You guys helped me pick it out and I promised to let you know my thoughts when I received it. Well it's here.

The packaging is quite excellent. The manual is short and sweet. The remote (though very basic in appearance) is quite capable--it took no time at all to program it to run my extras as a universal remote. I believe it takes up to 7 sources.

My initial impression of the unit was that it was light for its size. I know this is contrary to what most people have said, but remember I am upgrading from a Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX AVR. The size is about the same (the 990 is a bit deeper), but the lack of amps in it just gave me slight pause. (this is my first seperate pre amp)

The connections on the rear are spaced nicely and everything is very solid. The set-up (I am just running it through my TV and DVD at the moment) was quite easy and intuitive, assuming you have done similar before.

The unit itself is substantially darker than the website's pictures would suggest. In fact, I think it will pair nicely with the Sherbourn amp I am due to receive shortly.

The Dayton Audio interconnects I am using are also extremely solid. The connections are firm and I feel assured that they will continue to provide solid connections. I had previously used higher-end Monster and regular Acoustic Research interconnects. The AR had a decent connection, the Monster I was never 100% secure with the connections. With Dayton, I have no worries whatsoever. Once they were on, they were solid.

Everything looks great! The video is much improved over my old set-up using the 45TX and Monster interconnects for video. I was actually quite surprised at the improvement in clarity and vibrance of the colors. Blues especially are nicely defined.

I should be receiving the Sherbourn 7/2100A sometime in the next week or two and I will give you the whole ball of wax regarding performance when it's all set up. Also, I ordered an additional pair of Ascend Acoustics CBM-170's for back surround duties, to get to 7.1. I will let you know how that goes as well.

Thanks again guys for all your help!

--TDA