Thanks for the info and the link to Gonks's setup.

The remote sensor devices I see at Xantech, like their 291-10 Hidden Link , look--and by look, I mean only by what I can see looking at the pictures and not by any information I read--like they can be connected directly to the IN ir jacks on the rear of the 990. Would it be as simple as that? Connect the sensor, situate it somewhere out in the open, point the remote at it and click? If so, I wouldn't need the distribution block, or would I? What, if anything, am I missing here?