Hello,

I am considering purchasing the Outlaw 990 and using the special promotion 15% discount. The total cost would be $594. Although the 990 doesn't have Audessy I think this is still a good deal. My question is how should I connect the Oppo to the 990 to achieve the best SACD and HT sound quality. I don't want to spend an additional $299 to upgrade my Oppo analog outputs with the SE edition. So instead of connecting the Oppo to the 990 by the analog outputs can I connect an HDMI cable from my Oppo to the DVI connection on the 990 with some type of HDMI to DVI connector? Since the 990 doesn't decode the new lossless formats should I just decode everything in the Oppo and just run the 990 in bypass through analog? I really am pretty confused.

This page may help you out with the pairing of Model 990 and BDP-83. The BDP-83's manual is also a really good reference.

Thank you Gonk. So it would seem that for me to play SACD's I would need to use the Oppo analog outputs to connect to the 990. In which case if I wanted to improve the musical sound I would still need to upgrade to the SE. I read a lot of posts and have come to the conclusion that for cd's or two channel sources the SE is the way to go. Also from what I read the multichannel improvement is not as dramatic. This might not be the proper forum to ask this question, but if your were interested in very good 5 channel SACD audio would you upgrade to the SE?

First, welcome to the Outlaw saloon. You are in the right place for the expertise needed to do anything Outlaw. I would suggest reading the 990s manual before you buy it and it will explain a lot of the capabilities. The 990 is a very complicated piece of gear, but it is very easy to use once set up. The manual will show you how easy it is to set up and should reduce the confusion a great deal.

The 990 has its own room setup program which, while not as complicated as Audyssey, is very capable in allowing you to adjust your system to you room. No room correction device is going to completely fix your room perfectly. DVI is a video signal ONLY. It is equivalent to HDMI in video quality. The advantage to HDMI besides the quality of signal is the ease of cable routing. There are multiple ways to adapt HDMI cables to DVI and the reverse. You can buy special cables or adapters. The usual path is to buy HDMI cable and an HDMI/DVI adapter so later on you still have the HDMI cable if you upgrade. HDMI is an all in one audio and video cable whereas DVI is the same as HDMI without the audio wiring.

You will still have to output the OPPO to the 990 via analog or Optical or another method. You can connect any or all of the various OPPO outputs to the 990 inputs. The OPPO will decode all of the new audio formats. The video output from the OPPO to the 990 goes through the 990 untouched by its processors. The 990 does not do any video processing, only routing of the signal. Whatever signal goes in to the 990 video input comes out the same.

What the 990 does best is manipulate audio from multiple sources to an amplifier and then to your speakers. Connecting your OPPO via analog allows it to decode the movies and upscale the video to give optimal effect. You can connect the OPPO with analog AND optical at the same time and designate which signal to use based on what source you are using. When inputting to the analog inputs, the 990 does minimal processing (bass management mostly) so the OPPO would be doing the bulk of the audio processing. The DACs in the OPPO would be in play at this point so the upgrade would be in effect. Unless you are a serious analog audiophile, you should wait for the upgrade as I will bet you don't need it. I have the OPPO and the 990 and I am very impressed with the quality of sound from both my HT and music interests.

Save the $$$ get the 990 and the standard BDP-83. Try it out and if you need the upgrade you can do it later. Again, welcome and please ask any question you need help with and someone will help. Pay attention to "Gonk" as he is really good at this and is very helpful without trying to sway you one way or the other.

Thank you Gonk and XenonMan for the quick responses. Listed below is my current system configuration. My speakers are all set-up as large with a subwoofer connected. I have a 5.1 set-up and am not concerned with upgrading to 7.1. Will I have any problems using my current system with the 990? Any special things I should know with this set-up? Also, if I connect my Oppo to the 990 through the analogs, I wont be able to take advantage of any 990 room correction. Isn't this correct? I guess I would just be bypassing the Outlaw 990 and basically using it as a volume control. Is this correct? Thank you.

Oppo BDP-83 Blu Ray Player
Carver 705THX 5 Channel 125 per channel amp
Front Main Speakers JBL-L112 full range bookshelf
Center Speaker Smaller full range JBL
Rear Surrounds Bose 301 Wall mount full range
Subwoofer Carver Amazing Sunfire 2,000 watt

I've read some really flattering feedback regarding the 83SE, but I would also say that the stock 83 provides analog performance well above the price point. It is a very respectable player in its own right.
I wouldn't see any problem. I would say that you'll need to be sure to connect the side surrounds (not the back surrounds). It's a distinction that confuses some people. Beyond that, both the BDP-83 and Model 990 are perfectly competent in a 5.1 system.

I would suggest running your center and surrounds as "small" with an appropriate crossover selected in the Model 990. You might even try running the fronts small with a 40Hz or 60Hz crossover just to see what you think of the result. The Model 990's bass management can help you dial in your system, so you may as well play around to find what works best for your system and your listening preferences.
The Model 990 doesn't have "room correction." It does have bass management, channel trims, and speaker delays. The 7.1 Direct input does have the benefit of those settings if any speakers are set to "small." Only if all speakers are set to "large" will the 990 act as a simple analog pre-amp for the 7.1 Direct input.

I don't want to get anyone in trouble here, but I was wondering what your general opinion was on the new Emotiva UMC-1 compared to the Outlaw 990. I understand the UMC-1's have just started shipping. The price for the Emotiva is comparable to the 990 and it has HDMI and is supposed to have very good dac's. Please don't reply if I am out of line in asking this question here.

There's nothing wrong with asking. It's too soon to know for sure how the UMC-1 will turn out. On the one hand, the feature set does hold some appeal, especially at the price point. On the other hand, Emotiva's last budget surround processor had some very major issues that were never really fixed - the UMC-1 is an order of magnitude more complex than the LMC-1 was, so it might be worthwhile to wait a few months to see how the UMC-1 turns out. At the price point, you could even look for a used Onkyo (something like the PR-SC885) that has a good analog section and a feature set that is actually better than the UMC-1 (Audyssey, Reon video processor). I've used both the 885 and the 990, and depending on your needs I could see arguments in favor of either unit - although if you asked my wife, she'd tell you she hates the 885 and misses the 990.

Thank you Gonk you truly are objective and helpful.

Also, it sounds like the UMC-1 may not actually be shipping yet - I haven't checked the situation out in detail yet, but I've heard there are some questions about whether it is actually shipping and when they plan to post a user's manual. (Bad idea to ship a surround processor without a manual...)