Excellent point Rick! Those multiple conversions can't be good.
Any ideas what this means from the 990 product description page:
"• 7.1 channel direct input with digital bass management and pure by-pass" ?

What is the pure by-pass?
Mitch

If you set all speakers to "large" the 990 will pass the 7.1 analog signal straight through, with no digital step. Several of us have asked about adding a software option to allow this bypass while leaving speakers set to "small" for bass management in other modes - which would resolve ender21's issue.