I use ZONE2 feature of my 990 to run the speakers connected to the other rooms of my house (master bath, master bedroom, kitchen, garage). One thing that is annoying is that the ZONE2 remote does not make the 990 display turn on and show you that it received your button press. I have to first hit something on the main remote, like "volume up" button, to activate the 990 display. Then, if I hurry up and press a button on the ZONE2 remote, the display will indicate what ZONE2 key funciton was pressed. I consider this a bug in the software. Can it eventually be fixed in future firmware upgrade?

Hmmmm. I used the Zone 2 feature of the 990 since I first received it. I never encountered that problem at all. Any button press on the Zone 2 remote would activate the Zone 2 feature selected.

In fact, I'm not sure what you mean by "activate the 990 display." Oh, do you mean the on-screen display? If that's the case, then I'm not sure. I never used the OSD for anything other than setup, so I never expect it to overlay on the screen. If you are talking about the front panel display, then it was always on for me, and when I pressed a Zone 2 command, it reflected that it got the command immediately.

Now here's the part I found annoying -- once you get into Zone 2 "mode", if you press "volume up" for the main zone, it will still control Zone 2's volume. I reverts to Zone 1 after about five or eight seconds, but during that time, it will continue to control Zone 2. I really thought it was a firmware bug, but Steve (previous Outlaw employee) told me it was designed that way. I don't recall the reasoning for his statement, but it never made sense to me. I have some experience now with another preamp that will allow the user to control Zone 1 and then Zone 2 (and vice versa) with no delay, and it's nice...

Good luck!

Here's that other thread:

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/34/t/001291.html

If you are referring to the OSD pop-ups (on-screen indicators of volume change or input change, for example), then I suspect what you are seeing is an intentional design decision. Here's my reasoning: let's say you are watching a DVD in the main zone while your spouse is listening to a CD in the second zone. If the second zone's volume is adjusted or the second zone input changed, do you want to see that information pop up over your DVD? As with Otto, my limited second zone experience suggests that commands to the second zone show up as "[R2] ___" on the front panel of the unit.

Thanks for the responses. Not the OSD. I was referring to the 990 front panel display. I have it set up to blank the display after a few seconds (which is a setup option that I very much like as my TV is right next to my system). When you press a key on the main remote, the 990 display activates to show you the command you pressed but, it doesn't when you press any of the ZONE2 remote keys. I found that if you first press a key on the main remote to activate the display, then quickly press the ZONE2 remote key you want, you can get the "[R2]____" command displayed before the display blanks. So, the problem is that the ZONE2 remote key presses do not take the 990 display out of blanking mode to show you the command. It does execute the key press, however, which is good. This seems to me like a bug that could be fixed with a firmware upgrade.

As for the "volume up" issue, Yep, I have found that to be a little annoying on many occasions but, not as annoying as the display blanking problem. At least the display indicates that the volume keys are still controlling ZONE2 with the "[R2]___" in the display which helps me. The worse part about this "volume" feature is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to explain what is going on to my wife who several times has turned down the ZONE2 volume very very low all the while wondering why the heck the main volume wont turn down. Then, I get a call at work with her telling me that "ZONE2 isn't working again" and I have to explain how to get around the blanking problem so that she can see the ZONE2 volume level in the display and turn it back up to -5dB where it should always be.

I really would like the ZONE2 volume to control ZONE2 instantly, and the MAIN volume to control the MAIN volume instantly. The timeout for both should be like a second.

gonk: I agree with you that you don't want the ZONE2 key press to pop up on the TV screen. But, that doesn't mean it shouldn't show up on the 990 front panel display.

Thanks again for responding!

Ahhh... So it relates to when you have the front panel display off. I certainly can't see a design reason to intentionally do this. It does seem more likely that the R2 commands are somehow bypassing or omitting a command to turn the front panel back on for the duration of the message.

So, it's possible to fix in the firmware someday, you think?

I'm not a programmer, so you may need a grain or two of salt handy, but I don't see anything that would rule it out.

As a firmware programmer, I believe that both of those issues could be changed in firmware.

I sent an email to Scott of Outlaw regarding this thread. So, maybe he will chime in next...