Jed,

Was that this disc ? My only complaint with it is that the sound seems weak, or lacking oomph, especially in comparission to the sound from the 2-CD soundtrack set.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to watching this concert again once I receive my 950. Which is finally on the way having left CA for New England on the 3rd.

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pat----

email: pat@sklenar.info ---===--- home page: Grumpy's Lair

Pat, your link says the session has timed out but I am sure we are speaking of the same dvd/cd http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/dvd/0767812131/tech-info/002-5744883-2071256 I have Klipsch speakers so maybe that adds a little oomph but I agree that the cd sounds more dynamic. I absolutely love this dvd but I wish it were dts, dvd-a,or sacd. I think you will thoroughly enjoy watching it with your new 950.

Yep, that's the one.

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pat----

email: pat@sklenar.info ---===--- home page: Grumpy's Lair

Jed,

I just picked up an MX 500 last night in anticipation of the arrival of my 950/770 any day now. Any issues using the MX 500 instead of the SL 900? Were you able to program in everything you wanted from the 900 to the 500?

Patrick, yes I was able to program everything but it took a few times which was troubling. That is originally why I disliked the included remote. It is very touchy and doesnt always send the signal or something. For instance when I was learning the component buttons, all of them learned fine except video 1 (labeled sat). I had to keep retrying to learn for reasons that are beyond me. There seems to be a short skip when pushing that button on my remote. It lights red for about a second then blinks and continues lighting. Maybe that was the reason it was so hard to learn. I finally timed it right and got it. Besides that I just really thought the remote was unresponsive in a lot of ways which led to making the learning process not nearly as seamless as it should be for the mx500. I will admit I have been spoiled by the Pronto for the last three years and the mx500 for the last four months so I may be way too picky. Just like I said about the time delay thing, I would imagine those who stick with it will just adjust, no big deal. But on the other hand you made a wise choice with the mx500. It is the best remote I have ever owned, everything considered. My number one complaint is no computer interface and that is why I can't get rid of my pronto. I love my discrete codes Number two is that it can get old entering in all the names for the lcd display with the numeric buttons (see number one). Besides all that, its still my favorite.

[This message has been edited by Jed M (edited May 07, 2002).]

Azryan, no, you're not the only one who does that (cupped hand over remote end). At first I thought it was kind of cool that the input selection buttons also turned on the 950 and switched the remote modes, but I quickly found that it's inconvenient many times and that the only way around it is to cup your hand over the end of the remote.

Another qualm with the remote: it seems as though Outlaw used the standard 9000 labelling for the key caps and only supplied templates for the space between the keys. So, for example, there is the button labelled "ENTER" on its face and "BYPASS" above... and then there are the ten buttons at the bottom with no labelling on their face. This isn't really an issue except when you're in a dark room; the buttons light up but the labels above the remote do not so you have no idea what 950 functions the buttons control.

Otherwise I think it's a decent (not great, but decent) remote and I'm pretty happy with it as far as a bundled-with-a-device remote goes. I probably wouldn't have paid money for it as a 3rd party universal remote, though.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Cranked up the new 950 for the first time last night. Spent some time listening to CDs in stereo (my frame of reference). Right out of the box the 950 sounded a little thin, a little laid-back (as opposed to forward)and a bit analytical in it's presentation. But wow, the imaging, space and air around the images was incredible. The sound has warmed with some burn-in time (both the 950 and interconnects are new) and the sonic images are moving forward a bit. I've been listening so far without a sub, and I've just realized the 950 defaults set the mains to small. That may be the reason I thought the sound was a bit thin. DOH!
Time to do some more listening !

My previous Pre-Pro was a Marantz AV550 that had DD and DPL. I must say that the 950 sounds MUCH better for movies and to a slightly lesser degree music.

I too have some gripes about the remote, most of which have been stated already so I won't say anymore on the subject other than I will be doing some programming on either my RC2000 or my Pronto.

Other than the remotes short comings I have been VERY happy with the DPL2 performance with cable programming and also music to some extent.

I am still toying with the different DPL2 music settings at this time and it may be a while before I settle on what settings (center width, dimension etc)to use.

My initial music preferences are DPL2-M, then DTS NEO6 followed by 5Stereo. Though I think the 5Stereo would be great for parties or get togethers.

Overall I am very happy!

More to come later............



[This message has been edited by marc seals (edited May 10, 2002).]

Here are my first impressions of the Outlaw 950 that I received on Monday. I hope to post additional comments once I have gone through more of the surround modes and some additional dvds and music. My system consists of the following:

Fronts-Paradigm Ref. 20's-v2
Center-Paradigm Studio CC
Surrounds-Paradigm Ref. 20's-v1
Back Surrounds-Paradigm Mini Monitors
Amplification-Outlaw 750 and ATI 1502
Sub-Paradigm PS-1000
DVD-Pioneer DV-414
VCR-Proscan
TV-Proscan 27"
Cables-DH Labs Silver Sonic T-14 and BL-1 series II -Outlaw IC's for back surrounds
Old receiver-Yamaha RX-V795

First of all, I have been waiting a long time like so many others for this component to come out and I was very excited to finally receive it. Well the sound is just simply incredible. After going through the setup and deciding on the speaker size(small with fronts crossed at 40HZ and center and surround crossed at 60Hz), I put in a DTS demo disc and played Seal's "Prayer For the Dying." I was floored to say the least. The 950 had no problem reproducing the dynamics and detail in this song. I even had to turn my sub level down from where I had it with my old receiver.

The tuner works fine and 2 channel music from cds sounds very robust and smooth. I had to use the small setting on my speakers to get the sub to activate with tuner and 2 channel music. I also like the Dolby Pro Logic2-cinema when watching TV. The Phantom Menace was on TV Thursday night and I was really impressed at how great it sounded with DPL2. My first dvd to watch was Dark City and the level of detail I heard was amazing. Other 950 owners have mentioned about how much more detail they are hearing in movies and I can attest to that with Dark City. This is one of my favorite dvds and ambient sounds came through like never before. Well those are some of the positives. Here is one of the negatives.

The primary reason I wanted the 950 was for the new 6.1 format for dvds. In my first tests of this surround mode I have been somewhat disappointed. It may not be the fault to the 950, but I just simply don't hear much information coming from the center surround speakers. It may also be that I was just expecting too much in the way of more surround info in this format. I have tried Toy Story 2, Atlantis and Phantom Menace. Of these three, PM sounds the best to me in 6.1 mode. When I toggle back and forth between DD and DD EX, the overall sound level seems to definitely decrease some in EX mode and it does not sound as dynamic compared to just Dolby Digital mode. I actually prefered DD at times. I realize that the sound is more spread out in EX mode and this may have something to do with it.

I have not tried the Cirrus Extra mode so that could make a difference in the performance also. DTS ES encoded dvds are a different story however. I have tried The Haunting and Gladiator and both of them sound so incredible in DTS ES. The center surround info did not disappoint with certain scenes in Gladiator. This was one awesome dvd. The difference did not surprise me with these dvds however since the sound is a discrete one for the center surround channel.

In summary, the 950 is certainly a high quality component with exceptional performance and features for the money. It has so far been well worth the wait for me and I hope to post some additional input later. Thanks for reading. Hope everyone enjoys their 950.

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[This message has been edited by mdanderson (edited May 11, 2002).]

manderson,

Any why you use different crossover settings for your fronts vs. surrounds since they are are both Ref 20's?