So basically what you're saying is that if using the 2ch RCA out from the Oppo to the 990, the 990 can be in Bypass mode to bypass its A/D/A and the internal bass management crossover. But the 990's 7.1 input can't be placed in bypass mode, and therefor can't bypass the A/D/A and internal crossover?
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.
What I was thinking was to just use the Option 2 that I listed earlier, and have the Oppo's 2ch stereo + center, surrounds, and sub sent to the 990's 7.1 input. Use the bypass mode on the 990 and do all the crossovers on the Oppo. But if the 990 can't do bypass with its 7.1 input, then I'd have to let the 990 do the crossovers instead of the Oppo.
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.
After thinking about this some today, if I had the Oppo's 2ch stereo RCA out connected to the 990's CD RCA inputs, and had the 990 in Bypass mode, would it still get a sub signal from the Oppo and direct it to the sub?
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.
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.
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