Pretty dumb question but, are both the 990/7700 black in color or more of a grey color and are they both the exact same color as one another? The pics of both look like they are different colors. Thanks.

Like many metal finishes, it's hard to get a good color-accurate picture of these units. They are basically black (might be considered really dark gray, I suppose) although not as pure black as you'll find on some faceplates (particularly the black plastic of many older DVD players). They are also the same color, at least as near as I can tell - I've got a Model 7500 in the equipment rack now that looks to be the same color as my 990, but it's a couple feet below the 990 so they aren't directly adjacent to each other.

You might find this picture from the Model 970 gallery useful. It shows a 970 (same finish as the 990) sitting on top of a 7075 (same finish as the 7700). The black inset on the front of the Model 970 is a fairly pure black, and the rest of the front is a somewhat lighter shade. Interesting observation: the left side of both units appear to be a very close match, but the right side of the picture might suggest that the 970 is lighter than the 7075 - which is most likely due to that corner of the 970 receiving somewhat more light from the photographer's lights than the rest. (Being the son of a metalsmith/photographer (his bachelor's was in photo while his MFA was in metals), I'm probably more aware than most of the trials and tribulations of photographing metals. )

My 990 is a very dark gray while the 7700 is black, there is a bit of a difference in color.