The volume control is implemented by a digitally controlled analog ladder attenuator. The digital words from the processor (via the volume control encoder) control which resistor rungs of the ladder are in circuit and which aren't. These rungs function as a voltage divider, which attenuates the signal. There are 8 ladder attenuator channels, one for each output channel. From the ladder attenuator, the signal goes to the output buffer ICs.

Ok, then, I was wrong in my assumption that the tone controls of the 990 operate in the analog domain.

I stand corrected.

I only wish the bug was as quickly and easily corrected as my wrong assumption was.

Gonk, Sorry if you consider my post trolling, it is not meant to be trolling. It just goes to the problems that Outlaw was/is having with the 970 & 990, and how it parallels to a younger internet company in Emotiva. It still is quite ironic how you documented and asked so many questions of company on a product that you don't own, yet not much on documentation or questions of a companies products you do own. Parallels do seem come full circle. As for steering this thread off course, I apologize to those forum members that I may have offended, and will officially steer clear of this thread.

I have not been particularly active in the discussions of the 990's bypass mode issue. Would you like to know why? It's because after using the 990 for almost two years (closer to three at this point), spending countless hours using it and discussing its operation with others, and following the discussions leading up to the 990's 3.10/3.11 firmware update (including being active in those discussions and doing a bit of tinkering to understand what was happening as best I could), I felt quite comfortable with how the 990 works in my system. When the issue in question arose, it appeared to relate specifically to a situation that didn't exist in my system. It also arose at a time when I had a lot of other things going on (promotion at work, young child at home, and so on). Having already been sucked into the ongoing debate about the LMC-1 by that point (a debate in which my involvement dated back to almost eighteen months prior to the start of this thread, before the LMC-1 even started shipping) I didn't have the time to dig into another puzzle, especially one that would involve making cabling changes to my system and coming up with test procedures and measurement tools specifically for the issue. Quite simply, I wasn't the right person to contribute to the debate, so I stayed out of the way and left it others who were in a good position to contribute. Hell, I was only continuing with the LMC-1 discussions at that point because I was deep enough into it that I was interested in finding some answers, and even that was a great deal more time consuming than I would have liked - especially in light of the attitude I've gotten from some people as a result of my involvement in that debate.

Hello, In reference to mxbum. Freedom of speech is thankfully a law in this country, but why are you so critical of Outlaw products when you sold yours on ebay two months ago????? ...Stephen..

Where was I critical of Outlaw products? I do not feel that Outlaw has handled this issue well and I would like to see them resolve it - both for myself as an audio consumer and for current owners.

Time to kick the dead horse again.
It's been over a month since the last post from Scott. Any news yet on a firmware update?

Any updates? I wonder if I can get some of my money back since I only received a partial working product.

lol at outlaws attempts to dodge questions by focusing on an issue not related to the main topic.

I liked the idea of the 990 switching the mains to large and the sub off whenever it detects it is in bypass mode. Or even better they can copy Classe' and put a 2ch preamp in the case and allow only one source to it. All the others will go through the processor. I do find it odd that Outlaw is not on top of this with a new processor coming out, all of this negativity can't be good for business.

Mmm, drooling

I had a processor in the past that did this and have always wished the 990 did. I don't think it'll ever happen though.