I cannot seem to be able to control the second zone switching with the remote if the 950's primary zone is operating. Only if I turn the 950 off can I control the second zone.
Is this normal ?
I'm on my third 950 for various reasons and I'm starting to lose a little faith here !
The first one had extraneous noise all the time, the second one had the second zone volume all the way up when i initially selected it, and it blew a circuit !
This third one I have only had hooked up a few days so cannot report on everything yet, but it does demonstrate the control situation above.
I did keep the remote control for the second unit rather than set up a new one, perhaps the remotes are matched frequencies ?

OK, found the answer! (called Outlaw !)
Apparently, the second zone is only controllable through the setup menu if the 950's primary zone is operating.
You know, there is a great deal they don't tell you in the manual, yes?

Kiwi

I am thinking of buying the 950 but wanted to confirm that the multi-zone feature is going to work for me. I would like to play music in other parts of my house independent of the primary room and contol with a LeapFrog or a wall mount IR transmitter device.

What has you experience been since you have had a chance to fiddle with the features and commands with such external devices?

What are the pros/cons of the 950 multi-zone capabilities versus other units with the same feature?

There seems to be some documentation discrepencies on this capability and I don't have much experience with any other multi-zone units in the market so make a valid comparison.

I realize the strenths of the 950 aren't in the multi-zone capabilities but I want to make sure that it will meet my limited needs

-Richey

Take a look at the online manual, page 36. I find it to work pretty much as the description indicates. The 2nd zone can be used with the primary zone in standby. But you'll need to see the display and both zone triggers are either on or off. In other words when you trigger zone 2 (or 1) zone 1 (or 2) amp will also be triggered.

I find it pretty useful.

So I read sections about multi-zone in the manual and the following still puzzles me:

(1) It states that only analog sources can be used in the 2nd-zone. What Does this just mean that any optical source won't play like a DVD player?

(2) If the 950 is in standby and the 2nd-zone is triggered on, the manual states that the primary-zone remains in standby. Does this mean that no sound is sent to the primary-zone even thought the amplifier was triggered?

(3) Has anyone programmed a macro in the remote to turn on the 2nd-zone with the push of one button?

(4) Outlaw states the 2nd-zone can only be controlled through the setup menu on the 950 if the primary zone is on. Does this mean the "multi" button seizes to work on the remote?

(5) Would it be possible to use an external IR receiver and submit the command to turn on the 2nd-zone from another room if the primary zone is already on?

That is correct. However, if you connect a pair of analog cables from the stereo analog output of that DVD player to the DVD analog input, it will work. And it won't affect the way the DVD player works in the primary zone.



I don't have my 950 at hand to test, but I'm pretty certain that the answer to this is "yes." As long as the 950's primary zone is in standby, there will be no signal to the amp.



I never have. I don't use it enough to do it, although I may try this when I get an MX-500 (later this summer, probably). It would probably be an on/off macro, actually, and if you left your second zone on a single input and volume setting (like I do, tuner at a single volume position, feeding a wireless speaker that we drag into the yard sometimes on the weekends) it would be the only button you'd need under normal circumstances. The "multi" command once and the left or right (I think) direction pad button would switch between on and off, if I remember the menus correctly, although you would need to wait for the multi menu to time out to try it a second time or you would end up changing inputs.



I'm not sure if this is referring to the setup on-screen display (which would require the 950 to be on and delivering a monitor output to something) or the front panel as well. I tend to think it only applies to the OSD, in which case the "multi" button on the remote would still work when the 950 was in standby, but I'll need to try it at home to be sure.



Yes, it should be entirely possible. There is even an "external remote" input jack on the back if you didn't want to use an IR repeater of some sort. You will be unable to see the menus while in another room, though, so unless you are running an on/off macro or have a display in the other room fed from the 950's monitor out it will be difficult to know what you are doing.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Gonk

Thanks for the detailed response. Let me know how the testing goes.

If the 950 behaves the way you say, I am sold. It meets both of my needs and I am sure will also need other.

Thanks in advance for following up on the open points.

Richey

Richey

I didn't get a chance to test anything last night, but I should have the few minutes I need tonight or tomorrow morning and I'll post my findings here (hopefully tomorrow morning).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Let me chime in.
As to question 2. The answer is "Yes", no signal is sent to the primary amp when only the 2nd zone is used.

Question 4. The multi button is active on the remote as long as the 950 button is active. The multi button is dual purpose I believe it also is labeled T/V. I don't have the remote near me at the moment. The only difference between the primary zone on or off seems to be no OSD when the primary is off.

Let me add, I have a 7 channel amp and use 5 channels for home theater and the other for the remote zone. I use one (1) trigger cable and it works fine.

I tried something last night -- with the 950 in standby (only the yellow light below the power button on), pressing the "MULTI" button on the remote will bring on the front panel with the multi-zone menu. Switching the multi-zone mode on will then turn on the yellow ZONE light and cause the triggers to fire. As xyzfla says, the only thing you lose if you go to use the second zone while the 950's primary zone is off is the on screen display (which wouldn't really mean much if you were operating it from a remote location, since in most systems you couldn't see the TV anyway). That means you could use a "zone on/off" remote macro from another room and it would work whether the 950 was on or not.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review