Yes, surprising what a few well-placed plants can do. Also having a carpeted floor on a cement slab helps especially with those loud movie explosions. Did I also mention I have a DTS test disc with a 20-20,000Hz sound sweep test tone and a Radio Shack sound meter? I was curious how close I was using these basic tools.

If you don't think you hear a huge difference, you'll know anyway. When your friends will stop talking mid-sentence and have that blank stare while they're listening, you'll know. My son's college friends don't believe it.

I have a 990 and 7700 & M&K Xenons.

I just got the 990 yesterday and I'm glad I did. Thanks to a member from PolkAudio forum. Believe it or not, my little hum noise is gone as soon as I replaced Sony A/V (bought 7500 before 990). Now I can watch the 300. I rented on the day I placed the order. The only regret is I found out about Outlaw a little too late. I've owned many receivers before from H/K to Yammi to Denon and laterly Sony and 990/7500 is my last stop. Well, not really, until I pass them to my daughters. Pre/Pro and Amp is much better than A/V.

hometheaterlover,
enjoy the new toy!!!!
Have fun re-listen to your music/movie collection.

don't be afraid to give us an update after you have settled in....

Later...

Now that the 7125 arrived, I was able to hook them up and listen to some 2 channel music and a bit of a movie I always listen to for surround effects.

Well, all I can say is, it was like there was a towel over the speakers and now the towel is gone.

Interestingly there was something I did not expect to encounter... audible hiss. Now don't get me wrong, I turned the 990 to a unused input, AUX, and proceeded to turn up the volume to the max setting and hiss was easily heard from the listening position. Out of curiousity, should this occur? I recall a post by gonk that indicated he did this test with the 950 and there was no hiss. ( After the blue dot fix as I recall ) Perhaps I am expecting too much?

Did you update your software?
I don't think any of the 990s have the new S/W on them.

the only time I get a hiss with my outlaw amp is when my girlfriend has her curling iron plugged in(not only the speakers but the amp hums). Sometimes you can get a ground loop hum from the interconnect. Is the hiss coming out of all speakers?

Firmware version wouldn't affect a hiss, although it's worth checking to see what version is installed anyway.

Hiss can be the result of a variety of issues. Relentless's example is one: other devices (curling iron, dimmer switch, refrigerator compressor). I'd also check the layout of the wiring - power cords run too close to interconnects or speaker cables can introduce noise. If the sound is volume-dependent, I'd look at interconnects in particular. Relentless's question about which speakers it affects is a good one.