$875. A fellow member of avsforum.com just sold his for that much, and his was older than mine.

I wouldn't sell the 990 too soon. Outlaw used DVI instead of HDMI for good reason -- HDMI is unreliable (and the connector is lousy).

I would suggest not waiting for a pre-pro or receiver that does HD decoding. Even hdmi.org recommends that HD decoding be done in the player.

You may want to investigate the outboard HDMI switcher now available from Sherwood Newcastle (maker of the 990) for use with their P-965 and R-965.

Your best bet may be to find a used Sony TAP9000ES. (I have never seen any other preamp with multiple multi-channel inputs.) On the other hand, by the time you find one, there will probably be a good universal HD player on the market.

Be patient. This is just a temporary problem.

I'm in the same boat.

Have a 5-disc Sony CD/SACD changer, am getting the Oppo 981HD, want be able to listen to multichannel music on both. Perhaps that discontinued Zektor is the way to go... And of course, once the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD format war is over, there will be a 3rd multichannel source to switch...

**sigh**

Another thought... about the Zektor HDS4.1.

If I had to switch one or more 5.1 channel source and a single 7.1 channel source.... could I simply run 5.1 from each to the Zektor, with the extra 2 channels from the one source going direct to the 990?

Anyone?

Anyone know the answer to my question directly above?

Help?

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. You'd just have to make sure the 7.1 source wasn't turned on and playing when using a 5.1 source.

Ooh. Good point, Gonk.

Scott, you say the switchers all degraded the sound in some fashion? I'm eying the Zektor, and would be curious for some details about your experience with it...

Thanks.