I don't know if I'll use the phono input, I love vinyl on my 2 channel system - this is my first walk on the dark side of multi-channel ! So its all new to me, will music sound as good in my HT room as in my 2 channel room? For years I argued against it and when I first started building my HT last fall, I thought it would be solely dedicated to HDTV & movies. Maybe the Outlaw will make a believer out of me!

You are all correct about my position on the phono input. It's nice to know it's there (for those who need it). I would probably never use it, so it's indeed irrelevant. Perhaps I should have said "an irrelevant issue for me". Sorry guys.

bobbyc:

as far as the outlaw goes,it should pass the signal beautifully.it will probably depend more on quality source,amplification and speakers.

i use my 1050 as a pre-amp when listening to 2(.1) channel,using outboard d/a conversion(among other things),i know it sounds good,i know most everybody that listens to 2-ch with a 950 likes it,so that should give you some insight,i used to do vinyl,but sold all years ago.

and this was also my first walk with multi-ch.
for my occasional movie or my dozen concert dvds it's awesome,there's no going back

If it's right, it will work well with 2 channel and multi channel. The Oitlaw stuff has a 2 channel bypass so that all it does is pass the signal. From there it's all about your source, speakers and the room. Accurate reproduction of sound doesn't care how many channels there are.

My system does both well, and I've got a dedicated 2 channel system in another room that rarely gets used anymore.

I am very happy that many are not upgrading as of now, maybe that will allow me to purchase one of the first batch. I own a 950 and I like it very much, but I only bought it because I got a great deal on it and a 755 amp. I shall sell my 950 as soon as my 990 is delivered and installed. After using a low price receiver with PLIIx and Auto setup I was hooked on those features. I did some google searching on HDMI and found some interesting information regarding HDMI not passing 5.1 audio. This info was posted in Feb 2005. For the 990 to fully utilize the HDMI, it could not be just a simple switch, it would have to drop the audio and pass video. I do-not have a need to send mulitchannel audio to a tv.

I, for one, am looking forward to phono input (as well as DPLIIx, Dolby headphone, etc.). Of course I haven't mentioned the fact that I'm on the 990 list to the wife yet, so the WAF is going to take a big hit. I figure I can just replace the 950 with the 990 and she won't even notice, but the FedEx guy and credit card bill is another matter. And when she sees the turntable and large vinyl collection come out well, there could be trouble in paradise.
Can't wait to hear that needle touch down on the vinyl though...and jump up 20 minutes later to flip it over!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm and that's not "hum" or "hun" :-)
Maybe I was too quick to discard all those years of vinyl. I'm gettin' the 990 anyway, but I still have that old T-T and maybe I'll actually get it (and those old vinyls) out. I know, most everything is on CD. Still, maybe...........

You don't need to wait for the 990 to listen to records. You can get a simple preamp from Radio Snack for $40. I have a real nice NAD preamp that was $100.

That being said, I rarely listen to records as I much prefer CDs. But I have quite a few records that were never released on CD.

True, I've got an old SAE pre with 3 phono inputs, but when I moved I didn't bother hooking it or my turntables up. Now that the 990 is here with DVI in and out, DPLIIx, Auto Speaker setup, Dolby Headphone, is software upgradeable, AND HAS PHONO INPUT , I just gotta have it.

I'm with Jeff, the 990 certainly looks very good on paper but there is not enough there to even tempt me to upgrade from my Rotel 1068. If however they had HDMI switching instead of DVI, I may have been tempted, at least for an audition.