Hi Adrian. After about two years of looking at and auditioning various preamp/processors I decided to order the 990. I reserved my 990 on April 22, and it arrived yesterday. The setup was pretty uncomplicated and intuitive. Other than a nonfunctioning component video cable everything went smoothly. But that is only the begining of the good news. This unit is wonderful. Surround capabilities for movies was an important consideration but I also wanted an audiophile quality preamp to produce the best quality sound from stereo sources. I have spent years saving for, assembling and upgrading my equipment for the best sounding stereo that I could afford. I am more than pleased with the 990. The stereo bypass mode allows great, clean, accurate sound that beats my old dedicated preamp. My amplifier and speakers are very detailed and revealing.

The surround performance is also excellent and the steering of signals through the multitude of available processing modes is amazing. Movies come alive and sound significantly better than they do in the theater.

I think that the 990 is well worth the short wait. You could spend thousands of dollars more but you would not realize any better sound quality.