Outlaw's response to hiss complaints? (1 Viewer)

[Dan Hitchman]

I just received an e-mail from Scott concerning the extra hiss that I and others have experienced:

"Hello Dan,

Thank you for your update. We are examining this issue both here and in
Malaysia. As you mentioned, while the majority of our customers are not
experiencing excessive hiss, we will resolve this issue for those that are
as quickly as possible.

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,

Scott"


It does seem like they are looking into the matter (seriously I hope). Hopefully they will contact Rotel and see just what was causing their hiss problems on the first run of 1066 pre-amps and what the solutions were. Maybe Rotel would help them out unless the competition between companies stops them from lending a hand.

Dan

 

[Jed M]

Really? Now why don't you tell me something I don't know?

Holadem, are you saying anything we don't know or are you just repeating exactly what Bruce and others have said?
I don't think this needs to be turned into a war over who thinks it needs to be fixed and who doesn't because it will seem pretty one sided. Lets take a vote, who thinks it doesn't need to be fixed?.......... Dead silence. I am not sure what some people are trying to add to this conversation but its as if they are trying to insinuate that some people don't think its a problem. Please direct all this anger toward emails to Outlaw, not at your fellow HTF members

 

[Patrick Sun]

[Jar Jar voice]Steady...steady....[/Jar Jar voice]

 

[Jed M]

Patrick, LOL

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Well, after I e-mailed Outlaw today about my concerns over the Model 950 [to my surprise] I got a call from Scott! He couldn't let the cat out of the bag ("yet") as to what has been changed (or what was causing the problem in the first place), but did say it hopefully will be an improvement (at least quieter).
I'll let you guys know my impressions as soon as I get the new pre-amp integrated into my system.
These Outlaws are some fine folks.
Dan

 

[Jed M]

Amen Dan! Hopefully this will all be over with soon.

 

[David Werner]

He couldn't let the cat out of the bag ("yet") as to what has been changed (or what was causing the problem in the first place), but did say it hopefully will be an improvement (at least quieter).

From this statement, it would appear that something has been discovered?

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Dan- Inquiring minds (and ears!) want to know!!
BTW, I can hear my cat hiss from a distance greater than just with my ear against his little mouth. Is this normal too? (Hee, hee.)

 

[Dan Hitchman]

NOTICE!!!
I want to retract a statement I made just recently in my postings about the phone conversation I had with Scott. There was a bit of miscommunication between us as to the impression this is the start of a global fix-all for a general problem with the 950. Yes, even phone conversations are not immune from misunderstandings (and I thought it was just the internet ).
That does not seem to be the case, and Scott just corrected me, rightly. It seems to me like a handful of 950's with excessive noise (like mine and a few others mentioned before in other posts) were probably manufactured (this does happen to most electronic products from time to time), but was not as a whole a problem with all the 950's.
Those few problem units were being dealt with on a case by case basis. I'm sure that means if the noise is above and beyond most normal levels.
(This is my opinion here) So don't get in an uproar and start calling for replacements and special treatment if you have a tiny bit of hissing, which is normal for most products (as RAF and others have stated). What I mean by a tiny bit, is having to put your ear up to the tweeter to hear anything. Most products do create something. On the other hand, hearing something from 4-9 feet back then yes, I would say something might not be right with your particular unit and/or power cleanliness, etc. A lot of variables here, and this can be a frustrating matter.
I don't want to blow any of this out of proportion, and I hope none of you do either.
Dan

 

[Lewis Besze]

Wait a minute here,there are a quiet few people who said that their unit was dead quiet,so that should be a benchmark,not "some hiss is normal".
Also this product was touted as quiet as products costing 2-3 time the price of the 950,so that's where Outlaw was aiming at not low end receivers.
I think we have a QC issue in our hands,and probably I'll will ask for a replacement as well.

 

[David S]

Could I please get a clarification on the hiss?

On my analog inputs only, with NO movie or music playing do I hear hiss. However, at a "normal" listening level (lets say -30, or even -20, I cant here this hiss from > 6 inches or so. It is ONLY if when I turn the volume uo to 00 or > that I can hear hiss from several feet to even 10 feet.

Basic question is when are you all "hearing" hiss.
1) During actual playback - obvious bad
2) At what I defined as "normal" with NO movie/music playing, ie., "listening for a hiss problem" or
3) By cranking volumn control to 00 or >, no movie/music.

Like I said, I'm falling into 3 from what I can hear.

Additionally, by pressing Bypass, the hiss is greatly lowered, even at the 00 - > levels.

Not sure where I come in in the "problem", but thanks for any replies!

 

[Patrick R. Sklenar]

David,

In my opinion ... if you can't hear any hiss at normal volumn levels while listening to music or watching a show ... i.e. "real world situations" ... then you don't have a problem.

Again, this is just my opinion. There are a few people who are able to hear hiss under normal listening/viewing conditions ... they have a real problem and Outlaw is working to resolve it for them. The majority of us are in your boat ... unable to hear any hiss unless we do something extraordinary.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Well, there's still the potential interaction between a poor catv or dish ground (and your house ground) and hiss on the 950 as mentioned in the 950 saloon on Outlaw's site.

BTW, by my informal count, at least 10 people have mentioned being able to hear hiss at a distance greater than just with an ear up against the speaker.

Would be nice to hear Outlaw say *something* official about it.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Well, there's still the potential interaction between a poor catv or dish ground (and your house ground) and hiss on the 950 as mentioned in the 950 saloon on Outlaw's site.

That would create a hum not a hiss.
I isolated my problem to the 950,others I can't say for sure.
I' had sent an email to the Outlaws of my desire to get a replacement,we'll see how that goes.

 

[TomH]

After all, a low noise floor and silence are important characteristics expected from higher quality audio equipment. My 950 introduces audible hiss to an otherwise silent system. No it cannot be heard over program material but some people are happy to hide engine noise by turning up the radio. Some administrators have mentioned that they either cannot or have not heard hiss in the units that they auditioned. This means that there are some 950's without hiss. If so, everyone deserves one.

Tom

 

[Will]

I asked in the Outlaw forum if Prefect, who called attention to the hiss problem in his 950 in early May, and was in contact with the Outlaws since early May (over a month ago), has had a resolution to his hiss problem. See this thread.

 

[RichardMA]

I don't suppose they'd be willing to say what hiss
level they allow? An actual number?
"Falling within our spec" can be anything.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

I know this has been addressed (some what anyways).
Has anybody adjusted the level controls on their amps? Has this helped? I know the outlaw amps dont have the controls (as many consumer amps dont). Ive heard 2 different outlaw setups with the outlaw pre and amp combos without any hiss.
I correctly adjusted my QSC Audio amps (about 4500 watts) and dont have any either. Not sure about it if I were to change the amp gains (nor am I going to try it out)
One totally satisfied camper
Gregg

 

[Dzung Pham]

Just as another point of reference, I hooked up my 950 last night and have not noticed any hiss issue so far. I turned up the volume, turned the unit off and on, and heard no change. However, my unit was a demo at the Home Entertainment Expo so it is possible that it was thoroughly tested before they brought it.

 

[SteveRichardson]

(this is a re-post of my message on the Outlaw site)

Greetings everyone.
I'm back after a month of self-imposed silence about the 950 noise floor issue. Outlaw has been working with me to solve this problem for the past four weeks, and I'm pleased to report that the unit that arrived yesterday has a noise floor that is improved such that I can no longer hear hiss from my seating position.

I first posted about the problem a month ago, and Outlaw contacted me almost immediately. The investigation into the problem started out with Outlaw asking me to perform numerous tests on the unit that I had at the time. They also queried me quite a bit about my equipment, room setup, etc.

They promptly sent me a second unit to try, on which I tried many of the same tests with similar results.

At this point, Outlaw chose to involve me with some of the technical information coming back from the engineers, as I am an engineer with audio experience myself. I was privy to some of the emails and documents that were going between their engineers, and they were indeed taking the problem quite seriously. There were several leads that the Outlaw engineers pursued and tested in their own labs without my direct involvement over the course of the past few weeks.

Yesterday, I received my third unit, which has a greatly improved noise floor due to the results of these changes. The reduction in noise is not enough that it _completely_ eliminates the hiss when I stick my ear close to the speaker, but it is more than enough to reduce it from my seating position. I wasn't particularly displeased with the previous units that I had tested and never intended to send them back, but this one's definitely a keeper.

During the course of this investigation, we reached the conclusion that I have a particularly revealing setup (amps, speakers and room) and very sensitive hearing. It would seem that the few other folks that are experiencing this noise floor issue from their seating positions are in the same boat.

From day one of the problem, Outlaw was very committed to solving my problem, and I have to give them a lot of credit for that.

I chose to remain quiet about this issue in the interim because I wanted to give Outlaw the courtesy of my professionality. I knew they were working on the problem. The last thing they needed was a litany of negative posts and speculation about the problem before they even fully understood it.

It was very clear to me that when they started working on the problem, they weren't quite sure what was causing it; they even said as much to me. They had a few leads, but it took a few weeks to isolate the key culprits and make the changes that are represented in the unit that I have at home now.

So, I would say - for those of you who are not experiencing any noise problems (the vast majority, it sounds like) - keep on enjoying your units. For those few folks who were experiencing problems, Outlaw will help you out on a case-by-case basis.

So, Will, I hope this addresses your concern that Outlaw had dropped my problem on the floor. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Now it's time to enjoy some movies!