I understand if I'm listening to a CD on the CD input and I have the CD input configured to use a digital input (in my case, optical 1), I can hit the "stereo" button on the remote to switch between Stereo, Bypass, Upsample, etc. The manual says that both Bypass and Stereo route signal to the fronts and sub (if present), but Bypass does not route through the DSP. But doesn't it have to route through the DACs? I don't think it's changing to the analog inputs (that I also have connected), because the front display still reads Optical 1. So do I understand correctly that Bypass still uses the DACs, but avoids any other digital manipulation, while Stereo puts it through the rest of the DSP chain? And does the Bypass split the signal between the fronts and the sub in the analog domain, while Stereo does it in the digital domain?

Mark

We may have to get some help from Outlaw to get the full picture on the analog bypass behavior - the only time I tried it, I enabled it in the input menu for some tinkering and set the input to analog first. I have been under the impression that it behaves basically the same as the 950's stereo analog bypass did, which would mean that the left and right analog inputs are passed through volume control and out to the pre-amp outputs with no A/D conversion while at the same time a copy of the data was converted to digital and passed through the bass management software to generate a subwoofer signal.

Thanks, gonk. The only thing is, that would imply that there needs to be analog inputs in order to have bypass actually do its thing. But I (at least I'm almost certain) tried running from the CD player to the 990 via an optical cable, with no analog input, and bypass was still available. So is it taking the digital signal, DAC'ing it to analog, and outputting to the fronts and sub? If so, when in the chain is the sub signal created, analog or digital domain?

Mark

The sub signal must be created in the digital domain - there is not an analog crossover circuit in the 990 that I am aware of, so the crossover applied to generate the sub signal has to be digital.

I noticed my sub (passive/no internal crossover) was sounding odd when using the analog cd inputs so I did some testing. I noticed that both the fronts and the sub receive a full range signal in the bypass mode. When I switched to a digital input, things work as Gonk described (full range signal to the fronts and bass managed signal to the sub). The Stereo and Upsample modes also appear to pass a full range signal to the sub when using the analog inputs.

I am now using a digital (optical) input for my CD player (as Outlaw support recommended) and things sound great.

It's that sort of behavior that spawned my question originally. The problem is, it's hard to compare the player's DAC to the 990's if the speakers are not really getting the same signal. What I did, though, was to run the 5.1 analog outs of my universal player into the 7.1 direct input, and then, with a stereo CD source, compared the sound with an optical feed from the player into the CD input.

Mark

Here's the answer from Scott about this. For a digital input from a stereo source, the "stereo" mode applies all the choices you've selected, such as bass management, speaker delays, etc. In "bypass" mode, bass management is still applied, but not the other DSP functions. Works the same for the analog inputs. For the 7.1 inputs, bass management is applied (and no other DSP stuff) but it will not be applied if you have chosen all the speakers to be large, in which case you'll get no bass management (that is, the only signal to the sub will be the .1 signal).

I forgot to ask whether it is like gonk suggested, where for analog inputs set to bypass the speaker signals are passed through unaffected while a copy is AD'd to generate the sub signal.

The bottom line, though, is that bass management is always effective whenever you have chosen small speakers, regardless of whether your input is digital or analog, and regardless of the mode chosen (stereo, bypass, upsample, 5 chan. stereo, etc.).

Please correct me if I got this wrong, Scott. Thanks.

Mark

This is correct. This is because of Outlaw's analog bass management. Most receivers/processors won't provide any subwoofer action in bypass or outside of what is intended to be LFE in 7.1. Personally I love this feature, but some feel it messes with the purity of the signal.

If I connect my CD player to the 990 using the analog inputs, my Sub receives a full range signal for stereo, bypass, and upsample modes regardless of the speaker size and crossover settings. I discoverd this while setting up my system with a spectrum analyzer and confirmed this by connecting a full range speaker to my sub amp. Scott at Outlaw confirmed this behavior as well.

If I use an digital connection for my CD, everything works as described by grok above.

Personally, i've found that sonically, it is almost always better to connect thru analog interconnects, that way, each component sounds they way it was designed and intended to sound, and the Outlaw, just lets it pass on thru with no alteration of the signal.