Oppo BDP-95

He's nervous because if you have the volume at 100 and neglect to set it lower before you hook it up, you're going to blow your speakers. In addition when you update the firmware the volume gets reset to 100. There is a ton on information over at avsforum. Lot's of people seem to be doing it. I prefer to use a preamp.

Sorry, I presumed that he had done a modicum of research before considering the move. I should have counseled on the use of the volume control prior to making the connection. My bad, mea culpa.

However, I see *so* many posts on Agon where someone will write "I am considering this piece of gear or that piece of gear, or this connection vs. that connection. Which do you think I'll prefer?" How are we supposed to know what someone will prefer?

It seems that timidity rules in AudiophileLand...

-RW-

I don't actually bypass a Cary Cinema 11a processor, but I do have its inputs set to bypass, so the BDP-95 does the processing. OTOH, I use the volume control of the Cary, and the Cary converts the unbalanced 7.1 inputs to balanced output to the amps. Stereo, of course, is passed through as balanced.

db

You guys are correct.....I'll hook it up to the amps and see how it sounds. Thanks for your responses!

I just wanted to let you know that I hooked up my Oppo BDP-95 directly to my Bel Canto ref 1000m mono amps directly using the xlr connections. Volume control is nice....sound excellent. To be honest, I haven't utilized a preamp in between to compare, but so far very happy.