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sure...ask/answer/inform/be informed IS the general outline of this forum. it's the place to get to the bottom of any sort of 950 or related industry question. with people like sanjay, charlie, soundhound, KCB, SLL, etc., it's kind of crazy not to ask.

my stance on bass management and dvd-a/sacd with the 950:

the 950's analog BM has double bass when switched to 'off' (because 80hz and below will then be fed to the 5 satellites AND the subwoofer). here are the facts:

1. if you choose to shut the BM off, the low frequency dynamic range of dvd-a/sacd formats WILL exceed the capabilities of your satellite (fl, c, fr, sl, sr) speakers.

2. the correct placement of a single subwoofer in a given room is very difficult because of peaks and/or valleys in the response curve caused by room modes (the reaction of soundwaves in a given shaped confined space). at least, you have the option of moving your sub to find the best overall sound at the listening position. if you shut the BM off (assuming you would NOT have double bass), you now have 6 'subwoofers' all at different places in the room...a room mode excitation/phase problem nightmare...AND 5 of them can only each be precisely placed in the room with no option to move them around.

3. if you ignore facts 1 and 2, even if you didn't have the double bass situation, you would lose some bass content and hear a distorted low freq playback at the listening position.

these facts don't excuse the double bass situation, which is a mistake. they only make it a moot point, since a fixed, single high pass point for all satellites and a properly placed sub with a corresponding low pass point is the best playback method (this is also how they are monitored during the mixing of the discs) for dvd-a/sacd multi-channel music in the case of the 950 and a single subwoofer with these formats.

this makes it easy....dvd-a/sacd are decoded inside the player, sent out of the player via 6 rca cables to the 950's corresponding 6 analog inputs. switch bass management to 'on' (on the 950's rear panel). adjust your sub's low pass point to 80hz. play a song you like in either format that has a repeating single bass note type of riff while sitting where you listen. switch the sub's phase switch and play the same riff again. leave the phase switch at the position that plays the loudest bass. calibrate the 6 speakers as to volume level using a radio shack spl meter. i'll leave the speaker volume calibration details to someone else if anyone asks. in fact, each of these steps can easily be gone over in greater detail. this will lead to the greatest possible enjoyment of any dvd-a/sacd/950/5 satellite/1 sub setup.