I've been without my HT now for 6 month's (for some reason my wife decided we needed to sell 2 months after I completed a dedicated HT in our old house. Coincidence?....I think not). The place we've been renting was just big enough for a 20" tv and nothing else (rental options are limited with a dog). We're just now moved into our new place, and the timing of the FW update couldn't have been better.
I finally got everything hooked up, and loaded the firmware Sunday night, no problems. The first thing I did was Auto Calibrate. I could never get this to work correctly before, but no problems this time. I've noticed that others have experienced just the opposite. I figured it was my prior room conditions, but was the Auto Setup modified at all with this update? I did a quick check with an SPL, and the settings were just about perfect.
Next I renamed all my inputs....nice. I then threw in a CD and listened through the various setings. Hey, where did all the extra bass go???
Next came the Master and Commander DVD (one of my personal favorites) for a little movie demo. Awesome!
While I was not able to play around much more due to the holiday, my initial impression of this FW update is extremely positive. The limited listening I have done was very satisfying, with the music sounding much more natural. It was much easier to compare the various formats without having to make numerous adjustments each time. I found the FW install itself to be relatively straightforward and painless.
All in all, an excellent job by the Outlaws!