Thanks for the reply Scott! Cool, a revision to the firmware, coming down the pike in the near future! Man, If I could get handle on mode selection/input source signal type I would be sooo much happier. Oh, and maybe one day auto eq? That's happening...
Personally, I am glad they are taking time with this to get it as good as it could be, I of course have sugestions: if possible, allow selection of speakers to get the eq; I have the DEQX on the mains, and don't think I could get any better than this, but my rears sure need a hand, and I might just remove the extra ICBM if you eq the sub for me. (sometimes I leave the 990 out of the loop and send digital direct to the DEQX, but of course that works for stereo PCM only, not SACD)
I hope that when a hardware revision comes out that it will have a kit option so I don't have to drag my 950 out to hook it up while my 990 goes back to the ranch. Just a thought...
Thanks again for the update Scott!

Oh, I forgot. I suppose the eq would be done in the digital domain, and seeing as how it looks like we convert everything to digital anyway, I guess that it won't degrade the sound if all "sliders" are set to flat. If manual override/adjustment is provided, and maybe bypass for certain channels?
I should probaly start a new thread, or search for a existing thread, but I wonder: Does the 7.1 input remain analog all the way through to the output, and only a digital copy taken so a sub signal can be derived? I am starting to think it has a A/D D/A stage so the xover can be applied on high and low pass sides. Of course the 950 was straight analog w/ selectable 80hz xover on the 5.1
I don't like the idea of an extra a/d d/a stage, but I do it on the DEQX, to be sure, but I want avoid this if I can.

The 7.1 input works one of two ways currently: if all speakers are set to "large" then it acts as a pure analog bypass, but if some speakers are set to "small" the 990 introduces an A-D-A process to apply bass management in the digital domain.

Thanks gonk. That's good info.
Lonster

I suspect the Outlaw auto-eq system is based on the same software engine as the Sherwood even though Outlaw can make modifications to it. The Sherwood announcement specifically states that it is seven channels of PEQ per channel. I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t be limited to one channel. I’m a little leery of auto-eq systems myself which is why I said it would be nice to have control over the individual PEQ filters. I could see where this could be a nightmare implementing it into the menu system as Scott alluded to. Let’s see 8 inputs x 7 PEQs x 3 for the Q, Center Freq and Level equals 168 settings, I won’t hold my breath for this.

In a similar vein I wonder if it is possible to only do the A/D on the 7.1 analog channels that are set to small. I for one really want to pass my mains through untouched. Taking analog BM away is my biggest disappointment in the 990. At least they should make it easier to switch from large to small on this input.

Gonk,
If my R & L speakers are set to Large and my center is set to small, does that mean if I am using 7.1 input that signal to R & L (and of course center) being fed 3 channel SACD is being digitaly processed?
What about same setup when playing bck two channel SACD?
Thanks,
JKenton

I'm not sure about that scenario, jkenton. The information I've seen could be interpreted two ways: that only small speakers receive processing (along with the .1 channel, of course), or that all channels receive processing any time a single speaker is set to small.

This is a area that needs to be addressed, in detail, in the owner's manual.

Humm...maybe we can get some clarification on the 7.1 analog BM from the Outlaws. I had assumed if any of the channels were set to small that all the channels were A/D'ed. Maybe that is not the case after all.

That's what I'd originally assumed as well, obie, but once the question was raised as to whether it was restricted solely to small speakers I couldn't be certain that my original assumption was correct.