The 1050's Surround 6.1 processing was my first taste of 6.1/7.1, and when I first used DD EX with the Outlaw 950 I came to the conclusion that Surround 6.1 did a pretty respectable job of imitating the original (which was not available for licensing when the 1050 was designed, and only made it into the 950 at the last minute). It is possible to drive a pair of 8-ohm speakers with the 1050's rear center channel output (instructions in the manual, in fact), and having the rear center available is the sure-fire way to avoid any problems with the EX-flagged discs that have caused the 1050 some trouble. For your listening demands, the lack of PL II would probably be a non-issue, and the 1050's Surround 6.1 will get you a pretty decent clone of DD EX.

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