Well, it sounds like the hissing issue has finally been resolved. Now, barring any potential issues with the center channel output, my only other concern was the length of time it takes the 950 to lock on to certain digital signals and or the temporary loss of signal lock during certain operations -- such as changing DBS channels. Has anyone found this issue to be particularly annoying? Does it ever occur during DVD playback? How does the signal acquisition time compare with common AV receivers?

The 950 takes a couple seconds for the signal to make it's way through the various DSP/switching ICs. My Sony pre/pro takes about the same amount of time. It's not really bothersome, but I wish it were a shorter time for the switching to take place.

Within track 8 of Pearl Jam's Riot Act, and in between track 8 and 9, the 950 loses, and then has to re-acquire the signal.

It's a good test, because two different 950's have done it in my system, with 2 different (Pioneer) DVD players.

*This*, I can live with (as compared to hiss).

Maybe the next thing that gets "fixed"? But I reckon we won't get to swap units out for this one...

Out of maybe 20 DVDs and 50 CDs I've put through the 950, only this one and "Sharks" by UFO has exhibited the problem. (Well, losing the signal within a CD or DVD.)

Kevin:

Those particular CDs might have been mastered incorrectly, with the writing laser turned off between those tracks. This is the familiar "disc at once" option being turned off when writing CDs. Mistakes can happen, even with 'professionals'

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited January 03, 2003).]

SH- That's why I wasn't *that* hyper about the UFO disc (Mike Varney records or something in LA). But the Pearl Jam is a major release. Plus, it loses the signal *in* track 8. Don't think that's the mastering.

If ever I get motivated to hook my Sony pre/pro back up, I'll let everyone know if that loses the signal. But in over 4 yrs with many many CDs, never happened once with that one.

Could it be related to the CD player tripping up on some form of copy protection?


[This message has been edited by dmeister (edited January 03, 2003).]

That seems kind of surprising to me, given how fast the processor should be. Speaking of which, what kind of processing power does the 950 employ? Many manufacturers love to tout their various two or three 32-bit processors, but I couldn't find much information from Outlaw.

The processor might have to load firmware to accommodate a switch to another surround format, or possibly it is just an active mute as the inputs are switched. Only making somewhat educated guesses...

I don't believe that Pearl Jam disc has any copy protection. I know that the UFO disc doesn't.

My theory is that at least for the Pearl Jam examples, is that there is a "timeout" for the 950 to lose the signal. If the time out was lengenthed slightly, should take care of the problem. (More time allowed when a signal isn't present before the 950 loses the lock in the 1st place.) But, might make *switching* locks from one source to another slower.

So with the hiss solved, the next thing to tackle is the delay. The folks over at Sunfire had the same problem and were able to fix it with a flash upgrade. Any chance that is coming down the pike for the 950? I do find the problem particularly annoying when using the FF function in Tivo (which turns off the digitial output temporarily when skipping forward, back or pausing). Also, (1) any fixes for the pop caused by switching the ditigal sources (again, problem when using Tivo) and (2) any fix allowing for the use of Large front speakers without causing the sub to disable?