I have a 950/770 combo. I've connected my Panasonic RP-91 DVD-Audio player to the 950 via both the analog 5.1 multichannel connections and optical digital. What is bothering me is that the multi-channel bypass mode is significantly louder than the 5.1 decoding from the optical digital at the same master volume level (when playing a DVD audio disc).

A buddy of mine has the same DVD player, a Dennon Pre, and the Outlaw 755 amp. When switching between the mutichannel analog and the digital decoding we find that they are at exactly the same volume. That is what I would expect.

I've been feeling that the Outlaw preamp was quiet. I've bumped the channels up in the calibration screens, but that seems to make both the analog pass-through and the digital louder, preserving the staggering difference between the volume of the two signals. Even so, the additional volume gained for the 950 decoding doesn't come close to pushing my system like the analog pass-through.

It feels like something is wrong somewhere. Am I on crack, or is this expected behavior?

brendon

Try going into your DVD player's level trims, and turning down the output untill it more or less matches the digital level.

What I should have said is that for DVD-Audio/SACD, you need to calibrate your player like you calibrated the 950 (with the Radio Shack meter).
Once your 950 is calibrated, select 6Ch analog (where your player's 5.1 analog outs are connected. Go into the players menu, set all speakers to "large". Then set the levels for each channel to match what ever you used for the 950 (70db ?).
This way, SACD/DVD-A levels are set by the player, and bass management is done in the 950.
For digital inputs, both are done in the 950.

Hope this helps.