990 recording

I have had my 990 for several months and have just run across a problem. I have a couple of reel to reels that I occasionally use to record. I have an DGX switcher that I use to select tape decks. I am able to output a signal to the tape decks from phone and aux (direct TV box). However when I try and record a CD from either a dedicated CD player or DVD player I get no output. Seems odd since whatever source is selected, the audio should be output at the record/out tape jacks. I have both CD & DVD hooked up vie coax, I am letting the 990 decode the audio. Could that be the issue? Anybody have any ideas?

Correction to my initial post: The CD player is connected via an optical input, the DVD play via coax. I do not get a signal out from the record out jacks from either device.

Many receivers and processors don't convert digital audio to analog for the tape record output. I haven't tried the 990's tape output to know if it works that way or not, but I'm pretty sure the second zone output acts that way and it sounds from your testing that the tape output does as well. Try running stereo analog cables from either the CD or the DVD and see if that helps.

i think that the CD and DVD outputs both coax and optical only will output to other digital outputs.. the record optical and coax digital outputs. not sure they will go to analog outputs.

call Outlaw to be sure though

I connected analog cables (in addition to the current optical cable) from the CD player to the analog CD input on the 990. I am able to get a signal from tape output now. Fortunately I did not have to change the prior setup i.e. I still have an optical connection from the CD to 990 as the default for playback. I did not have to change the setup on the 990 at all. When I play the CD I still get the signal from the optical cable, letting the 990 decode, however there is also an analog signal that is routed to the tape out in case I want to record something.

I confirmed with Outlaw that this is the way the 990 is intended to work. This forum, and outlaws customer service is really helpful!

Excellent - glad to hear you've got it up and running.

Indeed glad.
Here's another idea.
I don't even use the record outs because only the signal passing thru the "MAIN" 990 goes "out". For analog out I go two possible ways, depending. (1) Use the ZONE 2. That way you can do your recording and still watch TV or whatever on MAIN 990. (2) For some signals (like my second dishnetwork receiver) I'll do a parallel output using RCA "Y" jacks.

What I'm recording to is a Panasonic DVD recorder.
It has three sets of inputs. Makes it convenient. I play its output thru either a second (smaller TV whose inputs are switchable for ZONE 2 or Panasonic out. I can also run it optically into Video 1 (which BTW doesn't for some reason output to 990 record out-whcih I'm not using anyway).

Maybe in the software revision the 990 will pass VIDEO 1 to record out.

You can imagine there's a rats nest behind my 990, but it works for me and is quite versatile.

Two things to be aware of when splitting the 990's pre-amp outputs that may not make it the best approach for everyone. First, if you have surround processing applied at the time, you're going to lose data to the center channel and surrounds - you'll need to have a stereo source and be in stereo mode (preferably bypass if you are worried about also preserving the low frequency data that would otherwise be crossed over to the sub). Second, the main output is downstream of the volume control, which will have an effect on your recording levels.

You brought up an issue I had not thought about. Assuming I am in the stereo mode with low frequency data crossed over to the sub, and I have the rca cables connected from the CD player to the 990 analog in, am I losing the low freq at the tape output? Does the 990 take the analog signal from the CD player, convert it to digital, and then convert again to analog at the tape output?

gonk wrote:

wo things to be aware of when splitting the 990's pre-amp outputs

Ooooops. I made an error ( not unusual ) I'm sending the output of the Satelitte receiver (analog stereo in this case) to the 990 analog and the DVD recorder to copy movies I;ve recorded to hard drive.
Of course I can also have the optical fed as well.
Sorry for mis-stating.

The tape output does not lose low frequency data - its signal is split off prior to the processing. That's probably the main reason that the digital input didn't yield a tape record output - the signal sent to the tape output is taken from a point upstream of the digital processing (before the analog is converted), and at that point in the process there's no analog signal available if a digital input is being used.

I see now what you're doing, nfaguys, and it's also a good option - if you have a single source that you plan to record from, hook it directly to the recorder. I actually started doing this myself lately, although I haven't used it yet (the stereo analog and s-video output of my HD cable box go to the DVD recorder while the digital audio and component video from the HD box go to the 990).

Actually my dishnetwork 721 has two sets of analog outs: both with stereo audio and composite video(obviously split inside the box). There is also one s-video, which could be split if you wanted to...and there is one optical out.

...and BTW the 721 series and 508 series were the last "DVR's" with no monthly TIVI-like fee.
My living room 721 feed 990s VID-2 in. My downstairs 721 feeds 990's Vid-3 in. OF course we can watch whatever we want on zone 2 or record thru zone 2 or bypass zone 2 and go direct into the Panasonic DVD recorder.

Nice thing about a DVR built in is you can burn DVDs after recording (often in middle of nite).

My downstairs 721 feeds downstairs equipment as well. I bought a second remote for the downstairs since they are RF as well as IR...so I can control downstairs from upstairs.

What the heck

I have run into another issue. I did an a/b comparison of analog versus optical in with my CD player. Huge difference in sound; the bass output was way to high (10db+) in analog. I also recorded from a cd to reel to reel and did a comparison of CD/Optical in to Reel to reel and had the same difference (can't tell if the signal is recorded with increased bass or if it is coming from 990). Thinking that prehaps I am hearing the difference between the CD players 15 year old DAC's and the 990, I hooked up my relatively new Denon via analog and I have the same difference in sound. Any ideas?

Another thought: Am I running into the dreaded bass management issue? I thought that I ran analog into the 990 it would convert the signal to the digital domain and I would then have bass management. Am I missing something?

the DAC's in your 15 yr old CD player is probably lacking the bass of the newer DAC's in the 990.

I have two NAD CD players.. one from 1986 and one from 1991. While I find the older one to sound better.. the one from 1991 has to much bass. It's like they some how increased to bass to be overwhelming. I guess that's the difference in the DAC's between the two.

I have been very impressed with the DAC's in the 990 pre. Pretty good bass response yes.

Bernie, I think if you listen to your CD's in upsample you should have bass management. If you listen to them in bypass you will not.