Hi Folks,

I have been lurking out there for a couple months now, and unfortunatly I came down with a case of upgradeitis which is pretty bad so I'm looking for some suggestions on getting well and setting up my new toys. Steve convinced to buy the 990 particulary when he told me that a room equalizer software upgrade was going to be available shortly for the 990. Ok so here is what is what is on it's way:

Outlaw 990 Processor
Outlaw 7500 Amp
Outlaw 2 LMF1 Subs
Velodyne SMS 1 Equalizer
Denon 3910 DVD Player DVI capable
Sony ES SCD-C2000ES 5-disc CD/Super Audio
Outlaw Balanced cables
Outlaw Sub cables

Here is what is staying:
Rocket RS750 Fronts will upgrade to RS850'S later
Rocket RC200 Center
Rocket RS750 Surrounds
Monster 5100 Power center
Sony XBR 60" Rear LCD with DVI
2 Comcast HD cable boxes with DVI
Pioneer Elite DVR/PVR with Tivio one cable box dedicated. Only S-vidieo available.
I may or may not keep the Earthquake Supernova Sub.

What is going upstairs to the bedroom.
Sony ES3000 Reciever
Sony NS999ES DVD/SACD Player
Most likely the Earthquake Supernova Sub

So as you can see I have a real bad case of upgradeitis that hopefuly can be cured, any suggestions, experiances, and tips on connecting all this are greatly appreciated!

Merlin

Nice system! That should be a most effective treatment for your case of upgradeitis. Having spent a good bit of time with the SMS-1, I suspect that you won't need anything else for room equalization. It only works for the subwoofer, but it is a great tool for that.

Looks good to me Merlin. My RS1000s sound great with my 990/Outlaw amps. Curious why you decided to go with the LMF1 sub over the Rocket offerings. Only other thing to watch out for is macro-blocking with the 3910 and your Sony LCD.

Hi Obie,

I went with the LMF1 because I heard the Rocket 12" sub and wasn't impressed. I like the sound of the Hsu subs or the SVS and since Dr. Hsu was involved with the design I think the LMF1 are probably a better choice. If not they will go back and I will probably go with SVS I had heard about the macro-blocking on the 3910 but I couldn't find anything specific about it on my set so I ordered it since secrets give it there highest rating as well as audioholics although I take audioholics with a grain of salt.

I'm surprised you didn't ask me why I didn't consider the AV123 bigdogs.

Merlin

OK I'll bite why didn't you get the Big Dogs?
Our systems are pretty similar except I have an SVS sub.

Merlin,

You and I have similiar equipment. I have the 990/755 with Rocket 760's (850 Sigs arriving tomorrow!) and a Denon 5900. The Denon 3910 and 5900 are very similiar and the macroblocking issue has never really affected me. Although I can see it (rarely) on certain dark passages (I use a Panasonic HDTV) the overall picture quality is amazing...very HD like! Additionally, the sonics from these units are incredible...you will not be disappointed.

I let the Denon do the bass management and Digital to Analog conversion (D/A) by selecting "small" in the Denon's setup menu and connecting through the 7.1 analog inputs on the 990. You then need to select "large" in the Outlaw 990 to bypass its bass management on the 7.1 inputs. Althought the 990 is a very capable performer, I have found audio (specifically two-channel audio) to be slightly better when letting the Denon do the work (i.e. perform bass management tasks and D/A conversion) and passing everything through the 990 untouched. I also have a digital coax output connected from the Denon to the 990 (switching the 990 from large to small to activate bass management) so I can compare the two. The differences are small....but If I'm going to spend the money...I want it to sound as good as possible.

You'll definately want to experiment with letting the 990 handle all the bass management tasks vs. the Denon because your results may be different!

Good luck with all the new gear...I know you'll love it.

Steve

Seems we have quite a bit of Rocket owners here . I will be matching my 990 with 850/200/300's Dual UFW-12's and Dual SVS PB12+2's .

And I like the DVI switching for my new projector . This will come in handy for sure .

Just to add my 2 cents on BM I also let the player do the Bass Management for analog 5.1 (SACD & DVD-A), everything else I let the 990 handle it.

I'm pretty impressed with the DACs in the 990 with the Stereo upsampling on it gives my Perpetual Tech P-3A external DAC a run for the money.

Thanks guys for the helpful suggestions particulary in regards to signal processing and the DVD player! Please keep all the suggestions and helpful tips coming.

I am also thinking about hooking up the subs with a balanced connection between the 990 and the SMS1 and then using PCA sub cables from the SMS1 to the two subs. I think this would be cleaner then just a straight PCA connection between the 990 and SMS1.

Obie there are a lot of reasons to be honest that I didn't buy the big dogs, but two of them are that the feature sets are so close it isn't funny except for an extra sub output on the DMP-1. I want to thank Gonk for his excellent spread sheet it was very useful. Second no one that I know that has ever bought a Sunfire processor has ever kept it more then 6 months before either returning it or had major problems. Neither have I ever liked the sound from a Sunfire processor, so anything built around a Sunfire core is a big turn off for me.

Besides Outlaw has a longer history of making electonics then AV123 and that also counts for a lot, particulary when for what they are charging for the 990 I can upgrade processors on a regular basis if needed. But with DVI and room equalization coming soon through a download it was a no brainer in my mind as to which processor to get.

Don't get me wrong I love AV123's speakers and I spent an entire year auditioning speakers up to 20k before I bought the Rockets but they are the new guy on the block with electronics, and they started with a core that I happen to have no faith in.

I will be buying speakers from AV123 for a long time and I will be upgrading one pair of my RS750'S to 850's, and before anyone asks why not 1000's I have never been a fan of any kind of powered speaker and the 850's I think will be perfect since they have the everything the 1000's have except for the powered woofer. If the 1000's were not so heavy and the fact that I never liked any powered speaker I might give them a try but with everything I got coming I plan on having a hernia soon and needing that drink Drunkenjack!

Merlin

I am as well....the differences between the 990 and the Denon 5900 (with it's top line Burr-Brown DACs)are minimal. I actually prefer the 990 handling the duties for movies. The beautiful thing about the 990 is it is a great option for the two-channel purist as the bypass and 7.1 inputs are so clean and transparent. A respected reviewer ( in Ultimate AV I believe) claimed no audible sonic signature for the 990's 7.1 input, saying it was largely transparent (and comparing it to the Lexicon MC-12!) My extending listening sessions tend to agree with that. The 990 is a great piece of equipment for sure!