Yes, the two-channel analog input has a bypass mode that provides a complete analog signal path through the Model 990. No, the 7.1 direct input does not offer that bypass mode. If you use the 7.1 direct input, the only way to defeat bass management is to set all speakers to "large" in the Model 990 setup menu - thus disabling bass management for all inputs.



Correct, when using the 7.1 analog connection to the 990, you will need to rely on the 990's bass management unless you disable bass management for all of the 990's inputs.



I had to double-check this page (this diagram from the firmware update portion of my 990 review contains the same data). If the fronts are set to "small" the sub will get a signal when in bypass mode with a stereo input.

I'd been looking for years for some straightforward way to put 7.1 analog into BYPASS mode by switching all speakers to large and then be able to go back to all small for other inputs.

A while back someone here said they entered all the keystrokes into a programmable remote macro to go into the menu and switch all the speakers to large and then another to go back to all small. But you don't necessarily know which way the 990 is set when you turn it on, and it is not reversable with the same keystrokes to go back.

I have wondered if using the RS-232 port like a big HT controller or a computer can, could directly set all speakers to large or small directly.

Ok, so according to that diagram at the bottom, when using a analog stereo input (such as CD) and the front speakers are set to small, then it sends full-range to the two front speakers AND the sub (shown by the black lines)? That would mean I've have to turn on the sub's active crossover and set it to like 60Hz.

If instead, I used the Oppo's 2ch L/R Stereo RCA outs, plus the center, two surrounds and sub, all connected to the 990's 7.1 analog input, then I would have to set all speakers to large on the 990 to avoid the 990's A/D/A bass management. Doing this would provide a clean signal from the Oppo. Though I'd have to setup the bass management in the Oppo, so all the crossover work would be done by it internally before it is sent to the 990. That would mean for CD and BD/Muilt-Audio playback, all the crossovers would be done in the Oppo, and the 990 would be in 7.1 mode just asking like a pre-amp volume control.

But then whenever I'd watch a TV show (optical toslink from cable box to 990), I'd then have to change the 990's speaker size back to small and have the proper crossovers.

Then when I'd want to use the Oppo, I'd have to change the 990 back to large for all speakers to avoid its A/D/A bass management while in 7.1 (since I have the bass management being done in the Oppo).

That seems a bit tedious. It looks like it was discussed some in this thread and in this one.

Now if the 990 was able to do bypass mode while using the 7.1 analog inputs, that would pretty much solve this problem. Or I went with the newer Oppo BDP-105 and had the optical from my cable box connected to the digital input on the BDP-105. With that, then the Oppo would do all bass management for CD/BD and from the cable box, then send it all to the 990's 7.1 input, which again would act as a pre-amp volume control. Furthermore, if I wanted to, I could even go from the BDP-105 directly to the 7500 amp, not using the 990 at all, and do the volume settings right on the BDP-105...though I doubt I'd do it.

I read that thread today as well. I have a Logitech Harmony 700 and it does allow for macros. But I think it would be too tricky to have it so the Harmony would change the 990 speakers from small to large when using the 7.1 input, and then back to small with the crossovers when using a digital input from a cable box.

Saturday afternoon the Oppo 95 got delivered. As of now, I have the 2ch Stereo RCA L/R, Center, L/R Surround, and Sub (as 5.1) all going into the Outlaw 990's 7.1 analog input. I changed all the speaker settings on the 990 to Large so that it will not do any A/D/A conversion and apply bass management, then went into the Oppos settings and selected Small for all the speakers and set the crossover for 80Hz.

With this setup, I've played a couple BD movies with Dolby True HD, and the sound quality is quite good, and the 80Hz crossover seems to work just fine.

Then I tried some standard CDs on the Oppo (through the 990's 7.1 input). Since only the front two speakers have the CD playing through them, I lowered the crossover on the Oppo to 60Hz and then to 40Hz to see if I could hear a difference. With it at 60Hz there was actually a bit more "fullness" to the low end, but couldn't hear any difference with at 40Hz (remember that everything below those crossover points are being sent to the sub).

One thing I did notice (that I don't care for) is that when using the 990's 7.1 Analog input for 2ch CD audio from the Oppo (with the above settings), that I can hear some white-noise (ssssssss) through the center and two surround speakers. After some experimentation, I found that when using any input on the 990 (7.1 analog, digital) that the 990 is actually sending this white noise to the amp, which then outputs to the speakers. This is not noticeable when watching HDVT, DVD, or BD that has sound coming from all 5 speakers. But when only using the front L/R speakers for CD playback, having this white-noise from the center and surrounds is irritating. I went into the 990's menu and was able to turn off the two side surround speakers (which did help a lot), but for the center it can't be set to "none" while the surrounds are set to "none". Out of curiosity, I tried the optical toslink from the Oppo to the 990 (with all speakers on the 990 set to large), and had the 990 do the D/A decoding, and with the mode set to "Stereo". With this setup, there was no white-noise from the center and surrounds, since the 990 "turned off" that signal path internally as it was decoding a digital stereo signal and only sending out a L/R stereo signal. When I then change inputs on the 990 back to 7.1, the white-noise was back on all speakers, and again I had to change the surrounds to "none" to stop the output from the 990.

Overall, I'm please with the Oppo, but the 990 is getting me a bit irritated now because of this. So to sum it it, I have to do "work" depending on which source I want to use:
1) For HDTV (optical) from cable box, have the 990 set on "small" for all speakers with it using its internal bass crossover.
2) For DVD/BD playback through the 7.1 Analog input, change all the speakers size to Large on the 990, which will bypass its A/D/A bass crossovers, since the crossovers are already set on the Oppo.
3) For CD playback through the 7.1 Analog input, speaker size set to Large on the 990 (as in #2), but turn off the surround speakers by selecting "none" to stop the white-noise.

The only way around #3 is to connect the 2ch Stereo RCAs from the Oppo to the CD Analog input on the 990. That way the 990 won't send any signal to the center and surround speakers, eliminating the white-noise sound from those. But in doing this setup, having the mode set to "Bypass", and the front left and right speakers set to "Large", the Sub will not be in use. I'd have to set the front speakers to "small" on the 990, which then introduces the A/D/A that I wanted to avoid.

Hmmmm!

If you use the stereo analog signal path (bypass mode on the 990) and leave the 990's bass management enabled, you will get a signal to the sub. Also, have you done any listening tests with the 7.1 analog input and the 990's bass management enabled? It provides the "simplest" solution, and the only way to know for certain that the A/D/A cycle is objectionable is to listen for it.

I haven't tried that yet, but if you are referring to this diagram that you posted, if I did that using the 990's CD Analog input and set the front speakers to "small" and sub to "yes", then doesn't that send full-range to the sub (black lines on your diagram)? If it does, then I'd have to turn on the active crossover on the sub, right?

When using the 7.1 Analog input, I currently have 990's speakers set to large and Oppo set to small and is doing the bass management. I haven't tried the inverse of that; setting to Oppo to large speakers and the 990 to small for it to do the A/D/A bass management. I agree that would be the simplest solution, but I'm just wondering what all is involved internally with the 990's A/D/A, such as bit rate, sample rate, etc. It may not be noticeable on CD and DVD, but with BD Dolby True HD, It would definitely be a lower bit rate.

Yes, when using the CD analog input in bypass mode with front speakers set to "small," you would send a full-range signal to the sub.

The Model 990 uses a 96kHz 24-bit ADC chip, so the audio bit rate and sample rate will be 96kHz/24bit when using the 7.1 analog input. The DAC chip is 192kHz, 24-bit, so that bit rate and sample rate will remain at least 96/24 throughout the 990's digital domain. The 990 may even upsample to 192kHz, although I'm not real sure about that - the specs note that PCM is upsampled, but that could relate only to stereo PCM (received directly via optical or coaxial). Technically, TrueHD supports 192kHz for up to six channels (eight channels is limited to 96kHz), but I don't think anybody's actually used that capability. I know there are a few 96kHz/24-bit Blu-ray discs out there, but most are 48kHz/24-bit. That means the sample rate being used within the 990 will be better than that used originally in most cases, and in a few cases will merely be the same. Certainly not lower. Let your ears give it a try, see what you think. It seems counter-intuitive, but I think you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl before you invest too much time and effort into trying to work around the A/D/A conversion.

First a question: When using the 990's 7.1 RCA analog input and the speaker size set to large, does the 990 still apply the speaker distance that I have set in its menus, or is that not used? I have the speaker distance set in the 990, and have it set to 0ft on the Oppo, so that speaker distance isn't doubled.

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Earlier today I wanted to see if I could hear a difference in the DACs used by the 990 and the Oppo 95.

Had the Oppo RCA's connected to the 990's 7.1 analog. 990's speakers set to large, Oppos speakers set to small and crossover at 60Hz.

Played a CD track I know well a couple times over-and-over that only had a few instruments in it (Baroque) while using the 990's 7.1 input with the Oppo using its DAC. I then changed to the 990's optical input from the Oppo, so the 990's DAC would be used. With the 990 in Stereo mode, the instruments sounded like there was a veil between them and me, also some detail was missing. I then tried the 990 on Upsample, and even through there was more detail, the high-end became too bright for me, almost unnatural. I went back and forth on other tracks and with some other CDs, and each time the instruments and voices (especially solos) sounded more "life like" and "clearer" with the Oppo doing the DAC work while the using the 990's 7.1 input.

Then I decided to try it with the Oppo's speaker size set to large (not using its bass management) and settings the 990's speakers to small, so it would do the A/D/A bass management. So with this, the Oppo is doing D/A with no bass management, sent to the 990's 7.1 input which is taking the Analog and converting it to Digital and then back to Analog so that it can apply bass management. In doing this, there was some loss in detail, similar to using the optical out from the Oppo to the 990 that I tried earlier.

I didn't have time to try a comparison using a BD movie that has Dolby True HD, to see if I could hear a difference between:
1) Oppo speaker size set to small with bass management, 990 7.1 input set to large; with the Oppo doing D/A with bass management and fed straight through the 990 untouched.
-or-
2) Oppo set to large speaker, 990 set to small speaker with bass management; with the Oppo doing D/A and sent to the 900 doing A/D/A with bass management.

I think that at one time I knew if the 990's speaker distance settings were applied in the analog domain or the digital domain, but I've forgotten. Sorry.