Demanding movie sequences losing audio

For the most part living with the 1070 has been ok. I like the sound and for the longest time I had no trouble with its regular performance aside from the occasional "no audio bug" and the weird switching audio formats while watching a dvd which has only been a recent problem.

Recently though I've been noticing while watching a movie during a particularly demanding portion I lose all sound for a few seconds. I recently switched from coax to optical, though I can't imagine that having anything to do with it. But then I've never had this problem before.

This has only happened when I had the volume above -12dB. Any thoughts?

It would be useful to determine if the problem is related to the amplifier or processing sections of the receiver.

As a point of reference, I have the same processing platform (the 970) and have never had an issue like that.

Does the amplifier section of the 1070 have some sort of clipping protection? Are your speakers hard to drive? The reason I ask is that you seem to experience the problem at loud playback levels, which may point to some issue with over-driving the 1070.

Lastly, did the problem appear only after you switched to the optical cable? (trying to rule out a bad cable.)

gonk? Any thoughts?

Like Videodrome, my first thought was the amp being overdriven and going into a protection mode. The digital connection isn't going to know whether the undecoded bits are a quiet scene or a loud scene, and even after being decoded it shouldn't matter either way to the processing. It's more likely happening in teh amp section. Speaker efficiency, crossover settings (particularly lowering them and thus placing more load on the internal amps), changes in room size (which goes back to efficiency to some degree since it affects the amount of power needed to achieve a certain SPL), or changes in listening habits could all contribute to this developing "out of the blue" rather than being present from day one.

Well, I've been driving a pair of Definitive Technology Studio Monitor 350 bookshelf speakers.

I do keep them on the Large setting as I use the same amp outputs running to my Def. Tech. SB-80 subwoofer high level inputs.

Maybe that has something to do with it as that's a recent change as well. I used to use the line level sub out.

Thanks for your help, guys.

How do you have your sub wired?
Is it 1070 -> sub -> speakers?

If you can reliably reproduce the problem, I would remove the sub from the equation and see what happens.

I would probably try letting the 1070's bass management work: set the speakers all to small, hook the sub to the 1070's sub output, and try an 80Hz crossover. If it is the amp going into protection mode, that could be enough to eliminate the problem.

What you describe is very similar to what was happening with my 1070. After some discussion with tech support, I shipped the unit back to Outlaw.

The tech called me to say he had to resolder much of one or more boards and that had resolved my problem. I got the machine back last week and it is working very well.

My only issue is that I had to pay $125 for the repair on what I would think would be regarded as a manufacturing defect.

If enough of us have the same problem, maybe it should be treated as a product recall.

Leon

Leon

Let me get this straight. You had a product under warranty and they charged you $125 to fix bad solders. What was the reason for the charge?

govguru

The 1070 has a two-year warranty and started shipping in 2005. When I read Leon's post, I assumed (perhaps rashly, but hopefully correctly) that he'd had it for longer than those two years.

Gonk

The 990 has a five year warranty and I did not realize that this was not standard for other Outlaw products.

govguru

Warranties vary depending on the specific model. The Model 990 and old Model 950 both have/had five-year warranties. The amps also have a five-year warranty (both the multichannel and monoblock models), as do the Bookshelf and LCR speakers. There have been several Outlaw products with two-year warranties, though. I think the original Model 1050 was that way, as are the RR2150 and the Model 970. The subs carry three-year warranties, just to keep things interesting...

The most important reason for my post was to give the original post the benefit of my experience with the 1070. I had months of irritation from the peaking out of the amp. Initially Outlaw diagnosed a problem with the input source until I was able to take a potentiometer to the inputs and determine this was happening from multiple sources. So I really wanted to help him out with a solution to his problem.

I did not regard this as a warranty issue, per se. I assume that my machine was out of warranty.

I would have thought that a bad solder situation that arises one year outside of warranty might be treated as manufacturing defect. Particularly when others start to have the same problem. For me its a first to find that solder fails after only three years. I've had receivers that have lasted 10+ years without that kind of problem. I even soldered my own receiver Heathkit in 1967 and it lasted over a decade to my knowledge, before I sold it.

I appreciated the repair service but I don't think I would consider buying another product from Outlaw based on the failure of quality control on my 1070.

Hope I've clarified where I stand in a reasonably diplomatic way.

Leon

Perfectly diplomatic from where I'm sitting, Leon. Thanks.

Thanks Leon for your input.

I've since returned my hook-up arangement to the way I had it before and have not had any problems. I believe the main issue was hooking up my sub via the high level connections. It must've overloaded the amp or something.

I went back to using the line level sub out to the sub's lfe input. I can easily crank the receiver to 0dB with no drop outs of power at all.

I must say my feelings have been mixed as well. But these aren't simple heathkits either.
And now that my receiver is working well I have no issue. I might add the amp section is incredibly dynamic and really does sound fantastic. Particularly with the ending gun fight scene in Open Range.

Honestly, I'm pretty much in agreement on this. I absolutely love the sound quality of my 1070, don't get me wrong, and for the price, there hasn't been anything I've heard that comes close.

However, its absolutely ridiculous that this product was even released out the door with so many issues (which must be partially hardware issues, because otherwise they'd have been fixed in a firmware update). I've had this receiver for 3 years apparently (maybe close to 4, wasn't it released in January or so of 05... I remember I was one of the first because I ordered directly from the original 'pre-order' list) and quite frankly have never had so many issues with a piece of electronics equipment. Even my cheap low-end piece of crap Sony receiver I had before the Outlaw never had issues like this. I mean there was the no audio bug, I can't use the video switching because the screen loses sync and goes black for a few seconds playing the Wii, the remote no longer works consistently the first time I hit the power on button (tested with the original, and with my Harmony remote), and I haven't even had some of the more serious issues people have had.

I've only kept it because for the price, it sounds great, sure. But more and more of these little issues seem to be creeping up over time and showing that it is honestly a subpar product in the quality control sense. It's a shame too, because with online-only sales, word-of-mouth and reputation are the biggest factor, and the 1070 gives Outlaw a reputation for having shoddily made products. I know I wouldn't recommend anything Outlaw-made these days unless the person asking was as masochistic about their gear as I seem to be.