Hi All,

Just got my 990
Right now I'm just running 2ch and I have a few questions.

Should I be able to turn off all preamp outputs except L/R front? The only choices I get for the SR/SL size is Large/Small, "None" is not available. For SRB/SLB and Sub "None" is available. Front panel display always shows four speaker icons at a minimum.

From an audio viewpoint, are the analog inputs associated the with the Video 1-5 inputs the same as the "fixed" analog inputs ie. CD,Aux,etc? Yeah, I paid extra to get the "etc" input

I'm also experiencing the "Bass Boost" behavior when changing crossover freqs. This appears to be tied to how you cycle through the Sub setting.

L/R+Sub > None = Bass Boost with xover changes
L/R+Sub > LFE Only > None = No Bass Boost

It appears that I cannot use a sub with an analog input. I get full-range out of the sub. With a digital input it works as expected.

L/R size = small
Sub = L/R+Sub
Input = Analog
Surr Mode = Stereo

Output = Full-Range out of sub

Overall, the 990 sounds great and I really like the flexibilty. However, my confidence gets a little shake due to some of the apparently strange behavior. Kind of makes me wonder what else might not work as expected if I don't cycle through the menu choices in a certain way. Of course it may be my expectaions that are at fault

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

q)Should I be able to turn off all preamp outputs except L/R front? The only choices I get for the SR/SL size is Large/Small, "None" is not available. For SRB/SLB and Sub "None" is available. Front panel display always shows four speaker icons at a minimum.
a) I don't know about manually turning them off. But, a stereo source will automatically cause them to turn off. For down mixing a 5.1 signal you could go into your DVD player's menu and set the output to PCM and that should do the trick. Also be certain to turn of PLIIx, and NEO surround modes, as they will turn the surround speakers back on automatically.

Thanks Eric,

I am feeding a pcm only signal and tried setting all inputs to bypass. Keep in mind I'm only running a 2.1 setup at this point, so there may not be any signal at the SR/SL output jacks even though the front panel display shows that the surrounds are enabled. Do you ever see less than four speaker icons on the front panel display.

Relative to the "full-range" signal coming from the sub, I spoke with Outlaw and was told this is by design because some people run full range speakers at all positions . However, these people would be out of luck when using a digital input because the xover works as expected then. Part of my problem is that I'm trying to use a "passive" sub because I thought I could rely on the bass management in the 990. So, if I understand correctly, in order to listen to an analog 2ch source, in stereo with a sub, I need to have an active sub and ensure that it's internal xover is set to the same freq as the 990. Does this sound right to you folks?

Thanks!

You should be able to turn off the surrounds, so I'm a little confused by that.

As for the sub behavior, you can count on the 990's crossovers to take care of things for you, but you may need to tweak your 990 settings a bit. Have you considered running mains as small and sub as "on" (or "yes", I forget what the exact term is). The L/R+Sub is a mode that I've always thought of as better suited to running with the mains large.

Hi gonk,

Yes, I would agree that I should be able to turn them off, that's why I am looking for confirmation that others have been able to turn them off as well, meaning only two speaker icons displayed on the front panel.

This is the setup I'm working with as noted above:

L/R size = small
Sub = L/R+Sub
Input = Analog
Surr Mode = Stereo

Output = Full-Range out of sub

The only choices I get for the sub are "none, L/R+Sub or LFE Only" I've never had "yes or on" as an option. Perhaps I need to try a "factory reset"

Thanks!

Something seems odd here, then. If your mains are set to small, then you should be able to choose "no" or "yes" for the sub (if "no" would even be an option then at all); if the mains are large, you should be able to choose "none", "L/R+sub", or "LFE only." For what you are trying to do, I'd recommend small mains and the sub on.

Unless I'm really missing something the only sub choices I've seen so far is "none, L/R + Sub or LFE only" regardless if my mains are set to large or small. It appears I have to turn the sub on before I can set the mains to small, at that time I only have the three choices noted above. However, I don't believe I've gone back to the sub menu after setting the mains to small, perhaps that's when the on/off (yes/no) choices appear.

Thanks!

OK a dumb question forgive me, would you verify the speaker active icons are illuminated ? There is a static icon for each speaker always present (when the speaker is set to ON), but under that static icon is another little indicator that actually says if the speaker is on or off according to the sound mode. You will see SL and SR illuminated and not just little rectangles when that channel is active.

On your question about does the cross over seem to work correctly by passsing full range sometimes yes and sometimes no, IMHO no - that implementation of a low pass filter is not correct. This should at least be documented in the manual since it's working as an as designed feature.

Eric A:

When I'm playing a 2ch source the only speaker active icons illuminated are L, R and Sub, which I believe is as it should be. My question was more about if I should be able to turn off the surround static icons altogether, which I thought I should be able to, leaving only the L, R and Sub static icons, but as I mentioned in my first post: With this setup:

Front L/R: Large
Center: None
Surr L/R: Large
Surr Back L/R: None
Subwoofer: L/R + Sub

The only choice for Surr L/R is Large or Small
The only choice for Sub is None, L/R+Sub or LFE Only

With this:

Front L/R: Small
Center: None
Surr L/R: Small
Surr Back L/R: None
Subwoofer: L/R + Sub

The only choice for Surr L/R is Small
The Sub is L/R+Sub or LFE Only, depending on which mode the sub was in before I switched the mains to small and it can't be changed.

Up until now, I've never seen the Sub switch to "Yes". Then I enabled the center channel and got this:

Front L/R: Small
Center: Small
Surr L/R: Small
Surr Back L/R: None
Subwoofer: Yes

I thought Aha! the bass management should now work the way I thought it would. But unfortunately I still get a full range signal from the sub if I'm using a 2ch analog source in stereo mode. If I switch to any other surround mode except Bypass, Stereo or Upsample or use a digital input, then it works as expected with only the frequencies below the xover point being sent to the sub; But then I'm no longer listening to a simple stereo signal with a sub and analog input, which I don't believe is an unreasonable expectation.

I'll keep experimenting, but for the time being it still seems that if I want to listen to an analog 2ch source, in stereo with a sub, I will need to get an active sub with it's own xover and adjust it accordingly. If that is their design decision that's cool, you have to draw the line somewhere, it's just not what I expected from reading the manual before I made the purchase. Please refer to my previous quote

I guess there is no analog bass management. It doesn't say anywhere that there is, so I guess that means that there is not. I noticed that 1070 specifically states it has analog bass management.

A less expensive solution for your sub would be to use a crossover between the 990 and your amp. Here's a product that should do the trick for less the $100.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=248-664