Hello--

I recently purchased a 1050 receiver direct from Outlaw and am generally quite happy with it. The sound is much, much purer than with my old Carver, and I've found the interface very intuitive.

One problem, however -- and I'm aware this is more likely than not just something I've screwed up -- is that when the speakers are set to "Small" the unit would occasionally just turn itself off, especially at what seem to be moments of peak power usage. I read the manual, switched the speakers over to "Large" and the problem disappeared. At that point, I was running the system with five speakers: decent Snell monitors up front and in the center, and some teeny, tiny Cambridge Soundworks jobbies as surrounds.

This morning, I added a powerful Snell sub to the system. Following the advice in the manual to let the sub take care of the LF sound, I switched all the other speakers over to "Small", and the problem whereby the unit shut itself off soon reappeared.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer.

My first recommendation (if you haven't done so already) is to call Outlaw (866-688-5292) or e-mail them (info@outlawaudio.com) and get them involved. They've got a good reputation for customer service, and if it is a defect with your unit, you'll need them involved eventually to get it taken care of. I don't have any other bright ideas right off the bat, but I do have a few questions that might help. Is the problem repeatable (always happens at the same point in a movie, or always at that point at a certain volume level)? Does it happen with all sources, or just one?

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

Hi, gonk. Thanks for your input.



Called them and got a msg that they were at a trade show in SF this week. Emailed them as well, per the advice on the msg, but thought responses on this forum might be enlightening. I'm curious if this has happened to others using the 1050....



The problem is replicable and does seem to happen at certain points. It is not source-specific: I encountered it with Hendrix, Rachmaninov, and Coltrane CDs as well as with a few different DVDs.

Thanks again.

I am also seeing this with the 1050 I received only a couple days ago. I am using the1050 to drive B&W DM 602s/ 960, B&W ASW-500 sub, and klipsch quintets for surrounds. Unfortunately, setting all speakers to large and sub off does not fix the problem and I'm not prepared to sacrifice my $400 sub for a $500 receiver.

I'll work with Outlaw if they have a fix, but right now I'm ready to head back to my Denon.

iago,

Please let me know if they tell you anything helpful. All they've told me is that it "might be a speaker short."

Thanks and good luck.

Absolutely the first thing to check. Make sure that the connections are clean at both the speaker end of the cable and the receiver end of the cable. Make sure there are no stray strands that are free to make contact with other wires.

Second, make sure your receiver has enough ventilation. Any place that there is a set of holes on the receiver needs at least 2-3 inches of clearance for ventilation. Do not cover or block these holes or else the receiver may overheat and shut down.

Let me know if either of these suggestions help.

Jeff

I haven't tried audio CDs, but I have not had the problem through my cable box (pro-logic only). I see the problem with coax or toslink using dts or DD. I will call TS today and see if there's any other suggestions.

I will check for speaker shorts tonight.

Thanks for your help, D- and brykle.

W


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"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."
-Holden Caulfield

Hi, Jeff.

Thanks for your advice. The connections appear to be clean all around, as far as I can tell. Two minor anomolies:

1) The fronts are bi-wirable and have these metal "bridges" that I suppose are meant to transfer the signal from the low inputs to the highs or vice-versa. Well, one of the bridges is missing. Dunno if this would have any impact.

2) I just noticed last night that when I attempt to run the unit in stereo mode, the surround speakers continue to play. I can't get them to stop without disconnecting.



I did have a light, cool-running DVD player atop the unit, with perhaps half an inch of clearance. I never imagined heat could be the problem, as the Outlaw runs fairly cool as well. In any case, I've tried it again with the DVD player moved and the problem persists.

Thanks again, and please let me know if there's anything else you can think of.

I'm a novice at all this, so it's especially frustrating to spend thousands of dollars on putting together a system and find that it works less reliably than the old receiver I'd inherited previously....

If you are running bi-wirable speakers with a single cable to the speaker, a missing jumper will leave either your low frequency or high frequency on the speaker mute. I don't think it would create a situation that would directly affect the 1050, but that speaker will not sound right. I'd get some sort of jumper on there (the metal plate, or even a very short speaker cable in its place).

The 1050 runs pretty hot if you obstruct any of the vents on top -- when I had just over an inch clear above mine, the temperature above the 1050 easily rose to around 110F or so if I remember correctly. With 2+" clear, that dropped to somewhere in the 90's. I'd keep the DVD player elsewhere, just to be on the safe side.

The surrounds have me a bit confused. If you put the 1050 in stereo mode, you are still getting sound in the surrounds? You aren't using the 6-channel analog input, are you?

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

Thanks, will do. I did think that side sounded a little off....



This has me confused too! In short, yes, when in stereo mode, I'm still getting sound in the surrounds. What's even weirder is that I used he speaker config tool to set the surrounds to "None", and then got sound from the center channel. When I set the center channel to "None" as well, the sound in the surrounds returned, even though they shouldn't have been recognized by the system! This is thoroughly maddening!

Well, stay calm. Worst case scenario, you know Outlaw will repair or fix the unit for you at no charge. And it's a good unit in general, so if yours happens to have a flaw in it, don't let it spoil your opinion of the receiver. My brand-new Lexicon MC-12 had a serious hardware problem, too. These things happen from time-to-time. As long as you have a good manufacturer (Lexicon in my case, Outlaw in yours), you're covered.

One more thing you might want to try is to verify that you're connecting the right wires to the right terminals. If speakers are being run in parallel off the same input, that would increase the power draw and therefore the heat generated. Also, make sure your surround speakers are hooked up to the correct input, since if you incorrectly hooked them up, that would explain why you're getting surround noise in 2-channel mode.

Jeff

Yes, valid reality check. I'm not really worried that I'll be stuck with a broken receiver, but rather am just irked because I was very excited about getting all this set up, and this has effectively put a damper on it.


One more thing you might want to try is to verify that you're connecting the right wires to the right terminals. If speakers are being run in parallel off the same input, that would increase the power draw and therefore the heat generated. Also, make sure your surround speakers are hooked up to the correct input, since if you incorrectly hooked them up, that would explain why you're getting surround noise in 2-channel mode.


I'll triple-check this (again) when I get home. I don't suspect the explanation is this simple, though that sure would be nice.

While you're back there, you might also glance at the 4ohm/8ohm speaker switch, just to see where it is compared to what you're driving (what are the Snell's rated at?).

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

It's set at 8. All the speakers in the setup -- even the teeny tiny Cambridge Soundworks surrounds -- are rated at 8 ohms.

Been a long time since I posted here...

Sorry to waken the dead with this post but I've been having the same problem recently. My 1050 is shutting itself off at certain points in certain movies. I know this is a safety feature but it's doing it at a really low volume, no where near anything that would damage the speakers. It's at specific points of audio and it will do it over and over at those points. I have a 5 channel speaker setup and they're all set to large.

Any ideas on a way to fix this or turn this feature off?

So this is happening at specific passages on specific discs? It sounds like there may be more going on here than just the 1050's normal safeties. I couple of things that I might try just for curiosity's sake would be to try playing those passages using the analog audio outputs from the DVD player instead of the digital, trying the passages with the sound muted entirely, or (if possible) even trying a different DVD player. Also, I'd double check all my speaker wiring (might even try disconnecting the speakers and playing the passages) to make sure there's not a wiring mistake there.

Exactly, specific bursts of volume on specific discs. Most recently, Back to the Future II everytime the car burst into a new time. Also Fire in the Sky during the "encounter" scene. I forgot to mention I'm using optical inputs. I'll try your suggestions but unfortunately I sent both those discs back already (Netflix).

I'll try all of your suggestions once I find another disc that this problem occurs on. I also should point out that I've had the same speaker setup and wiring for 9 months and only in the past two weeks has this started happening.

After I do some testing I'll let you guys know the results. Thanks.