My first 950 had some hiss ,but not really bad,I decided to change for the red dot,and to my surprise,the hiss was terribly loud.A few days ago, I decided to play with the pre. My first 950 calibration was to put the volume in -10, then with the spl, the test tone showed 74-75 at the fronts. at 0db, and I calibrated the other speakers based on the main at 0db ,75db(spl) and vol of -10.
With the red dot, I did the same, but the spl showed around 67db,I made no changes on the 950, and the result was a high hiss.Then I decided to increase the gain on the 950 to reach, With the vol in -10,75db on spl,my fronts went from 0 to +3, and I calibrated the others to match the fronts. final result NO HISS.

I did some experiments too.

I think that I also remembered that SH and Will noticed the converse: that when they increased cal or trim settings, that the hiss got worse.

For me? Nada. No diff. I tried bumping up all my settings by 4 dB. No change that I could tell.

Then I just played with the rear center, the worst channel I have for hiss. I tried -15 dB and then +10 dB. No change! I was kind of surprised.

Then for kicks, I tried muting the 950. The hiss was still there. I thought jeez, has the problem all along been with my amp/speaker combination? But then I tried 2 things that originally convinced me where the problem was. I turned the 950 off, leaving my amps on, and the hiss disappeared. Then I turned the 950 back on, and no hiss. I only get hiss after a live source has played. (After the 950 leave "global" mute mode.)

I think I have convinced myself that in my system, there's an interaction somewhere between the 950 and my amps, or between the 950 and my speakers, or between the 950 and the particular speakers *and* amps I have. But remember, I did not have this problem with the Sony TA-E9000ES I had in my system before the 950. Luckily, Outlaw is continuing to work on the problem.

I used to be positive the hiss did not get worse with increasing the cal or trim settings. But when SoundHound dropped by, he showed me a mode where the hiss level did indeed get worse at high volume and/or trim.

Here's how to do it: Cycle the digital select knob until it says analog. (This is *not* the same as pressing stereo bypass button to get analog. This is different.) Anyway, once the digital select knob is cycled to analog (assuming your surround mode is something digital), just increase and decrease the volume knob towards MAX and, loe and behold: there's even more hiss. Granted the hiss increase is subtle but at least on my 950, it's noticably there.

Will- You're absolutely right!

Simple 2 channel stereo analog (not bypass) doesn't exhibit it. But if I switch to 6 channel stereo I can hear the hiss increase when I increase the volume. In analog mode but not digital.

Plus, for the 6 channel stereo mode at least, along with an increase in hiss (in my rear center at least, I don't have the other 3 channel amp on), I also get a accompanying increasing in buzzing. (Now I remember someone else mentioning this.)

The plot thickens... So perhaps DSP with analog sources is something to avoid. That'd be kind of rare anyway.

I played around with my trim settings, though I cannot remmeber if it is was in analog mode w/CD input or DD mode with DVD input (or both). Regardless, changing my trim from -1 to +10 to -15 made no change to my hiss.

"Plus, for the 6 channel stereo mode at least, along with an increase in hiss (in my rear center at least, I don't have the other 3 channel amp on), I also get a accompanying increasing in buzzing. (Now I remember someone else mentioning this.)"

Kevin - I'm hearing a buzz/more of a whistle in 5 channel stereo mode. I posted this in the other thread. Not sure what it is.

Your comment about "interaction" amongst you amp/speakers/950 is valuable, cause I really belive this, to a large extend, is whats causing so many discussions on the 950. Appears some simply might have faulty units (those hearing hiss over source material - your rear channel might be included here, but I assume its pretty close to your seating area, and my front center is my worst hisser), but playing around/trying different things may improve things. Isnt it kinda like "tweaking" everybody loves doing that:>

Yeah, I also believe that Outlaw really doesn't have a QA problem, just that there are so many different combinations of gear out there that the 950 is mated with, that *that's* why the "big" variation in hiss. I still believe that most people don't have the problem, but with any gear, if you go looking for anomalies, you will find them...

Oh, I can't hear the hiss over source material unless I turn it down really low, *and* turn my head so that an ear faces my rear center. All my speakers hiss to a level that's audible to about 2 ft. (Worse than the Sony TA-E9000ES the 950 replaced, but I consider that acceptable.) For whatever reason, maybe it's the most sensitive speaker, my rear center is the worst.

Did I mention that in spite of the small hiss problem that I have, that I still really like the 950? The remote is ergonomically challenged in my opinion, and there are some quirks with how the 950 works (how it chooses the DSP mode for a CD 2 channel PCM source after playing a 5.1 channel DVD for example), but it's still a great value.

AJ, you have to follow exactly how Will described. Must be a 2 channel analog input. And must be in a DSP mode.


[This message has been edited by Kevin C Brown (edited October 06, 2002).]

Another variation is Soundhound found a measurably different amount of noise (e.g. hiss) in my red dot 950 compared to his red dot 950. In addition, I've cycled a few 950's through my system and each one has slightly different hiss characteristics. The difference wasn't major, but noticable none-the-less. These unit-by-unit variations don't affect the 950's listenability much I'd imagine, but they are variations nevertheless.

Kevin, I think you mentioned the Outlaws feel 98-99% the users of the 950 users don't have a hiss problem.

By the way, Kevin, did you get your new 950 from the Outlaws?

has anyone tried using differend power conditioners and/or power cords to try and see if maybe the hiss is coming from the power source? Sometimes this works, and maybe the Outlaw is just that much more sensitive to the irregularities in some power sources.

In my humble experience, power conditioners, and/or power cords do nothing to reduce the level of hiss in a component. It may effect other things, but not hiss level.