sorry if i keep beating a dead horse here guys.. but if i understand this...

if i am listening to something in PLII i should have 5 channels of audio correct? LCR and surround left and right?

If this is correct... then i'm not getting front left and right for some reason. Unless i apply the center width. with extends a signal to the left and right fronts.

Yes, Pro Logic II will produce five channels of audio. However, as Sanjay points out, that is going to be dependent on the source material and influenced by the Center Width setting. A mono source (even if carried equally by both left and right channels) would tend to be reproduced solely in the center. Similarly, I'd expect programs that are nothing but dialog to tend to do the same thing (since the dialog is going to want to be anchored to the screen and therefore should be steered to the center).

Here's something that might be useful to our discussion. The quote below was taken from page 31 of the 990's manual.
Based on that, STEP 0 on the 990 should yield no data in the left and right channels.

Are you sure you're listening to a stereo signal? What you're describing has never happended to me when using PLIIx, unless the source signal is mono. The processing circuit can only steer mono content to the centre speaker, so stereo information should remain fixed in the L/R speakers even when the Centre Width parameter is set to 0 (minimum). Trying playing a CD that you know has a wide front soundstage and various Centre Width settings. Irrespective of those settings, the soundstage shouldn't shrink.

I've got a question for you, Sanjay. Could it be that a center width of 0 actually allows the audio to steer entirely to the center? I noticed that the MC-12 manual lists its available adjustments for center width as 1 to 6 rather than the 990's range of 0 to 7, which is what gave me that idea.

No. At least never in my experience. Do you have any stereo sources with strong left-vs-right content that you could test it on? For example: if you have a test CD that has an isolated left channel signal, see if you can get it to collapse to the middle using the Centre Width control. Steps 0 and 7 have been re-labeled Min and Max, respectively, to make it easier to remember which end of the range does what.

BTW, I don't know if you're aware but the PLII Movie mode is the equivalent of setting the Centre Width to 0 in the Music mode. If you're not experiencing collapse when using PLII Movie, then you shouldn't with PLII Music.

I've actually not tried this myself and haven't noticed the sort of complete collapse that Skyblazer's found, but my Devious Tiny Disc has tracks with dedicated left-only and right-only audio on them. If I get a chance, I'll see what I can come up with.

yes, maybe my source from the cable tv was mono.

when i use a known stereo signal i get all three front channels working..

PLII movie has a narrow/center weighted field

PLII music is a wider sound field.

ok. it does make sense to me know.

thanks