We were in the middle of watching a movie last night when suddenly we heard a loud pop after which all five of my speakers' tweeters were buzzing and not producing any more sound. The subwoofers were also not producing any more sound. After the requisite fit and cursing episode, I cleared everyone out of the room, calmed down and started to check everything. I swapped out components one by one and found to my (fortunate) surprise that my speakers were fine, the subs were also fine, and that even the amp was fine.

What was not fine was the Outlaw 970 pre/pro. It now distorts horribly when the volume reaches even normal listening levels (lower than a my voice when speaking) or the frequency goes lower than mid-bass or higher than mid-treble. I tried it with several different speakers with the same results in both 2-channel and surround formats. I also fiddled with the OSD settings and everything else I could think of, but it's still jacked up.

When the pop occurred, we were watching a low-key comedy (with no excessively loud or sudden sounds) and we were playing the system at a rather low volume because the kids were asleep. The pop however, mostly heard in the subs, scared the bejeesus out of everyone. It shook the floor and sounded like a car crashed into the house behind us - it was incredibly loud. The buzzing of the tweeters came on instantly afterward and continued even when I swapped amps and repeated on-/offs, until I swapped out the pre/pro with a 2-channel preamp. I think what saved the speakers was that I had set them to small at 60Hz cross-over (I usually run them as large). Of course my subs took the biggest hit, but I think they are still OK. I'll check them on my 2-channel system when I have more time.

Now I've logged a trouble ticket with Outlaw, and I'm still under the warranty I think, so I'll be sending that sucker back, but what do you think?