no I didn't try that yet. I will probably give it a try in a few weeks.

I've tried it and it works well enough that I'm not going to worry about it more for now, although splitting the signal does lower the sound level on the four surround speakers a bit.

I have noticed something else that is much more worrisome, though--so far I have been unable to find a analog surround sound switching solution that works.

I wouldn't have thought so, since I it is essentially the same as Stereo7 mode and I don't experience any problems in my system. I just split the rear analog outputs from my Oppo 971HD this weekend and listened to a few SACDs. They sounded pretty good to me, with no degradation whatsoever.

However, based on this quote from Scott Gammans
it sounds like your mileage may vary. I have read in this forum somewhere that the 990 applies bass management to the analog inputs. Does anyone know if it applies the distance settings as well?
If it does, then I don't see how splitting the surround channels from your source would result in any degradation unless we are dealing with another variable (i.e. the amp, a setup issue, or some room acoustics problem).

If the 990 does not apply the distance settings to its 7.1 analog input, most devices that have 5.1 analog outputs have menu options that let you set those. Which brings me to a follow-up (perhaps rhetorical) question: if distance settings are applied by the 990, should we "zero out" the channel delay or distance settings on our DVD players?

BTW, in my Oppo 971, I have all my speakers set to large and delays to zero. I am happy with the results but it could be an illusion...

Splitting the signal weakens the signal, so you'd probably want to bust out an SPL meter and run some test tones through the player - and if necessary, up the channel trim on the surrounds to compensate for the split.

My recommendation for using the 990's 7.1 Direct input is to zero out both distance and trim settings at the player and only adjust the trim settings if necessary (such as the case of splitting the surrounds).