990 came today.
Planning the additional speaker wiring.
Previously in my usual 2 ch stereo living room I ran an "accessory" wire for STAX electrostatic headphones. Useful when grandkid watches cartoons so we don't "pollute" with that junky sound. In 2 ch room I simply took a line level output and fed a small Crown D40 amp which powered the STAX "box" connected to the STAX wire. I'd like to use the STAX instead of dynamic (partly because the wiring is alread laid in place.

So the question is:
Is there any way to get the new 990-headphone formats (whatever they are) into my STAX setup?

For example:

(1) Take an output from the back panel to run my D40 amp for the STAX-I don't think this info for the phones is available there...so:

(2) If I wanted to plug a TRS into the headphone jack on the front, can I use that at line level, choose the headphone format and power my stax after receiving the info from phone jack?

Thanks in advance

From what I can tell, the Dolby Headphone processing is only available at the headphone jack, so using the tape record out to drive a headphone amp would leave you in pure stereo.

If you plug into the headphone jack, keep in mind that the main system will be muted when the headphone jack is active - which should work fine if the kids' cartoons are using the TV's speakers instead of the big system's speakers, although I'm not familiar enough with the hardware you're running to know quite how it would all work.

Got it. Thanks. Didn't realize it was closed-circuit hack which would essentially "mute". Was hoping I could have it both ways. I could still put in a matrix switcher ahead of the 990 to allow me "out-source" the sound from cartoons into "whatever" prior to getting to the 990, giving me options.

Maybe a ques for Scott: If I use the headphone jack can I drive at line level a line level input (for example) on a preamp or additional outboarded amp. I realize they jack is msot likely for dynamic phones with R&L channels, but I love the sound of my electrostatics. Should work. But I don't want to mess it up (and void a warranty for ignorance).

What about using zone 2 to keep the kids listening? It's a full A/V second zone - you could feed one source (cable box or a VCR) to a spare input on the TV and send the other to your headphones. Or you could use the second zone to feed your headphone amp system and let the main zone keep the kids happy. That would rule out Dolby Headphone processing, but it sounds like your electrostatics may not be an appropriate match to the headphone jack anyway.

Gonk:
As usual you have great insight. Great idea re second zone. The elerctrostatics have a proprietary plug which connects to a power supply device. It, in turn, is fed from a (small) power amp. They are very transparent and flat. We used them for monitoring live recording sessions.

My STAX headphones are 30 or so years old. Couldn't find anything by search engine but I found one on ebay. Since I couldn't copy the pic here I'll list a link which is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=40137&item=5773091122&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

My desire to use them with the 990 is to take advantage of the DOLBY HEADPHONE PROCESSING, which, if it feeds dynamic phones (and probably at line level) might work to feed the inputs to the STAX "box". Maybe Scott knows. Can't wait to try. Living room torn apart for rewiring.

Gonk was right [as usual].
Hooked up zone 2 to an outboarded old preamp and a small amp powering my electrostatic phones.
Grandson and I am happy. He can listen to those crummy cartoon sounds while watching those crummy cartoons. I can listen to good music on a satellite channel @ same time. Now if I had another sat receiver at that location.....
Hmmmm. I can parallel wire another and feed zone 2 from it and use,.......got it?