I hooked my ipod into the Aux input of the 990 tonight. A few minutes later, I changed the input from AUX to Xbox360, which also uses an analog signal.

Then I realize that the 990 is playing sound from both the Xbox and the ipod. At first I thought something was wrong with my 990. Then I realized that when setting up the audio on each input, the 990 does not differentiate between various Analog inputs...it's just Analog.

Do I have this right? Does this mean that you can only have 1 Analog feed going into the 990 at a time?

Seems kind of strange...

By the way, I was utterly disappointed in the sound quality of the ipod which I hooked up via some Monster cable that went from the headphone jack to RCA. Looks like I'll get the dock.

Any digital way to hook up the ipod via line out?

Cheers.

I have a number of sources hooked into the 990 via analog (primarily for Zone 2 use). First I've heard of "dual sound". Sure the audio on your TV wasn't on playing the Xbox?

Also I am not aware of any digital output options for the iPod but go with the dock, it will sound much better.

Yup, I don't even have any audio going into the TV.

The speakers were playing Halo2 and Ipod sounds simultaneously.

Gonk,
I don't mean to stalk you, but you are the Outlaw guru...

Any idea what's going on here?

Thanks,
Kevin

The reason the input setup just lists "analog" as a choice is that each input has its own analog connection, and that's the connection each input will use when analog is selected. I'm not sure why you'd get sound carrying over from one source while another was selected. The connectors aren't brushing each other on the rear panel, are they? If they were touching, the signal from the iPod's Monster cable could be getting into the Xbox's cables somehow (unlikely, but I suppose not impossible).

I've only connected my iPod with an analog cable connected to the headphone jack, and agree that it's far from an audiophile source - although mzpro5's one of a number of people I've seen report that using a dock helps. Is there a reason you haven't run an optical cable from the Xbox360? I was thinking that the 360 supported DD 5.1 audio in games, which would only be available from a digital connection.

Regarding connecting the Xbox 360 via optical, it looks like the only way to do this is if I use the VGA cable. (Edit, oops, I was wrong. I never even noticed the optical out on the 360 Component cable - that said, is there any advantage to using VGA over component?).

I'd rather not do this because I'll have to run that wire directly to the TV (both DVI inputs will be taken on the 990, and I'm not even sure I could use an adapter for VGA-DVI).

Plus, I don't know how well my TV will handle VGA compared to component.

Ok, here is my setup:
Cable Box (Vid 1) - Comp 1, Opt 2
DVD (Video 2) - CompDVD, Coax 1
XBOX 360 (Video 3) - Comp 2, Analog (Video 3 In)
Ipod is plugged into Tape input


When I press Video 3, I get Xbox sound fine and faint Ipod sound.
When I press Video 4, I get full ipod sound.
When I press Aux, I get full ipod sound.
When I press Tape, I get nothing.
When I press video 5, I get full ipod.
When I press DVD (on 990 remote), I get full ipod.
When I press Phono, I get full ipod.

Is something weird going on here, or am I out of my mind?

I'd vote for "something weird" - give Outlaw a call tomorrow and see if they can shed some light on the issue.

Thanks Gonk.

I've opened up a helpdesk ticket. I'm hoping I don't have to send the 990 back...what a pain.

I already have a 100lb amp that I have to send back to Monster.

As for the VGA question, I'd stick with component. VGA'd be handy if you were using a computer monitor for your Xbox, but for HDTV's it's not likely to be better than component. In fact, most HDTV's don't support VGA at all.

In case this happens to anyone in the future, I am posting the response I got from Outlaw support:

You are either experiencing some sort of RF interference or the processor may have corrupt data that is affecting it's switching logic. In theory this should not be able to occur but if the processor has corrupt values it may not carry out switching as it should.

If the tape input is reversed with the output you could have weird problems, if something was accidentally plugged in when the unit was live it could cause a problem with switching. Because I've never encountered this problem with the 990 platform my guess is that resetting the processor to it's factory defaults as outlined on page 48 of the manual will restore normal operation. You'll have to reconfigure each source label for the correct input type. I'd also recommend using a digital connection from the X Box as it is capable of delivering 5.1 Dolby digital to the processor. If the reset does not fix the problem I would recommend disconnecting each source one by one to see if it ceases to exist. RF noise if close to an input can bleed through to other inputs. Also check your connections, if any cables have an arrow( --> ) to indicate signal flow be sure they are in the direction of the signal, from CD to pre or pre to amp. A directional cable that is installed backwards can act as an antenna of sorts and pick up stray RF, this could explain the muted sound appearing across inputs. Please re-open this ticket if you need assistance.

Thanks for sharing that with us, kgt - it's good stuff, and it sounds like you're on track to getting a solution to your problem.