So, I got the 950 and 755 combo finally last evening, after reading about the 950 for months and even passing up my original pre-order.

It took me a good 2.5 hours to rip my HT rack apart and rebuild it with new technology, it's bigger, stronger, faster...

Initial impressions. The 950 is great thus far, far superior to the Marantz AV600/Technics SH_AC600D combo I had been using before. I like the fact that Outlaw does not require the use of the On Screen Display function to configure the 950. I'm out of inputs and I don't want to do video switching unless there's no other choice.

One thing I noticed, is the Technics, a comfortable listening level was around -30/-25, where on the 950, it is more like -20. It must just be a difference in the scale setting between components. But it made it tougher for me to figure out equivalent listening levels.

One gotcha, as I was configuring my digital inputs, I was trying to set my Dish default as Dolby Digital. However, the dish was on, and was not outputting DD at that time, so the 950 wouldn't let me select that as the default. I thought that was interesting. Plus, I'm not getting any sound from that input right now, so I'm not sure what is going on there...

Also, since I'm only in 5.1 mode, does this mean the 950 will not allow me to select DD-EX or DTS-ES? I was trying Attack of the Clones, and it auto picked DD and wouldn't allow me to select EX even those the disk is in EX. That's normal I expect, just asking.

Anyway, it sounds great, I'm not sure the 755 was a major upgrade over the Marantz MA500 monoblocks I was using, but it sure is easier and cleaner wiring everything up! I'm going to live with the 755 for awhile and see how I like it...

New electronics are so exciting, sorry if I'm repeating things everyone already knows...

Downsides thus far. I don't like the source up/down arrows, I'd rather have a direct selection on the front panel. Also, the display is a little small, could be bigger/easier to read. My suggestion would be to center the volume in the screen, and move the input selection and processing type to the corners. Those could be slightly smaller, since they're generally viewed once when you first start using it...

I'm sure I'll have more as I start using it and getting it all dialed in...

...Jim

Congrats. Enjoy a movie or two for me -- for some reason, my system has been pretty adamant about not turning on until MLGW restores power to the neighborhood. Equally bad, the air conditioner is in on the conspiracy, too. Lousy 60+MPH straight-line winds...

Since you do not have surround back speakers, the DD-EX, DTS-ES, and CES modes will not be available, as you had already guessed. That's normal.

I haven't used a satellite box with the 950, but the 950 will only allow you to select a surround mode if the active source is compatible with it. If you have a DD signal from the satellite box and select DD, the next time you get a PCM signal it will switch to PLII I believe. If your satellite box is like some digital cable boxes, it will not provide a digital audio signal for stations that don't broadcast in DD -- in which case, having the 950 set to the digital input will give you exactly nothing (it won't switch to analog when the digital input is inactive). I don't think satellite boxes are as bad about that as digital cable boxes, but it might be a useful tidbit for you.

I believe that RAF (one of the 950 beta testers) replaced a few Marantz MA500's with a 755 and found it to be a pretty comparable setup in his system.

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

Working with a satellite box, I have found that the best way to go is to set up for automatic and live with the 5 second-ish signal lock time on channel change. It has worked out great for me when flipping between 5.1 and 2.0 broadcast. Likely, you are getting nothing because you have it set to 5.1 or PCM and you are receiving the other.

Also, on the volume thing...have you calibrated to 75 dB with the test signal? I find my regular listening is between -35 and -45

[This message has been edited by Oaf (edited July 24, 2003).]

I did a quick pass at the calibration, had to turn most channels down a bit, but I'm not 100% sure I was doing it right (was a little tired at midnight), so I gotta run through again. I may have the settings of on the SPL meter.

Thanks for the ideas around the satellite box, I'll look at the settings and retry!

...Jim

Actually, it turns out that you need to actually plug in the optical cable INTO the 950 for it to work properly...

Who knew...

Lovin' this combo so far!

Cya,

...Jim

As far as the volume setting goes, I have the same levels. Set at 0db and calibrated at 75db, most of my dvds are played back around -20, cds -30, satellite -15, vcr -30, tapes -30. These settings are higher than my H/K, (the H/K only went down to -64), but so what? In time I just re-learned the settings and now I base it on how comfortable the sound is and not on the display's numerical info. Have fun with your system.

DOH!!!

Hope you enjoy your new 950!

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Philip Hamm