Well, I received my 770 last week and was waiting desperately for my 990 to arrive so I could start hooking everything up. First impressions of the 990 physically is, MY GOD it's BIG! It's larger than my 770 which is saying something (not heavier though )

My previous setup was a Denon 3800 (only Dolby Digital, no DTS) which is probably 8 years old. The difference in sound is very noticeable. I had hooked my Denon to the 770 to get an idea of what difference just the amplification made and I can say that it made a HUGE difference in the Bass. My Speakers are NHT 2.4T's with bi-wire/bi-amp connections and a built in 10" sub, together with the matching center and surrounds. With the Denon, the bass was loose, flabby and generally horrible. I basically tolerated it for Movies, but it made listening to music impossible. With the 770 ALONE, there was an immediate tightening of the bass. The notes became more distinct from each other as opposed to just a general booming sound. The soundstage which had been indistinct and very small, has all of a sudden grown in size, I feel like the music/movies are around me and vocals are definitely more narural. I have Bi-amped the 2.4t fronts with the 770 and it really helps with tightening everything up. I Did the same thing with my Denon (which has specific terminals on the back labeled Bi-amp - good for Denon) and noticed a distinct improvement in the bass even then. I suspect that the extra power and current from the 770 just drives the speakers way better than the Denon did.

I am adding the 990 tonight and will be tweaking it. I will let you guys know what I think of it once I have been able to listen for a day or two.

Thanks to this forum for all the great discussions and for keeping things smart and sane (unlike some other forums)

deerhound,

I too have the 990/770 combo, and am very pleased with the sound that it produces. I think that you'll be very happy, but please come back and let us know what you think.

Jeff

Ok, so I have been listening to everything I can over the last few days and trying to determine objectively what the REAL differences are between my previous setup (Denon AVR-3800, NHT VT2.4T with matching center and surrounds, no rears, Mitsubishi 52525 DLP 50", LG HDMI equipped DVD player, Motorola HD Cable box with DVI.) and the addition of the 990 and 770 which I have now been listening to for two days. I have the front speakers Bi-Amped by using two channels of the 770 for the Bass and two channels for the highs and midrange drivers of the VT2.4's. The 770 definitely drives these speakers WAY better than the Denon did. The bass is tighter, more defined and more controlled than before. Initially I was somewhat disappointed with the bass since I had become used to the Denon, which had made the speakers sound fairly "warm", however, when I adjusted the crossover levels for the individual speakers, I got the balance right and now everything blends far better than with the Denon. I set my crossovers at 40Hz for the fronts and 100Hz for the rears and center, which gives the smoothest frequency reponse when tested with Avia's Home Theater essentials disc. The 990 has made a world of difference in the amount of information and detail that it is passing to my surrounds. When I watch "The 5th Element" DVD, there are sounds that were just not there with the Denon, that now are present. I was so puzzled by this "new" soundfield, that I connected the Denon back up and watched the same chapter over and sure enough, no sign of the expanded soundfield that is now evident with the 990. Other patently obvious differences are that the placement of sounds is more pinpoint and the the size of the soundfield is SUBSTANTIALLY bigger - what I mean is that the sounds come from a larger number of distances (with the Denon all the sounds seem to come from a relatively fixed distance from the listening position, whereas with the 990, there are sounds that seem to be coming from right on my shoulder and sounds that sound like they are outside in the street!). So far I am very pleased with this setup. On problem is that I now know that my speakers are just not good enough and I have just put an order in for a set of Tyler Acoustics Linbrook Signature Systems for the fronts and a compliment of Linbrook Signature monitors for the surround and centers. Let's see how THAT setup performs!

Hello deerhound, I would be very interested to see if you would prefer the Linbrook speakers over the speakers that you currently own, the NHT VT2's, in a blind listening test? Also, may I ask why would you feel compelled to change your current speaker system, now that you have the 990? I would think, that if you enjoyed the NHT VT2's before the 990, that they would sound even better with the 990, then with your previous pre/pro. That is, if indeed you are enjoying the 990 more then your previous pre/pro? In other words why would the 990 have compelled you to change your view or originallistening pleasure with the VT2's? I personally found that the 990 increased my listening pleasure with my current amp's & transducers, and that is why I decided to keep the 990. By the way the VT2's are in my humble opinion, very nice sounding speakers, and are also enjoyed by many audio enthusiast. Unlike the current NHT products,unfortunately the original owners of NHT sold the business. I would highly recommend, that you do a double blind listening test with the VT2's, and the Linbrook speakers, before making a final decision.