I recently purchased a new dvd player capable of SACD and DVD-A playback. It is the Pioneer 563a which is supposed to have bass management, but very limited. My question; the 1050's manual states that if the 6.1 function is engaged while in direct mode, the bass management dsp will be functional. Has anyone tried this with SACD/DVD-A and what were the results? I would prefer to use the 1050's bass management if possible.

Thanks!

I have never tried it (didn't get DVD-A until after I had my 950, and didn't have a sub until even later), but I do remember people using the Surround 6.1 mode with the 5.1 analog input successfully. It should work fine. I'd be curious to know what sort of differences you hear when switching between direct and direct w/6.1.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

Thanks for the reply, Gonk! The sad thing is, I have had the player for nearly two weeks and have not had the time to hook it up. It will replace my aging Panasonic A310- a model you now well. There are certain discs from the library that cause pixelation and freeze-up which I'm hoping will disappear with the new unit(plus I'll get to zoom, zoom, zoom!Sorry Mazda!).

I dried the 6.1 in direct mode on my system. But the subwoofer did not come on in this mode. I still have to use the bass management in my Sony SACD player.

You are correct MCH....I think! I set the outlaw to 6.1 while in direct and could not tell whether it was doing anything or not. I only have a stereo SACD so far, Peter Gabriel's Shaking the Tree, so I cannot comment on 5.1 sound. If I set speakers to LARGE or small w/sub I get bass from sub. If I tell the player "OFF" for sub, bass goes to main speakers. I set everything to large, no sub and got nothing from sub with 6.1 surround on. Is there something I'm missing in the setup in order for the 1050 to handle all bass management? The sound was very good from the SACD but I wonder if it could be improved by a setup I am not doing.

Well, I got to the bottom of the 5.1 direct w/6.1 mode bass management issue. Turns out that there is NO bass management regardless of 6.1 on or off, it is typical straight bypass. Steve @ Outlaw, using a 1050 they had on hand, attempted to produce the effect which the manual states(using 6.1 while in direct mode to activate bass management)and could not do it either. Upon further investigation, Steve discovered that this was a misprint in the manual. I wonder how many 1050 owners actually knew about this or took the time to research it? It seems odd that Outlaw would not have discovered this error and posted something about it. I guess that's what the ICBM is for(besides an ad-on sale!)

That confirms my findings on my unit; no bass management in Direct Mode. I rely on my Sony SACD player for that. It actually does a very nice job. Listened to David Bowie, Reality, last night. Nice tight bass with my Tempest.
cheers