I guess I just wanted to let everyone know something I noticed. When running a stereo analog signal through the 990, and when the processing mode is set to bypass, if you activate theater compensation it will still be applied even when in bypass. I assume theater compensation is performed in the digital domain so it is possible that the 990 is flipping the signal over into the digital realm even though its processing mode is in bypass.
That may not be exactly what is happening, I guess we would need Outlaw to confirm. But I do know when in bypass, theater compensation has an obvious audible effect, which I would have expected it to not be applicable.
So, if you use theater compensation, you my want to disable it when listening to an input in bypass if you are making an effort to get the purest signal from your source.

Bypass mode on the 990 is just a marketing fluke. It always pushes the signals through the digital circuitry.

How, then, do you get the purest or least processed signal?

John

Well, I guess you just either have to use bypass or 7.1 direct, insuring that you don't have any other "system level" setting turned on that adds additional processing into the mix. It's obvious to me that theater compensation is doing something to the signal regardless of the processing mode. I don't know if there are other settings that have similar negative effects.
I tried theater compensation on the 7.1 direct inputs, and it too was affected.