Well, first, let's kick the "dot" issue around. The only 950's that actually have a dot of any kind on them are replacement units sent to early owners, in which case the dot is a sticker next to the serial number. The date of purchase is pretty critical here - if it was purchased new after December 17, 2002, it is a production unit that will have no dot but includes the final (blue dot) revision. If it was purchased in the fall of 2002 (making it a "red dot" design) and not subsequently exchanged for a blue dot, it will again have no sticker. The best bet is to either ask the seller for the exact purchase date or to contact Outlaw with the serial number. If it is a red dot, Outlaw will cover updating it to the blue dot revision under the five year transferrable warranty. As you've already noted, policing cables and checking on possible problem sources (including cable TV if you have that anywhere in the system) is an important step in dealing with any hum problems - I've had hum problems caused by power cables getting in the way a couple of times.

As for hooking your system up, I can toss out one suggestion. You're using a separate tube pre-amp and amp for the left and right channels, so leave that setup as is. Presumably you have a good analog source of some sort connected to this (phono or analog output from a CD player). Connect the left and right pre-amp outputs of the 950 to one of the tube pre-amp inputs, then connect the other five pre-amp outputs to the 7100 and connect your DVD player and other sources to the 950. When using the 950, you'll need to set the tube pre-amp to a pre-defined volume setting (which you will use when calibrating all of the speaker channels).

------------------
gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links