I am sure that Outlaw is taking into consideration likely uses of the 976. I expect that this close to launch, the beta testing is almost complete.

I agree with you Xenon. In the reply to the mod from the Emotiva forums Outlaw was quite clear about their view of using buyers as testers. Without full function testing I doubt Outlaw would have announced the new unit.

I had something more like this in mind. At some point someone shopping for a new pre/pro will google "Outlaw Audio 976 peq" (or something like that). How cool would it be if the first return was here to the Saloon where people who have hands on time with the unit could help answer questions?

Many of those questions will likely be answered by the user manual. Outlaw has been very good about building a usable manual which details the operation of their equipment. Maybe we could get a sneak peek at the manual once everything is ready for release. They typically post the manual when the machine hits the product page and it has in the past been available for people to use before purchase. Once users get some experience they will post on the product forum for future users to review. One of the things I see all the time on the various forums are posts from people who did not review the available documentation before purchase and then find the equipment lacking in some respect. The various reviews from the industry mags will also be posted by Outlaw on the product page with links to allow folks to get all the info up front.

I am looking forward to the 976 since I was an original 950 owner and that unit was quite good for me back in it's time. I have never run REW and I am looking forward as well to trying this out with the 976. I read the rew guide and it says using the hdmi out from your laptop to hdmi in on your prepro is the easiest way to run the software. I would be interested in any thoughts on this. Thanks.

I hope Outlaw includes in the 976's manual detailed instructions on how to use REW to set the EQ on the 976. The 976 would be a great option for me if I can achieve the same or better room correction adjusting the 976's EQ manually using third party software versus with an automated system. Also, I hope Outlaw will describe what the in-room response should be compared to industry standards. I can appreciate the ability to manually adjust the sound to an individual's preference but I need a starting point for those adjustments.

The REW manual is very detailed and large. The actual method to adjust the 976 EQ will surely be in the manual but how to connect the system and take the measurements should be in the REW manuals domain. Using REW is going to give you an idea of what to adjust but it will only be applicable in one measurement position for a single persons ears. REW will provide you areas to improve in your room and may make it easier to tweak your system for perfection for your listening tastes. I am not sure REW is going to be the panacea some think it is because although easy to use it may give a user too much control and allow them to make a decent sounding system worse. Trying to duplicate and improve what most of the room correction software does will be a real task. Of course, it does give the tweakers something to do with their systems since most don't have turntables to play with any more.

I had a Pioneer HT receiver a few years ago that had EQ capabilities and its manual didn't describe how EQ was going to make my system sound better. Hopefully, the 976's manual will describe how to adjust its EQ functions but also how EQ can be used to address less than optimal room acoustics. But I need a target (flat or curved room response?) to shoot for. Certainly that target is embedded into automated room correction systems so it could be described in the 976 manual too. My experience with REW is limited to generating some test tones but if REW can help reach the room's acoustic target then hopefully Outlaw can include a "Cliff Notes" description of how to use it with the 976's EQ function.

This link has some excellent reading material from several sources. http://www.roomeqwizard.com/index.html#reading

The actual use of REW to it's full potential is complicated and to be done right needs a lot of understanding of room acoustics and time and frequency response curves and how to set them up and read them. I would think that the "ideal" response would be perfectly flat but, since we don't live in an ideal world, every room is going to require a specific adjustment curve. All REW can do is tell you where your room response is lacking and give you some capability to alleviate it for your room. REW tries to set your room up for one listening position whereas most other room corrections allow multiple positions but trade off accuracy at the master position to give us some sort of weighted average response.

I would expect Outlaw to give us detailed guidance on how to go about making the adjustments on the EQ menu but not so much guidance on how to use REW as there are so many ways to use it the manual would have to be very large. For those users wishing to really tweak their systems the guidance in the REW program and website will need to be used.

REW in and of itself looks more complicated than it is in reality.

Anyone who has not downloaded the free software should just to get their arms around the menus and example plots.

Do you have any way to run REW Xenon? I would like to see REW before and after plots of any and all of the automated correction options.

A stereo system with or without bass reinforcement (subwoofer) has in the past tried to follow what was referred to as a house curve. The house curve was flat more or less down to around 200hz (depending on speaker) then trying to do a gentle slope to +3db at 20hz. I do not like a dead flat house curve for anything other than live recorded full orchestra.

PEQ is different than automated correction in the user can get silly. Xenon commented the user might set PEQ by ear and get it wrong. I flashed back to all of the people I knew in the 70's with 10 band (full octave) eq's where the sliders always looked like smilies.

REW and PEQ is not going to be the bitch we are trying to make it out to be.

In REW you can set a mic point and freeze a plot. You can then set the mic in a new position and freeze a new plot. Move the mic to every listening position and average the plots the same as an automayted system. It is not rocket science.

I know I am directing much of this post to Xenon but you my missed my point in an earlier post.

Outlaw has a chance to use the forums as a marketing tool. You commented reviewers could explain set up where I think it is in Outlaw's best interest for a reviewer to point out "though the set up is manual the Outlaw Audio forums have dedicated users with hands on set up experience who are happy to answer questions and help new buyers get the most from Outlaw products".

I do have the capability to run REW but I won't because I have no interest in tweaking my system endlessly and my system doesn't have an adjustable Equalizer. My rooms are relatively small and symmetrical and very easy to pressurize to extreme levels so I use a manual setup. I use my Radioshack meter and it works pretty well.

The biggest challenge I see to the REW process is getting the curves, reading them, making adjustments and then running the process again for the main seat to check for improvement. For other seats I guess you could run the it over and over again to see if the first adjustments made it better or worse. It seems like a lot of effort to manually what Audyysey does in auto. In the HT system I much prefer to use Audyssey to auto set the system and then check it with my meter.

For those hobbyists that love to tweak their systems, REW will be a great tool to master.

It would probably work for my music system since there is only my seat in that room but for the HT room I think the system will be too narrowly focused.