So after cruising these forums and seeing some very favorable reviews of the 770 and the new 990 on various other sites and review forums, I took the plunge and ordered both! I just recieved my 770 and as a way of determining the difference each component makes in my system, decided to use my Denon Avr-3800 (just Dolby Digital 5.1, NO DTS, it's that old) which has been the center of my Home Theater, as just a processor feeding the 770. I was wondering if I would be able to tell the difference by in essence just changing the Amp part of the equation. Well the answer would be YES!!! I have a NHT setup with VT2.4's in the front and matched center and surrounds. They are pretty inefficient, and even though I had Bi-Amped my fronts (seperate mid and highs and built in 10" subs with Bi-amp/wire capabilities) with the Denon, I hadn't expected such a huge improvement. Previously, I had thought that the VT2.4's were just not all that great - kind of woolly Bass, way our of control and boomy, in other words barely adequate. With the 770, BINGO! all of a sudden, everything is WAY tighter, Bass sounds defined, I can even hear individual, distinct notes (who would have thought!) Now the VT2.4's sound great. I am going to complete an orgy of 2 channel and 7 channel listening this weekend, then add my 990 on Monday when it arrives and see what it sounds like with the Denon removed. I hope the results are incrementaly as good as they were with the 770. I will post my findings/opinion after adding the 990.

Glad to hear this as I am going to be going with the 770. I too wonder how much a difference a amp will make. Let us know how you like the 990

After tweaking a few things and playing with the crossover point of my Subwoofer, I am relly amazed at just how much better my entire system sounds now. Not that I'm an expert, but the better quality, higher power and current of the 770 seems to be exerting better control over the VT2.4's. I'm not noticing all that much of a difference in the highs, but the bass is just 400% better. It has taken the bass end of my system and completely transformed it from this, muddy, indistinct, boomy, loose, flatulent sound to a very much tighter sound. I had recorded a High def concert off Comcast featuring Puddle of Mudd. There is a song called "bleed for me" that starts off with a VERY cool bass guitar riff that is all very low frequency stuff. With my Denon, it sounded exciting and I loved it, howevcer, with the 770 now attached, it TRULY sounds like a real bass guitar. The notes are clear and undistorted with real impact, in fact the problem that has been highlited is that my center channel now seems entirely inadequate to handle the impact and extension of the riff (looks like I will have to upgrade my speakers!) Damn!