i know maybe i should have bought a bigger amp, and i know not ideal, but is it bad for sound quality to run the outlaw 7075 at max volume? is it safe for the amp?

Keep in mind that maximum volume on the processor does not equate to maximum power output from the amp. I wouldn't assume that the 7075 is going to run out of steam. Unless there are signs of distortion, clipping, or other stresses appearing at high volume, there would be no detrimental effect to the amp or overall the sound quality.

gonk, i have the 970 pre-amp set at 10.0 volume. isn't that giong to give me the full 75 watts per channel my amp produces? and if not, how do i get max volume from my amp?

If the signal input to the 970 is at a real 'full level' from a source device, the 7075 might reach 75wpc before 10.0 on the 970. If a source device sends a signal to the 970 that is much less than normal, then max volume on the 970 might bring it up somewhat but perhaps not even as high as 75wpc.

A particular volume setting would never equate to a certain number of watts of output - the power needed to create a certain dB level from a speaker depends on too many things (speaker being used and room that it's being used in to name the two biggest contributors), and the source material itself may not contain enough to push the system to extreme levels even at high volumes. You may never get the full 75W per channel of power out of your amp simply because you don't necessarily need that many watts of power to reach the loudest volume level you'd want to hear.

Goomz, it might be a good idea to ask yourself exactly what you mean by "max volume" and why you want it. The only input signals whose levels don't vary are sine waves and pink noise. For anything else, and I mean absolutely anything without exception, the instantaneous level of the signal will vary by at least 100:1 between the softest and the loudest, and for lots of material - classical music being probably the most extreme - the dynamic range (ratio between softest and loudest) may reach 10,000:1. I'm referring to the level of power the amplifier sends to the speaker. So, what does "max volume" mean? Your call.

Looking at the owner’s manual for the 7075, 7125 and 7200, I find that the input voltage needed to obtain the full output voltage is 1 volt for the 7075/7125 and 1.43 volts for the 7200. So if you’ve got a volt-meter that will read AC sine waves and a test disc (or PC running (free) software) to generate a sine wave* somewhere between 40Hz and 120Hz, turn on your 970 and turn off your 7075, then measure the sine wave voltage of the center and/or mains outputs from the 970. If the voltage is nominally 1 volt, then you know that if your 7075 were turned on, you’d be getting nominal full output. The same applies to the 7125. If you upgraded to the 7200, you would need to be able to read a nominal 1.4-volts on the output(s) of the 970 in order to obtain full output from the 7200.

* Please note that the average volt meter, analog or digital, does not measure complex waveforms well - their highest accuracy for AC is as a sine wave near the usual power line frequencies - and that they usually show the RMS value, not the peak value. For pure sine waves, multiply the RMS voltage by the square root of 2 to find out the peak voltage. If your calculator doesn’t have square root, use 1.4 for a close approximation. If the meter shows 0.71 volts RMS, the peak voltage is about 1 volt.

thanks for explaining. now i understand.

just wondering though, i know most of you guys have the bigger and use multiple amps from outlaw, so when watching HT, what Volume DB level is the 990 set at typically?

Mine is usually set between -5 and 0.0 db

like always, thank guys for helping the newb.

With the two-year-old around, I tend to not run it at really high levels like I sometimes used to. DVD's range from -25dB to -15dB depending on the circumstances, although if I've got the house to myself I'll get it up around -5dB or so. Cable TV normally runs at -35dB (my default start-up volume), although if we'll sometimes turn it up to -25dB or -20dB. At the -35dB level, we can still talk over the TV without it being distracting. Music varies really widely. If I'm really sitting down to listen and have the place to myself I'll get up to around -10dB, but a lot of times the music is more background while we are doing other things and it's closer to -30dB. That's all based on calibrating to 75dB with the internal test tones.