This is my first post but have read all other posts that are relevant to my new upgrade the 990/7700. Does anybody have an opinion on the best way to configure my HIFI. Currently I have the AV cabinet below the TV. The center channel is above the TV. My components are stacked vertically (top-to-bottom) Satellite, DVD player, Receiver, AMP. Because I am upgrading to the Outlaw components and they need more room I am forced to stack my components side by side and one on top of the other. My thoughts are to put the amp on bottom left, 990 on bottom right, Satellite on top left and DVD/SACD on top right. Does anyone have a similar configuration. I plan on going with balanced interconnects. In the above plan, it seems difficult to not cross the 990 power cord with the balanced interconnects. Think this will be an issue with noise? Does anybody see any other concerns? Your comments re: this matter is of great interest to me. Also, as a side note: has anybody else gone from a similar NAD setup to the outlaw 990/7700? Any thoughts about sound improvements?

I don't see a problem with the arrangement as long as the satellite and DVD player are not sitting directly on top of the 990 and 7700. The 7700 in particular needs some breathing room above it (preferably 2 to 3 inches). Putting the DVD directly above the 990 certainly makes sense since SACD will require six analog cables.

I don't think you'll have a problem with the power cord. The pre-amp cables will need to cross the 990's power cord but will miss the 7700's power connection (although the power cord from the 7700 may need to run toward the 990 and thus be parallel to the pre-amp cables to reach the power conditioner). Where the interconnects are briefly running perpendicular to the power cord, there should be no problem. If the interconnects are running parallel to a power cord over some distance, I'd try to maintain a few inches clear between the two. Balanced cables should reject noise picked up in transit from the 990 to the 7700, so you've got some insurance there, but a couple inches of separation would be some good insurance.