Venturing briefly off topic, is this a recent trend, Sanjay? Who's doing the marketing?

I hear it mostly from dealers and salespeople, and it still keeps popping up on various forums.

Thankfully, the trend is waning amongst manufacturers. Seven years ago, when Meridian and Lexicon introduced room correction to their respective surround processors, all they talked about was correcting in the time domain (e.g., reducing long decay times) instead of improving the frequency response. Soon after, Audyssey was separating itself from the competition by promoting their ability to measure and correct in the time domain (you can even see it in the literature for the SVS subwoofer equalizer that Audyssey made). Nowadays, those companies barely mention time domain correction, instead just talk about overall improvements.

The good news is that the more research that is done into room correction, the less complicated it seems to become. The most recent round of blind testing from Harman demonstrated that listener preference for room correction came down to two main factors: a perceptually flat target curve (as opposed to measured flat) and smoothness across the range (the fewer peaks and dips, the more it was preferred).

I have the 195 lb SVS PB12-Ultra/2 now, and one obstacle to getting two subs was that I had it in my mind to get rid of that one for 2 new "matching" something elses. But I've come across mentions now that you can successfully use 2 different subs together. So ... maybe someday sooner. One issue is that right now, admittedly with the lowly RS meter, I have measured response more or less flat down to 11 Hz. (Room/corner gain.) If I get another sub, I lose some of that because the SVS's output would be reduced by 3 dB or so by adding the other one. (But yeah, after integration, maybe I get smoother response up where I can actually hear it. ) And then the discussion here about how to EQ two. If just EQ'ing two together can work as well as individually then plus the total, that saves me some money too because I wouldn't have to bother with the individual EQ part. All things to consider. I suppose the bottom line, to bring this back to the Outlaw 978, is that with the Outlaw SSP and XT32, that is a genuinely valid way to get started with a 2 sub set up.

Hey Outlaws

I don't know if this was asked before but anyone have any guesses as to what the price may be when (if) the 978 is finally released?

Thanks

I don't think we have an official answer on that, but I'd guess between $1,300 and $1,500. I could certainly be wrong on the low side, but don't think it would be more on the high side.

Thanks Gonk.

I was thinking maximum $1599 which is the cost of the 7500 I bought but under $1500 sounds "affordable".

Now for your expert advice. I am in a query about my sound improvement.

What would be my next best improvement?

Firstly I have an Onkyo 906 used as a pre/pro driving my Outlaw 7500. I also am running a Samsung BD-C6500 7.1 BD player. I have the operation hooked as 7.1 analogue, since my HDMI board was fried, as all 906 owners are suffering. The cost of repair to my 906 is prohibitive.

Now for the improvement.

Choices are as follows.....

1. Keep the 906 and get an Oppo BD-93 and hook up HDMI for
sound and picture.

2. Keep the 906 and get an Oppo BD-95 and hook up HDMI for
for picture and analogue 7.1 for sound.

3. Sell the 906 and get the long-awaited Outlaw 978 pre/pro
and hook up the Samsung HDMI for both sound and picture.

4. Any other suggestions in line with where I'm focusing on that I have not have thought of.

Part of my thinking is the 4k upconversion chips on the Oppos and the 978. Would such upconversion improve Bluray or is it only for DVDs. Would they make a difference?

If your choice is number 3...then what sound improvement should I expect with the 978 pre/pro over the 906 AVR when driving the awesome 7500?

I don't want to be pumping a lot more money.

Thanks

I would tough it out until the 978 comes out. It sounds like the 906 is on its last legs, but maybe not. The 978 will give you the flexibility to hook up anything you want. Since there is no 4K material out there, I would keep the c6500 until it died, especially if you want to save $$$ for the future.

XenonMan you are THE END!

Thank you for your great input. I don't know too much on these things which is why I am learning. I will go with your advice and wait for the 978. Would balanced connection from the 978 to the 7500 and also from the 978 to my subwoofer (SVS PB 13 ultra w Sledge amp) be the better way to go?

Thanks

Balanced connections probably won't make much difference unless your cable run is so long that you pick up noise with RCA connections.

With your HDMI board dead in the 906, aren't you going to have to run HDMI to the TV and multichannel analog to the 906?

This is a good solution for a few reasons. First, the BDP-93 has a very respectable analog section, not to mention support for almost every optical disc format you can find. Second, it gives you a player that can be used later with a different surround processor.


It's an extra $500. Granted, I adore my BDP-95, so I can't call this a bad choice in any way. Once you replace the 906 with something new (like a Model 978), you may not continue to use the BDP-95's analog output - with the 978 in particular, I'd think you'd likely prefer to switch to HDMI audio since the 978 is also using an analog section based on ESS chips. At that point, you'll be leaving a fancy and expensive analog section unused.


If the Model 978 were available today, I'd certainly do this. With the Model 978 still in development, you have to be willing to stay with the 906/Samsung combo for a while longer.


There's a hybrid solution, of course: sell the Samsung to help fund a BDP-93, then later sell the 906 to help fund a Model 978. The move to a BDP-93 would give you sound that's equal to or better than the 906 gave you when the HDMI board worked (based on experience I've had with an Onkyo 885 - processor cousin to the 906's predecessor, the 905 - and both the BDP-83 and the BDP-93), and the BDP-93 would still be a good partner for the Model 978 via HDMI later.


The video processing doesn't scale up to 4k, which is OK since no commercial displays work with 4k. (4K resolution is 4096 by 3072 pixels.) The processing does provide output up to 1080p (1920x1080). That is the resolution that Blu-ray uses, as well, so the processing benefits for Blu-ray are limited - mainly the benefit is coordination with displays that run at lower resolutions, since the player or processor uses a video processing chip that is better than most TV's include and thus can more gracefully scale down. The biggest benefit is for DVD's, though, which must be both deinterlaced and scaled.


We don't know what the Model 978 will sound like, so we can't make any definitive comments about benefits relative to existing hardware.