Hi boss,
I'll try your suggestions later in the week, but I did a quick listen after setting the SACD player to direct mode to bypass its internal BM, and it did seem to lower the bass output. I'll need to do a more carefull listening session to be sure.

As for lowering the sub to 45 Hz, I was under the impression that setting the crossover to anything other than 80 Hz would negate the analog bass management for SACD, no? Right now I have the sub crossover set to max (90 Hz) and let the 950 handle the crossover duties.

I got the Frieds from a friend who was moving. I had never heard of the brand before, but turns ouot I was living only a few blocks from their main office in Philadelphia. They still sound wonderful even though they're about 20 years old, no mods. They're a transmission line design and rated at 30 - 20kHz +/- 2 dB and 90 dB sensitivity. Excellent midrange.

The SACDs I have include most of the Alisson Krauss titles which are all really excellent. I'm looking forward to her live recordings, which are supposed to be coming out in SACD and DVD-video later this year. BTW, you can get these cheaper directly from Rounder than I've seen at other online vendors. I'll be getting the Bela Fleck and Jerry Douglas SACDs from Water Lily. I have the redbook of Bela's Tabula Rasa, which is already excellent for CD, can't wait to hear the SACD of that. I've got five of the Stones' newly released and poorly marketed SACD/CDs. Quite impressive, though they really accentuate the inferiority of the recording equipment on the older discs. I've got a few DVD-As that I've gotten to reexperience through my RP-91, and especially like the Bela Fleck Tales from the Acoustic Planet II, although some purists might not like the use of the surrounds for some of the instrumentalists, but you can also listen in stereo. Both are much more musical and precise than the original CD.

I'm by no means a golden eared audiophile, but the 950 through the DACs sounds almost as good as the Denon used as a preamp via the analog bypass. Through the 950's analog bypass music is really more lifelike, especially with the SACDs and DVD-As and some recent well-engineered CDs such as Norah Jones and Nickel Creek.

BTW, in case anyone's keeping score, I have to be about 5 or 6 inches from the speakers to hear a soft hiss at +10 dB in analog mode