Thanks for all the input. Guess I would go the balanced route just to be safe and not have to worry about it. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on a 990 and 7700 but just put the brakes on. I ordered a new board to try and fix my Yamaha V2400 first, if I can get that going I think it is best to wait and see where HDMI 1.3 ends up so I don't have to buy again in 6 months. If I can't get the V2400 going again then I just don't know.....