Hello all, I have been lurking around here for a while, trying to see if others have had similar problems with their 970. I have had my 970 for about 6 months and overall, I am very pleased with the sound, but..... the no audio issue, processor freeze up, "pocessor noise" and as of yesterday, distortion at -7 while trying to play a movie has made me leery to even use the 970 anymore. I have vintage era infinity speakers with the emit planar tweeter and they are no longer produced, so if something happens to them, thats the end of it.
I have talked to the guys at outlaw, and was given some things to try, such as trying the optical out of dvd to aux or cd in on processor, bypassing video-this doesnt work to well if I want to watch a movie. The other involved the purchase of a digital coax cable, as if I need anymore cables.
I am at a loss of what to do. I like the capabilities of the 970 but if I run the risk of destroying my other gear it just isnt worth it. Please help.

You say you experienced distortion -- was it an electronic blare out of one of your speakers?

what happened was,as the movie swithced from 2 channel to dolby digital, i got distortion from all channels. I have experienced "processor noise" in the past but that was not what occured yesterday. I had a friend over at the time who has been into audio equipment from car to home and in his opinion, it was pure distortion. He was actually the one who turned me on to outlaw, but after witnessing several of my issues with the 970 he has decided to stick with rotel. Again I like the capabilties but it is becoming more of a pain than a pleasure. If there is anything else I could provide, just ask as I am not to sure what all to include to fix or identify the problem. Thank you for your time.

Check out the thread "Test Tone Problems" on the 970 page, and you can compare what happened to me. Unfortunately, in my case the tweeter was fried outright and I later had to replace the woofer on the affected speaker. I don't mean to scare you away from the 970, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I thought you should know.


Have you double checked to make sure you have the current firmware? If so, be sure to restore your factory defaults.

Apart from that, I am making a point to be careful to turn the volume way down before I switch surround modes, inputs, fire up a DVD, etc.

It's pure speculation on my part, but I have observed that the no audio issue stems from the processor trying determine what surround mode to apply to the incoming signal, hence the tendency to appear when switching TV stations or inputs on the fly. Since the feedback/distortion issue is a no audio-related problem, this precautionary step is a good habit to get into.

The Kappa 7s bring back some fond memories. We used to sell the Kappa Series, RS-1Bs and even had the big Infinity Reference Series III in the front room of the shop. We often had problems with blown EMIMs and EMITs on those, so to quote Bill Clinton, "I feel your pain."

If I recall the Kappas had those big, carbon-fiber injected woofers that put out killer bass. I bet they rock on movies.

Thanks for the reply videodrome. Yes I regularly have that problem when in the calibration mode. There was no pattern evident but it would do it probably 40% of the time when in that set-up mode. The other problems that were occuring included, when powering up the 970 it would either completely freeze up, or when trying to turn up the volume there would be a delay of several seconds and then the volume would jump up. The guys at outlaw are really trying to help with the situation, so I am confident that it will get worked out. As to my speakers, I have the kappa 7's for fronts, kappa 5's for rears(both sets have the injection molded graphite woofer) and for the center I am using an earlier version of the kappas, rs5b-it is a 3 way with the emit tweeter, polydome midrange but uses poly cones for the dual 6 1/2's. I have always preferred a sealed enclosure, which is why I stuck with the kappas for so long, not to mention the sweet sweet sound that the emit tweeter is capable of! Thanks again for you time.

You sound to be in the same boat as I am currently, kappa. I bought a 970 about a month ago, and right off the bat had the no-audio/jumping volume bug. It could very well kill my speakers, I have no doubt of that, so for the moment I'm using my old processor in place of it.

Talking to Outlaw, I'm basically waiting for the long-fabled firmware patch to come out and fix it. I got my "trial period" extended, so I can still send it back if they don't get the firmware out soon, so we'll have to see.

This sums it up well, for me as well, eh:

There is so little else out there that can do what the 970 can do, at that price, that getting rid of it seems awkward, but if it's going to blow up my speakers...