Wow, that is fast! So what am I going to use as an excuse to procrastinate now? ;-)

FWIW, I use the same settings/readings on my RS digital meter as gonk and dvdguru.

Gonk or someone else. Can someone walk me through what you were talking about setting up the gains. Do I just put it on an input with nothing attached, turn volume to 0 and then let the test tone go? I read over the manual online and didn't see anything about this setup. I mentioned putting it on an input with nothing attached so the cable tv or dvd sound doesn't come blaring out when I turn the volume to 00. thanks

It doesn't matter what input you're on, but it'd probably be easiest to put it on one that's not currently doing anything. Once there, turn the volume up to 0dB and go into the 990's menu. Select "Channel Calibration" and set the test tones to manual (it lets you manually scroll through the different speakers). Then scroll down to the first speaker and adjust it until you get 75dB at "C" weighting and slow on your RS meter. Do that for each channel, although you may end up needed to tweak the sub to taste later. If you are still a little unsure, try looking at page 30 of the 990's manual.

Thanks gonk! Fedex should be here this morning so I'm all set now. I'll post a review later tonight

This message is directed towards dvdguru and Kahuna. I'm interested in your opinions of your recent upgrades from the 1050 to 990 separates. I'm considering upgrading my 1050 and yours or anyone else who has made this specific upgrade comments are welcome. Thanks!

Much better now I don't miss the 1050 in the least. I have much better power (obviously) but also much better midbass, imaging, diaglouge, etc. I think my next upgrade will be room treatment which will really take my sound to the next level. But, even without room treatment it's still much better now.

I've joined the club of separate owners in believing that it's a whole other ballclub with separates. You need enough power for each channel and an amp will do much better than 99% of receivers from what I've read. Especially when you get to much louder levels. I still have clear dialogue at loud levels which I didn't have with the 1050. I think the 1050 was using so much power for explosions, loud sound effects, etc that it was just too much for it.

Now with an amp and prepro everthing just seems "effortless" for lack of a better word. Hope this all makes sense and put that 1050 on ebay I put it up for $385.00 buy it now and mine sold within 3 hours.

Steve

Cisco-
I'm still waiting for my 7500 to show up from California. There's no "Pre-in" on the 1050, so I can't test out the 990 right now. I'll try the 1050's pre-outs with the 7500 first before hooking up the 990. I'll post some impressions this weekend, when I get everything set up.

Thanks for both of your replies. I'm leaning towards the 990/7125/LFM1 combo and I just want to make sure the investment is going to make sense and that I'm in for a noticeable improvement in my sound fidelity. Keep the feedback coming.

Cisco, as I mentioned in an earlier post my upgrade path didn't jump straight from 1050 to 990, but I have had both pieces of equipment and I did notice very positive improvements with both the 1050-to-950 upgrade and the 950-to-990 upgrade.

Kahuna, if you really want to fire the 990 up, you could use an old and rather odd trick for a few days while the 7500 is in transit: hook the 990's pre-amp outputs to the 1050's 5.1 analog input, set the 1050's volume level to something, and cover the 1050's IR sensor up so commands to the 990 don't also affect it. It's not as good as proper inputs or a true separate amp and I generally don't recommend it if there's a better alternative, but it'll certainly get the ball rolling.

Thanks for your replies. I'm leaning towards the 990/7125/LFM1 combo and I just want to make sure the investment is going to make sense and that I'm in for a noticeable improvement in my sound fidelity. Keep the feedback coming.