Hi All:

This is my firt post. I just received my 950/770 combo yesterday. Have it hooked up and it sounds quite nice: clear, flat, and detailed with good oomph (sorry, not very audiophilish terminology). I'm replacing a Denon 3803 that I purchased in January of this year (anyone know someone who wants to buy one?)

The Denon had a feature called "pure direct" that bypassed the digital circuits in stereo mode. I liked this for listening to most of my music. With the Denon, in pure direct, you could listen to the two fronts coupled with the subwoofer or not (if you disabled it in the setup).

I can't seem to get the 950 to allow me to do this. It only allows me to use the stereo bypass mode into the two front channels without the subwoofer. I have Axiom M80ti's in the front. They're good for most music, except I do listen to some music that goes lower than 30 Hz, like organ music and would appreciate the subwoofer during these times. Also, if you used a small speaker/ subwoofer combo for your main channels, you could not use stereo bypass mode because you would only then have the small speakers operational without the low end of the sub. Maybe I'm missing something. I could not find any help in the manual regarding this.

Can anyone offer any suggestions, or perhaps there is another pre/pro out there that allows one to listen to stereo with the sub?

Thanks.

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dian

You might try plugging the two channels of your CD player into the left and right 5.1 multichannel bypass inputs. These can incorporate an 80Hz crossover for the subwoofer which is engaged by the small toggle switch on the back panel.

If my understanding of the 950 is correct, stereo bypass mode bypasses the 950's DSPs. However, low frequency signals are still filtered (in parallel?) and presented at the subwoofer output. As such, a subwoofer should definitely function when the 950's in bypass mode (it certainly works like that in my system). It may be the case that you have to set the front l/r settings to "small."

You've got an interesting question, and one that fortunately has been kicked around a fair bit here in the Saloon. With the 950's stereo bypass mode, the left and right channels get a true bypass signal -- full-range, no manipulation. At the same time, though, there is a somewhat undocumented bit of activity going on in the background if you have the mains set to "small." Specifically, with the mains set to "small" and stereo bypass engaged, a copy of the signal is run through A/D conversion and on to the bass management, where the specified crossover point is used to produce a signal for the subwoofer to use. So to do what you are interested in doing, you will need to set your mains to small (which you may already have done).

Part of why this was originally discussed was the "double bass" concern -- the mains get the full range while some of that material is also delivered to the sub. The method that soundhound suggested would avoid this, as the bass management there includes both high-pass and low-pass rather than only the digital domain low-pass of the "small" stereo bypass approach.

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

OK, I feel dumb. I called Outlaw this morning and they Scott, very helpful, told me that I need to set my front speakers to small, as I had them on large. Problem solved. Thanks for your replies.

Now, since some of you have brought it up, How can I damage my front speakers if I have them set to small and the crossover at 40 or 60 Hz? In stereo bypass, does the full frequency get sent to the front L & R and the bass crossover to the sub anyway?

BTW, I think the comination of the 950 and the 770 is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

I've been in the UPS try and return mode since January. I have not broken down to visit the chiropractor yet, however, after the 770 (GOD! This is even heavier than Hsu's VTF3 subwoofer) I might have to breakdown. The amp is quiet and the music sounds VERY CLEAN. So, for me, this is a big improvement over using the Denon 3803. Before I had this combo, I had my front two channels driven by Odyssey's Stratos. A beautiful and powerful amp and I must admit a little of something than the 770, but it caused an unacceptable transformer hum through my speakers, audible from about 3 feet. It was not a ground loop either. I'm so glad I gave Outlaw another look.

There was a ground loop with the 770 until I used a cheater plug. I'm only afraid that I might damage the unit by cheating the ground this way. Scott suggested I use an isolation transformer before my cable TV input from the wall to see if this would eliminate the ground loop, hence allowing me to take off the cheater plug.

Thanks again,

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dian

Sorry for the typos etc. Did not proof reed, I mean read.

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dian

My Son in law is looking for one. He wants seperates but does not think we can afford it even with me giving him a Carver AV505 5 channel amp. He wants a Denon or Yamaha with pre outs where he can upgrade later. Contact me about price and shipping if you still have it.

Larry
lbearden@bham.rr.com

First time poster, not yet an owner.

So, just to clarify the OPPOSITE of what dian asked, if I have a decent set of "full rangeable" fronts (Linn Keilidhs), I can run 2 channel stereo to them, with the DSP and bass management bypassed, and get a full range signal without the subwoofer used at all? Can this be set as the default for the CD input?
I want to be able to do this, but to use all six (eventually 8) speakers for movie watching - ie, sub for movies, no sub for music.

Short answer: yes, you can use mains without a sub for two-channel.

Long answer: there are a few ways to do this. The easiest is to leave your mains set to "large" all the time and leave the sub on. This would send full-range data to the mains all the time; the sub would still get the LFE channel and (I believe) the low frequency from the small speakers (center, surrounds) during movies. If you want the mains "small" during movie watching so the sub is responsible for everything below the crossover points, you would want to switch the mains from "large" to "small" between music and movies -- I haven't tried it, but I suspect a couple of macros could be put together to automate this process. (A third option if you are using stereo bypass mode for CD's would be to leave the mains small all the time and turn off the sub when listening to CD's.)

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

Ahh, I see what you're saying - the large setting applies to all modes: If I don't want a sub to take the signal from the fronts with music, I have to have that same setting with movies too. Makes sense I guess. Would be nice to have two settings, but I guess you can't have everything.

Thanks gonk.