Hi All,

Posted a few times now. I just wanted to say that so far, service has been outstanding. I ordered the 990 on the 7th of FEB. and Fedex was here with it on the 8th. Not sure if it was a local shipment (I'm in MASS). That was not only a surprise, but very awesome. I have not hooked it up yet, but I plan to over the weekend. I am going to compare it to my Pioneer VSX-54TX that I am currently using as a PRE only. I'm a fan of the dreaded pro-amp, of which I am running 5. I will not be doing a DB test since I do not have the facilities to appropriately accomodate that particular test type. My plan is to use the 990 for a week or so, and then switch back to the 54 for a week. I'm probably 95% HT and 5% music, so it should be interesting. From what I have read, the 990 seems to outperform other units in the music category more than anything else. I will use both the balanced and unbalanced connections on the 990 (not at the same time, obviously), just to get an idea of which (if either) actually sounds better than the other from a noise perspective in MY system. That's not entirely fair to the 54, but hey...life's not fair sometimes. My objective is to attain the best signal possible, so if the Outlaw provides that, even through balanced outs, then it's a keeper. If there is little or no difference, then it's going back. Ultimately for me, it's a cost vs. hassle/benefit situation. If I keep the 990, then I have to sell the 54, and ship it, and all that crap...not a deal breaker, but there needs to be substantial improvement in order for me to want to go through that "hassle." Cost is secondary, because ultimately I would expect the overall switch to cost me about $700. The only other consideration, is that I am also planning on upgrading my Ascend 340's to the 340SE's, so that cost also comes into play...again, not hugely, but it's there, and I would expect to see more of an improvement in my system through a better speaker, as opposed to a better processor...not always the case, but more often than not.

I'll let you all know how things go.

Since everyone seems so interested, I thought I would post some initial thoughts.

I hooked it up yesterday after work. Pretty simple stuff, nothing fancy, nothing difficult. My biggest problem was calibration - I'm used to my Pioneer which automatically brings the master volume to 0, so when I was trying to bring the speakers up to 75dbA, I was maxing out all of the gains...I knew something wasn't right...Anyway - I ended up figuring it out...DUH!!! I still had a tough time with the matching my IB, but it's also all set now.

Ironically, I haven't watched any movies yet, only some TV, which was great. Crisp, clean dialogue, good surround sound, nice channel separation, and good soundstage.

I have been listening to a lot of music, and 7 channel - PLIIX, blows away the Pioneer. The one option that makes the 990 better than the Pioneer is it's ability to adjust the "dimension." The Pioneer simply falls flat on the rears as far as I'm concerned, and I've thought that since I bought it. I don't have any SACD's or DVDA's, I just never got into it...but I might now. As for two channel, I'm not all that impressed. Granted, it probably has more to do with my system than anything else. I simply cannot defeat the sub enough to make the music sound good. I am running two Avalanche 18's and even with the 2 channel offset at -8, it's still way too much bass. What I don't know is if the 990 has the ability to set different levels for different inputs? If that were the case I could turn the sub down for music, and have it set at reference for movies/tv. If not, it's not a deal breaker, because I don't often listen in two channel anyway, it's mostly PLIIx for me...I just like it better...I did with the Pioneer as well. I am going to continue to mess with it to see if I can get the sub to match up for 2 channel though...maybe it's a bass setting thing (just thought of that).

Overall, I have to say that I am more impressed than I wanted to be. I really went into this very skeptically, and expecting only marginal improvement. I honestly DID NOT WANT TO LIKE (and my wife didn't want me to either, but our deal is that if I keep this and get the new Ascend 340SE's there's no more upgrades until at least my Birthday...which is December. Fair enough, since I've pretty much run the gambit on upgrades anyway).

I apologize for the lack of technicality expressed in my opinions, but I refuse to use the standard cliches, what sounds warm to one person doesn't to another...etc.

I plan on doing some movie watching tonight, so I should be back tomorrow with my initial views on that. I do still plan on a week long 'evaluation' period.

I do have a question: I noticed that the master volume maxes out at +3. I calibrated to 75dbA at 0 - trims range from -4 to +8. Unlike another person that was wasting time discussing how his receiver volume was at -25 when he watched tv and the 990 had to be at -15 for the same output (drove me nuts reading that), I'm just curious if there is a built in clip limiter. Don't get me wrong, at +3, it's plenty loud, and clean as can be, no distortion, no signs of strain...as a matter of fact, I've found myself listening to music at about -5...loud yet comfortable and not be fatigue inducing. Again, just a curiousity question.

Thanks for the info....very interesting as I have a Pioneer 1014tx and Ascend 340's, so keep the details coming. What amps are you using?

You need to look at gain and efficiency from source through speakers. I calibrate to 75 dbA at -9 on the 990 master volume, but I'm using balanced interconnnects which give 6db more signal at the amp inputs. Since you are using an internally generated signal for the source you don't have to consider anything further upstream than the 990, but you do need to look at interconnects (balanced or single-ended), amp gain and speaker efficiency. A quick google search yielded this intro. link

Speakers are very efficient (90db anechoic/92 in room), amp gains are set as to allow good headroom, and minimize any noise. I did tweak a couple of them up a bit, but I still calibrated 75dbA to 0. I am using unbalanced interconnects at the moment, but I plan on moving to balanced once the cables arrive.

Since we're in the middle of a blizzard at the moment, I've spent a majority of the day watching animated movies with my daughter. So far, I'm liking the 990. As far as I can tell so far, with what I have watched...Monsters Inc, and Ice Age...Spirit is in now...as with my impressions on PLIIx music, there is clearly more definition and more output from the rear channels, the sound is more enveloping than the Pioneer. Front stage is slightly better, especially at higher volumes. The dialogue is a bit clearer, and the panning effects are more noticeable; voices and actions more clearly go from one direction to another. For example, when someone is speaking off screen and to the right, but moving towards the screen, you can hear them clearly from the front right and then into the center as they approach the screen until they are acutally on screen and in the center. The Pioneer tends to be a bit more muddled in this regard, it's not as clear a transition as with the 990. As for sound effects, the two units are pretty close. There does seem to be a bit more localization with the 990, but not much (except with regards to surrounds and rear surrounds).

I'm going to try to get someting like LOTR or Batman Begins going...if the little one lets me.

The balanced interconnects should give you 6db more signal without raising your noise floor.

I'll take those 6db, but I'm more interested in the noise...or hopefully the lack of it. It's not bad with the unbalanced, but no better than the 54TX. I'm curious to see if it improves using the balanced outs.

You shouldn't be hearing noise. Hiss? Hum? All channels equally?

Have you done the usual diagnostics -- disconnecting the amp inputs, etc, moving up the signal path?

It's just a faint hiss, audible with your ear next to the tweeter, and does not increase or decrease with the volume adjustment. It's not that bad really, better than I originally thought. But when I first listened for it, I hadn't let the amps warm up at all. So it's actually no big deal.

That may simply be a mild bit of interference noise getting into your system somewhere. The 990 itself has been dead quiet for me, but I've also spent my share of time prior to the 990 upgrade fighting with cabling to prevent power cables from crowding interconnects and introducing noise similar to what you describe.