The gear.
* Panasonic TX-42PX80U 42" plasma
* AV123 X-Statik/X-Voce mains; Outlaw Surround Loudspeaker side surrounds; AV123 ELT525M rear surrounds; Edgarhorn Seismic Sub
* Outlaw 750; Rotel RB-976 (rear surrounds, subwoofer) amps
* Velodyne SMS-1
* OPPO BDP-93
* TiVo; AppleTV

Nothing too outlandish here (well, maybe the Seismic Sub). We mostly use the system for OTA DTV, and watch the occasional movie from the OPPO or AppleTV. I listen to music ripped from CDs into iTunes and played from iTunes Match.

I got the 990 at initial release. Like many others, I wanted to replace the 990 with the 998/997. So here we are. Finally.

First impressions.
* My goodness, this thing is small.
* Surplus cables for sale! The surplus box now has 2 HDMI-DVI, 1 S-video, 1 component and 3 Toslink optical cables. Replaced by 4 HDMI cables. Needless to say, I really like the much simpler cable connections.
* Set up was straightforward. After glancing at the manual, I just worked through the menu items. I copied the speaker settings from the 990, including distance and levels. I'll do a formal calibration later.
* My Harmony did not recognize the 975, so it had to be trained. Bit of a pain. I also had to manually increase the delay between powering up the 975 and changing the inputs.
* 2 channel audio sounds definitely better on the 975. As expected, TV and movies don't sound any different.
* I think the 975 does a better job of reconfiguring the audio codecs when switching inputs.
* I am already out of inputs! TV, OPPO, SMS-1, TiVO, AppleTV. It was almost impossible to run out of inputs on the 990.

A few quibbles.
* Display readability was better on the 990.
* Software updates via a serial port (!)
* Can't rename the inputs. That came later on the 990 - can we hope for the same with the 975?

I have seen only one software glitch. At initial setup, Speaker Setup -> Speaker Configuration was set to 7.1. However, the Speaker Distance and Level Calibration menus would not advance more than 4 steps below top. This went away AFTER I configured each of the inputs.

Executive summary.

The minimalist approach of the 975 absolutely works for me. I love the small size, easy setup, excellent 2 channel audio quality and up to date input ports. I recommend the 975 to anyone who doesn't need room equalization, more than 5 inputs or other features of a more advanced HT system.

You make mention of a 995, I think you meant 975?

Fixed. Thanks.

You have your Panasonic plasma and the Velodyne SMS-1 connected to the "inputs"?

The SMS-1 generates a frequency sweep and a display of the frequency response...so it has both an audio and a video input.

Those should be connected to the "inputs" of the 975?

If I'm interpreting the ? correctly that you're asking if the SMS-1 is connected to the 975 as an input device, the answer is yes.

It generates an input tone frequency sweep that is played through the processor outputs back through the SMS-1 EQ section and to the subwoofer.

The microphone picks up the subwoofer output and displays a frequency response graph real-time through the video input.

The input tone continuously repeats allowing you to adjust the bass EQ while monitoring the results.

Correct.

So why is the TV on an input? I get TV though an antenna (I live in Seattle, which has lots of HDTV channels I can get). To get the audio output back to the 975, I have a Toslink optical cable which takes the digital audio from the HDTV broadcast to the 975.

Anyway, if I need to free up an input, I could replace the SMS-1 with an Anti-Mode 8033.

HTH.

Got it, thanx. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why the display and subwoofer EQ would be going into the 975, hence the question (twice).

So once the SMS-1 is setup correctly and your adjustemtns are done you could disconnect that input or does it actively sense and adjust the bass settings in real time? You could also get an HDMI gang box to expand the ports.