Will - Thanks for taking the time to give me the info, but I have a different need for the bass management. In my system, I have four 18 inch subwoofers, two per side, operating in true stereo. I crossover them with an analog crossover in line with the main left and right speakers at 60 hz. This way, I always get good, stereo sub-bass no matter what the source; stereo, 5.1 or directly through my mixing console (I use the system as a reference tool for mastering movie soundtracks). On the Preamp/Processor, I set it up with my front Left/Right as "big" and all other speakers as "small" and set their crossover to 60 Hz. But what is important, and what the Rotel does not do, and the Outlaw does do, is send the bass from all the "small" speakers to only the front left and right speakers. That way, no matter what the source, the bass always is reproduced correctly. I *can* direct bass to the center and surrounds if need be as they are actually very large professional type theatre speakers, but directing all the bass to the 18 inch subs works the best and is the most transparent to whatever source I'm playing. In addition to the mono bass in the ".1" bass of movie soundtracks, there can be, and is, stereo bass information in the main left and right channels of movie soundtracks. By the way, I truly believe that stereo sub-bass is important, especially for reproducing well recorded, naturally miked orchestral music. There *are* phase differences present in the pickups of widely spaced microphones in the bass region, and stereo subs preserves this. It presents a more convincing 'you are there' type feel to the ambience in music. You should try to hear a system with stereo subs if you can.
[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited August 14, 2002).]