Not too long ago I introduced a 950 into my system and took out a Dared 2-ch tube pre with hopes to combine HT/2-ch within one system. This change made my LR mains sound very very dull, shrunk the soundstage and made volume levels drop considerably vs. the tube pre. While I probably have a input/output z mismatch I cannot figure why the sound quality has dropped.

I'm wondering what your experience is with the 950 as a 2-ch pre? I've set it to both stereo and bypass and the only difference is that with bypass it gets even worse.

I'm not blaming this all on the 950, maybe I have settings wrong?

System specifics:
Onix CD
Selah Audio Chalcedony mains
Odyssey Khartago amp
950 pre/pro
HK DVD22
Zu cables

Thanks for any advice
C.