.

For surround/digital processing, turn both preamps on and set the Carver's input to the input used to connect the 950. The only tricky part is putting the Carver's volume at a repeatable point. That same volume point needs to be used to calibrate the 950 and for regular playback. That's it!

But I agree with merc, make sure you have your settings right before you abondon the 950. I hope to get my 950 someday to see how I like its 2 channel performance in "analog bypass" mode. I really don't want to extra complexity (and low WAF) of the 2 preamp approach.

Let us know how you make out.