Just want some clarification about the Zone 2 function on the 990.

My question is...can ANY source be used in Zone 2? I assume so, but what's got me confused is the limited number of sources available on the Zone 2 remote. Are those the ONLY sources available to Zone 2?

And adding to that, how easy is it to select the Zone 2 source (using either remote)? From reading the manual it looks like you really need to have the TV on and do it with the on screen..is that true? Can it be done without turning on the TV? This is an issue for me because my TV is not really a TV, it's a projector. I don't want to have to turn it on and wait for it to warm up every time I simply want to change my Zone 2 source.

On my current system I just press the 'zone 2' button, then press the button for the input I want..either on the front of the unit or with the remote. Is the 990 this simple?

The Zone 2 remote offers direct access to the DVD input, Video1 through Video5, CD, tape, Aux, and the tuner. The only input not available on zone 2 is the 7.1 Direct input.

Whenever a command is sent to the 990 from the zone 2 remote, the front panel display of the 990 shows [Z2] and the command (what input is now active or what the volume has changed to). You really don't need to have the display on to use the second zone.

Thanks for the quick reply, gonk

Here's where my confusion came from:
I did actually see that the Zone 2 remote had Video 1-5 but for some reason (probably the way the remote is labled) I guessed that those buttons switched only the video.

BUT if you're saying that by simply pressing 'Video2' on the zone 2 remote that it will send the audio feed from whatever is connected to the 'video2' analog input to Zone2...I'm good with that!

And maybe to make it easier..video is not a concern for zone2, only audio. Zone 2 is actually my outdoor speakers. I want to be able to use Video1 (which will be XM via DirecTV) Video 2 (network audio server) of course DVD, CD, and Video 5 (MP3 player).

From your description sounds like I'm good to go.

Video2 will switch to both the audio and the video from the Video2 input, so you should indeed be good to go. Keep in mind, though, that you'll need to run stereo analog cables from any sources you plan to use for zone 2 - the 990's second zone is essentially a separate analog stereo pre-amp, and digital inputs don't get passed to the second zone outputs.

Cool. I figured as much on the analog cables, my current rig (Onkyo receiver) works that way too.

Thanks for the info!