I have a problem my son had my remote and he hit a button on my remote and now when ever I play anything back in DD,DTS, DD PL2, and everything else but stereo all get is distorted sound coming from my speakers.

I have a 990 preamp with a 7125 amp, and of course outlaw audio is closed over the long weekend.

I have tried doing the hard reset and still no luck if anyone can help please.

that is extremly odd.. all i can say is check out your setting in your DVD player.. to make sure it's in bitstream... other than that.. sorry I can't be of any other help.

nothing else comes to mind right now.

Check the bass and treble settings - if one of them is extremely elevated, you might get some weird results. I'll try to think of any other possible sources.

Sorry forgot to add that it happens in every input.

Try a system reset (manual page 48).

I tired the reset on page 48 and still no luck. this is a very strange thing to have happend.

Did he happen to hit something related to second zone? (sorry kinda grasping at straws)

Something crazy happened I shut it off and unplugged it from the wall overnight and the same with the amp then this morning I turned it on and thought "what the hell" and threw in a DVD and that worked in DD with no distortion. So I thought I would press my luck and tried my cable box and that works in DD 2.0 so whatever happened last night is all clear now this morning.

Kinda of a strange thing to have happen!

That's really odd... If you ever figure out what happened, let us know.

very odd indeed.. almost like the amp needed to be reset or something.. glad you're back up and running smoothly before the holidays.

congrats.

This happens to me once in a while and I can't explain it either. To get your sound back, unplug the 990 or hit the main power button.

Including me, you are third person to post this over the past few months. I did report it to Outlaw and their solution was to update the software again. I did and didn't have a problem for a long time. But it eventually happenned again--when my son accidentally hit something on the remote. I have never been able to duplicate the problem--it always happens when something gets hit on the remote.

This sounds like Outlaw needs to look into this a little more.

I am glad that at least we are talking about just in case it happens to someone they know that their Preamp isn't dead.

I download the firmware and updated it on the Preamp. Then last night I accidentally hit the off button on my remote and I waited a second then turned it back on and when it did come back on the sound was all distorted again.

So I turned off the main power switch in the back, waited about one minute turned the preamp back on and everything worked like nothing happpend. So hopefully that helps them figure out what is going on...

odd, but glad you got it figured out.. the off button on the remote is nothing more than a stand by .. the power button as you know is on the rear of the 990. sometimes electronics need to be rebooted.. and that would mean a complete turn off.. not just in stand by. similar to restarting your computer.

For what its worth, I've had the 990 for nearly 4 months now, haven't installed the firmware and she's been running like a champ. Am I really missing something without the update?

I've got a pretty detailed run-down of the firmware update here , which includes the list below.

• SYNC adjustment on front panel: The SYNC button on the remote allows you to adjust the AV sync delay time for the active input without entering the menu. Previously, however, the adjustment only appeared on the on-screen "pop-up" display, which was only visible when watching s-video or componsite vide inputs. Now, the sync adjustment is also displayed on the front panel display, so you can adjust the sync for those component or DVI inputs.
• Editable audio input labels: Previously, only the DVD and Video 1 through Video 5 inputs could be renamed. Now, all inputs support this except for 7.1 Direct.
• Fixed front panel input selection: The 7.1 Direct input can now be selected from the front panel's INPUT button.
• Modified behavior of surround mode buttons on remote: A number of users expressed a desire to be able to see the current surround processing mode on the 990's front panel display. To accomodate this request, the three surround mode buttons on the remote (Stereo, DD, and DTS) now mimic the behavior of the "SURR MODE" button on the front panel when pressed the first time – a single key press will scroll the current surround mode across the front panel display's text box. Pressing the buttons multiple times will still cycle through the modes, as was the case previously.
• Bass management behavior corrected: Previously, bass management did not work quite as intended in some scenarios. Outlaw has gone back through the bass management and sorted all those problems out. I'll summarize the different ways in which the Model 990's bass management works in the next section.
• Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx improvements: There were some adjustments made to the software for Pro Logic II/IIx processing (affecting all applications of Pro Logic II/IIx, including Pro Logic processing on top of Dolby Digital or DTS sources).

If you aren't using one of the bass management scenarios that had problems, there are still a couple nice improvements to be had with the latest firmware. The front panel sync adjustment is definitely cool if you ever need to make sync adjustments to an input. I've liked being able to rename the CD, Aux, and Tape inputs (Aux is now Roku and Tape is now iPod in my case). The new surround mode behavior is very popular, and I've used it a number of times since it was added. Plus it's kind of cool that they were able to tweak the Pro Logic IIx performance.

For what its worth, I've had the 990 for nearly 4 months now, haven't installed the firmware and she's been running like a champ. Am I really missing something without the update?

Gonk,
This is an aside, but was just wondering:

Is there a way to or is Outlaw planning to have software that allows you to adjust the various input levels to make them consistant?

Are you talking about a way to compensate for the fact that DVD's are mastered at a significantly lower level than CD's, VHS tapes, and most TV broadcasts? I don't know of any plans to try to incorporate anything along these lines.

Yes...I know in my system different inputs do have different audio levels. It can be a minor annoyance when switching from one input to another and being jolted with higher than expected audio levels.

This post may be dead, but i'm still going to share.

I also had the problem of crackling and distortion, which would only happen occasionally, but I was able to resolve it with help from Outlaw Customer Support.

It turns out that the DSP chip in the 990 is very sensitive to heat buildup. I had the 990 right on the top of a 12 channel amplifier, which would almost start glowing red after being on inside an MDF enclosed rack all day. Suffice to say, I believe that the sensitive chip cannot handle any heat above what the 990 itself produces.

I'm not so sure that this is a serious defect in design as it is just the nature of high-end electronics. (I know that when my computer's fan quit working awhile back, the performance definitely suffered.)

I would love to hear if other people have found evidence to suggest that this is in fact a fix. All I know is that when the 990 temp. is normal, the distortion is gone!

Heat is dangerous in any equipment like this. My 990 operates fine in my closed cabinet, but I have the big power amp fairly well isolated and I have a remote temperature sensor (the outdoor portion of a cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer) that has over the years migrated throughout my equipment rack to help me keep an eye out for dangerous hot spots.

Interesting story: we had a client some years ago who kept complaining of major heat problems with his equipment racks. This was in the main equipment room for a TV/radio studio. He reported that the ambient temperature in the room was in the mid 80's, even though we designed the space to maintain 72F. It turns out all thirteen equipment racks were fully closed up (unventilated rear panels and glass front panels) and the temperature reading was from a stick-on thermal strip attached to the back of one rack. Temperature readings on a nearby wall came back at 68F, four degrees better than the design temperature, but any time the air handler serving that area shut off he would burn up gear. The solution was of course to leave that air handler on around the clock, as was already being done in two other areas (server room and archive room), but I don't know if he ever ventilated his equipment racks...

Yeah, I've had the crackling distortion too, but I don't think mine's related to temperature. The 990's on its own shelf, with plenty of breathing room, and my rack is wide open. My amp is below the 990, but it does not run hot at all. The distortion comes and goes, and it's been most prevalent on "Upsample" mode. It's gone at the moment...

Hope nobody minds but I'd like to keep this thread alive. My 990 did this distortion thing almost out of the box. And this week it's happened at least 3 times. A power cycle or two has thus far always cured it. My advice is don't anyone panic and just live with it. It's a minor inconvenience for something that to me, really delivers the goods.

have you contacted Outlaw Audio about the problem? I'd be concerned that it may be damaging something.. since most of the rest of us don't have this kind of distortion.. it would bug me till i got it resolved.

are you sure it's not the 7125 amp and not the 990?

I contacted Outlaw about it, and the answer is always to reinstall firmware. This takes care of the problem for a while. Then it comes back, and then it goes away. It's usually only on "Upsample" mode, so I can work around it easily enough by switching to a different "mode" (and therefore it's not the amp).

Sky, yes I have contacted them. And they have given me the procedure which I was already doing: power cycle. Their impeccable customer service did suggest that if I wanted, since my 990 is under warranty, to send it in. But as I've said, I'm not that worried.

well, it sounds like there is an ongoing problem.. since it requires service.. that's why companies have warranty's, for problem that crop up in the first 1yr, 2yrs or whatever.

If you can live with it.. more power to you. I would be upset to have to live with a problem like that.

good luck.

I still have the problem too. Sometimes a month or more goes by without any problems; other times it will happen twice in a week. The problem is that the 990 produces unlistenable distortion for any input in any digital mode. In 2 channel bypass it sounds fine.

Turning off the main power button on the back for 10 or more seconds cures it almost every time but once in a while I have to wait quite a while and then the problem disappears.

I wish the Outlaws were able to tell us what the problem is and provide a permanant fix. But even with the problem, I still love my 990!

To me it almost sounds like a hardware problem, the very fact that cycling the power takes care of it makes me think that a contact is not being fully made. Kinda like a switch that doesn't quite hit but makes enough contact to pass the juice resulting in a dim glow. But give it another flick and wallah let there be light!

I have no electrical knowledge other than working in the automotive industry where occasionally I do have to troubleshoot switches and lights. But I have learned to check for the obvious first because that is usually the problem, it's almost never some weird voodoo from a parallel universe.