This is a long time coming. I have a “hiss fixed” 950 coming shortly, but I thought I’d post a review of what I have now, and just post what is different once I have the new unit.

A little history:

I got on the “Wait List” on 1/12/02, and received my 950 on 5/21/02. I noticed right away that I had what I considered a “hiss problem”, but did nothing about it until I saw in the Forum that PSKLENAR had apparently received a 950 that alleviated the problem for him. I then notified Outlaw (mid June) that I had a hiss problem too, and they soon sent me a replacement unit (at their expense both ways) that proved to not make any significant improvement in my system. Scott informed me that they were working on the issue, and I told him that I didn’t plan on chucking my unit even if no fix came to fruition. Hopefully, the new unit I will receive will be an improvement.

What I have now:

Room: 12' x 18' x 8'. Plaster walls and ceiling, brick fireplace, carpeted floor, drapes on windows, sofa sleeper and Lazy-Boy. I would think it's maybe SLIGHTLY more "live" than average.

Speakers: Front - Klipsch KLF-20 (100dB/1w/1m), crossed over at 40 Hz.
Center - Klipsch KLF-C7 (99db/1w/1m), crossed over at 80 Hz.
Surrounds - Klipsch RS-3 II (95dB/1w/1m), crossed over at 80 Hz.
Subwoofer - Definitive Technology PF-18 (powered)

Preamp: Outlaw 950
Power Amp: Outlaw 750

Connected Devices:

Sony KV-32V15 32” Direct View Television (S-Video and Analog)
Sony CDP-C435 5 disk CD player (Analog)
Sony CDP-CX240 200 CD Changer (Optical1)
Sony TC WE305 Cassette Deck (Analog)
Toshiba SD4700 DVD player (Coaxial1, 6 Channel Analog, connected to directly to TV via S-Video)
Panasonic PV-V4620 VCR (Composite Video and Analog)

Interconnects: Outlaw from 950 to 750, most others are mid-range Monster Cable. Speaker wire is Monster for front and center, Monster XL for surrounds.

What I like:

The 950 sounds great to me. Previously I was using a Yamaha RX-V992 ($1000 first generation w/Dolby Digital, no DTS) receiver as my pre-pro. I don’t have much listening experience with high end processors like Meridian and Lexicon. I have listened to some high end stereo separate systems that were wonderful, but not they are not particularly relevant to the 950. Pretty much across the board the 950 is an improvement from my Yamaha receiver.

I really like and am using the adjustable subwoofer crossover for Front/Center/Surround. My main front speakers are capable of significantly lower bass than my center or surrounds, and I have them crossed over at 40 Hz. I have my center and surrounds crossed over at 80 Hz. (I have plots of frequency response curves of my front speakers crossed over at 40 Hz., 60 Hz., and 80 Hz. if anyone is interested.) I also like and use the bass management function for the 6 channel input (DVD-Audio or SACD). I don’t run my front speakers “full range”, and thus don’t suffer any of the “double bass” issues that are so much discussed.

Sound is very clean and clear. It seemed to me that my original 950 mellowed noticeably over time, but since I’m one of these people that think that electronics don’t “burn in” much, I thought it was more a matter that I became accustomed to the sound of the 950 than anything else, until I got the replacement 950. There was a noticeable difference in sound that I was not expecting to hear. The “new” 950 had a more strident, up front in your face, maybe “harsh” some might call it, quality that I remembered my original 950 sounded like when I got it. Maybe preamps do “burn in”. This new 950 has since seemed to “mellow out” as well.

I do like the THX-like re-equalization for movies. My Yamaha didn’t have it, but my previous Sony Pro-Logic only receiver had it, and I liked it then as well. I don’t use it all the time, and the effect is more subtle than on the Sony, but very useful. My speakers are a little on the “bright” side themselves, and the re-eq does make some material sound more natural. The volume control has got to be digital, as it just turns and turns and turns… I like it in that on the display you can see your volume setting in dB. It’s good for reference, as you know exactly where to set it for a certain movie so when the explosion hits, your guests will fly out of their chairs, but your windows won’t blow out.

What I don’t care about:

Some people have complained that the 950 looks “cheap”. Yeah, maybe it does, but I’m not a form over function guy. I don’t care. I don’t care how the buttons on the front feel when you push them. I’m a couch potato and I use the remote. I care how it performs, period. Now if it offended my sense of smell, that would be another matter.

I don’t care about the tuner. Haven’t ever used it, probably never will. I don’t even have the antennas connected. I wish it had been left out and the money saved applied elsewhere.

I don’t care about the 2nd room stuff. Haven’t used it, probably never will. I would be perfectly happy if that feature had been left out and the money saved applied elsewhere. I realize I may be in the minority on this point, though.

What I don’t like much:
First off, the hiss thing. I can hear hiss at my listening position during playback. A big part of the problem is that my speakers are VERY efficient, 10 dB more efficient than what is considered “average”. That means that any noise (hiss) present will be 10 dB louder than average. The problem this gives me with the 950 is that since my speakers are so efficient, I listen with the volume control set much lower than normal, and unlike normal analog volume controls, where the hiss level is more or less proportional to where you have the volume set, on the 950 in my setup, the hiss level is the same with the volume control set anywhere between –79dB and – 20 dB. This would correspond on my Yamaha receiver to between all the way down and about the 10 o’clock position. Even when I hit Mute, I hear the hiss. It doesn’t drive me nuts, but I’m hoping the “fixed” one will make a noticeable difference. I don’t expect the hiss to be totally gone, but if I can get to where I don’t hear it at my seat, I’ll be tickled to death. I don’t care if I can hear it at the speaker. I don’t listen that way, at least not much.

I also have noticed that when watching TV, when I change channels I sometimes hear a “click” or “pop” (as reported by others). It happens about 30% of the time. I’m not using a cable box. I run cable straight into the TV. I have never gotten this with previous setups, and I’m not sure if it has anything to do with signal acquisition or not. I think I have my TV input nailed down to DPL-II –C, but I’m not sure. If anyone thinks they have a fix, let me know.

I’m not very fond of the remote. It works OK, but here are some specific gripes: The batteries go in the front end (4 – AA’s). It makes it very front heavy, which feels very awkward to me. The remote is backlit, which is nice, but many of the buttons have different functions for the 950 than what is printed on the button. The 950 function is printed on the faceplate of the remote, but of course that doesn’t light up. That means you have to REMEMBER what specific buttons do, and if you are old and senile like I am, that is a pain in the a**. My biggest peave is that when you select a signal source, all the functions of the remote switch to running that piece of gear. For example, you hit the TV button. The 950 comes on, and TV is set as the selected input. If you hit the power button, it doesn’t turn the 950 back off, it turns the TV on. To turn the 950 off, you have to hit the AUD button (the button that makes the remote control run the 950), THEN hit the power button. I deeply wish there was a way to select inputs without switching all the functions of the remote to that input. If I want the remote to control that piece of gear, have that be a separate button, or something. Maybe it’s not a big thing, but it drives me nuts. I may end up getting a separate “universal” remote. I’m not very fond of the mostly LCD remotes. If anyone has any recommendations, I’d like to hear.

Other miscellaneous nits and picks:

I’m not a big fan of “DSP modes”, but Yamaha is famous for theirs, and my old receiver had one for movies called “35mm Cinema” that made my room seem much larger, without it seeming “fakey” or making dialog from the center channel sound hollow. It was wonderful. It was the only DSP mode I used, and I wish the 950 had something similar.

Dolby Pro Logic II is pretty good. I use DPL-II (Cinema mode) for TV watching almost all of the time. DPL was OK, but you could get some pretty odd effects sometimes. DPL-II does a much more consistent job of making things sound “right” or “believeable”.

In my previous setup, my subwoofer level was down –8dB at 20 Hz. I thought this was just a function of the sub and my room. Once I had the 950 installed, I noticed that my sub level at 20 Hz. was –3dB (both were +5 dB at 25 Hz.), a very noticeable difference on program material that had content down there. Apparently my Yamaha receiver was rolling the extreme low end off, and the 950 does not. BOO Yamaha, YEAH, Outlaw!

I know this is a very long post, but I did it mainly for those of you still waiting. In my estimation the 950 is a great piece of gear at its price point, and I think your wait will be well rewarded. I just wanted to give you something to chew on in the meantime.

Now I’ve got to go watch the last half of Harry Potter…

- Skyfish

SF- Good info. I'd be curious if there is any way around this too:



I don't have mine yet, but if you never tell it what kind of components the DVD player is, the TV, etc, does that get around it?



[This message has been edited by Kevin C Brown (edited September 18, 2002).]

I'll toss out an idea that may help you some on the remote, depending on your setup. I posted it here a few weeks ago. It's an extra step, but it is possible to select a device on the 950 (which then changes the input to that device) and then use a macro button to change the input to something else. I initially agreed with you on the ability to change devices controlled from the remote independently of the 950 input, but in general it's a handy arrangement, at least for me.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Good review skyfish, I enjoyed reading it. I received my rd unit a week ago and I can tell you with my Klipsch the hiss is almost gone, or at least completely removed from normal listening postitions. I also think the new rd 950 sounds better overall. Maybe its because it has less hiss, but whatever it is I think its soundstage is deeper, with a bit more slam.

Thanks for the review. I wouldn't mind seeing those speaker plots; they could be educational.

I'm also a 950 owner and my impressions weren't quite the same as yours, but not too far different. Especially about the remote; silkscreening functions onto the non-backlit remote case is a pretty big sin.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Gonk - Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought about it , but I've run into that 6 Channel Input thing , too. I was thinking that for the power button issue, I could just program a Macro button to change to AUD, then Power. Haven't done it yet, though. I haven't gotten myself to the point where I'm trying to use just the remote for the 950 to control everything. I have all my remotes stapled to a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, and I just point the whole thing at my rack and hit the button I want!

Jed M. - That's good news. I know the efficiency of Klipsch just exacerbates the hiss problem. More slam? Really? Geez, Louise, I can scare the crap out of the neighbor's dog already...

MH - What I've got now is just raw data. I'll see if I can remember how to dump the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet and create a graph. It's been awhile. That will be my project for when I get home tonight. I'll post it on this thread once I get it made.

MH - I have my subwoofer response chart done, but now I have to figure out how to get it posted. I can't just paste it in here. It looks like I have to get it saved somewhere out on the Web so it has a URL, and then put in a link to it. If anyone knows exactly how to do this, let me know. I'll do some digging around the Forum to see if I can get an answer.

Also, I got my "Red Dot" 950 yesterday. Pretty much changed my weekend plans...

- Skyfish

MH (and anyone else that’s interested) –

Here are the plots of my subwoofer operation with my 950 set to different crossover points. This is how I did it: I had my trusty Rat Shack analog meter set up where my ears would be in my normal listening location, with the mic pointed straight up, set to slow response and C weighting. According to the frequency response chart that comes with the meter, using C weighting the meter response is very flat in the range I was checking here, so I made no compensation for meter response. I used Stereophile’s Test CD 3, track 17, which is a series of 1/3rd octave warble tones that are the actual frequency points listed in the chart. The CD is in my Sony CD changer, which connects to my 950 using input Optical1. The test tones run from 200 Hz down to 20 Hz. I was running in straight stereo mode, so I was only running my main front speakers and my sub. My main speakers are Klipsch KLF –20’s, which are large floor standing speakers with 2 10” woofers driven in parallel, and a rated frequency response of -3 dB at 34 Hz. My subwoofer is a Definitive Technology PF18, which has an 18” front firing driver in a “pseudo” transmission line cabinet driven by a 325 watt amp. I have the internal crossover in the sub totally switched off. (This is one of few subs that will let you do that.) I had the meter range set to 80 dB, and the volume control on my 950 was set to –24 dB. Subwoofer level was set the same for all tests. Yeah, I could have produced a more accurate graph if I had an honest to goodness sweep generator, but this method, while not necessarily accurate between points on the graph, served my purposes. I believe the dip at around 80 Hz is probably a room “node” at that frequency, and I’m willing to bet that the hump at around 25-32 Hz is more likely EQ that is built into the sub amplifier to compensate for driver response. Still, I get within +5 and –5 for real room response at my seat, which I don’t think is too bad considering I haven’t done any response shaping treatments to my room. If you have any comments or questions, let me know.



[This message has been edited by Skyfish (edited September 22, 2002).]

Well, that didn't work right. Let me try again.





[This message has been edited by Skyfish (edited September 22, 2002).]

interesting....

Is it true that many of you get pops and/or static noise when the 950 switches from PCM to DD/DTS or vise versa? I thought i was one of the few with my set-up and this is partly why i sold my 950 previously (want another one now...) The Outlaws don't think it's a problem and maybe it isen't but maybe this is happening to just more than a few of us and should maybe be addressed.... I'm not trying to cause any problems here but if this is the case, the muting on the signal acquisition time should last a half second or so longer.