Okay, so when I got home for lunch I reconnected the Elite with the 7700 (just the fronts), ran the extension cord over to the Monster Power HTS 5100 and powered everything up, dead quite. Okay, lets plug in the HDMI cable, low and behold, a very faint HISS now, not a BUZZ like before. The hiss is only there when the Elite is set in "tuner" mode, when I switch over to DVD, dead quite. Thanks a million Lee Bailey and the rest of the guys that helped out.

Now, here is my next question, other than running an extension cord across the ceiling and down the wall to get to the HTS 5100, not sure how to get power to the receptacle easily. I will have to completely unload the built-in media cabinet to remove the built-in shelves to get behind the cabinet where all the cables are run. Once that is done, do I (a) tap into the dedicated 120 amp circuit to run power to the projector, which is the same outlet the HTS 5100 is plugged into or should I (b) run basically a long heavy duty extension cord basically the same way (threw the wall) but come threw the wall so I can plug directly into the HTS 5100. Like I said, I know very little about electricity so I'm not sure if option (a)basically does the same thing as option (b).

Now that I think about it, with the projector being like this the whole time, do you guys think it's had a negative effect on picture quality?

The HTS 5100 might be the saving grace for preventing ground loops. By plugging directly into another outlet you might have the same problem again but there is only one way to find out.

I was talking about running another 12/2 line from the dedicated 120 amp (daisy chaining) to the receptacle mounted in the ceiling at the projector, not plugging into the same receptacle. Correct me if I'm wrong, like I said before, I know nothing about electrical work but if I run another line off of the dedicated 120A line to get power at the receptacle at the projector, wouldn't the projector and the HTS 5100 share the same ground then? I just think this would be a much cleaner install compaired to running an extension cord threw the ceiling then out the wall and plugged into the HTS 5100.

If you put the projector's receptacle on the same circuit as the rest of your equipment, that would give you a shared ground. It would also get you off of a circuit that has dimmers on it - granted, Lutron makes some decent stuff (I've got one of theirs in my den), but any dimmer, especially a residential grade one, is not an appealing thing to have on a circuit with electronics.

You have the right idea about using the same circuit for the ceiling receptacle.

What kind of house do you have? If it's a ranch it would be easier to do.

Depending on how the wire is run it would be easier to shut the power off cut the wire in the basement, add a splice box, run a 12-2 from the new box up beside the stink pipe to the attic and then to the ceiling outlet. You'd have to remove the wire from the lighting circuit.

Feel free to ask any questions. Jim

Well, looks like the trusty 990 is back in it's place until I can get an electrician to come out to the house. I did exactly like I said I was going to do, went home and instead of hooking up one peice of gear at a time I ended up hooking all the gear up and then ran the extension cord from the projector to the HTS5100 which is where the rest of the gear is hooked up and low and behold, the buzz/hum is back. The noise doesn't seem to be as loud as before but it's there and it drives me crazy, it seemed to be more noticable when the Elite was set to "tuner" mode, but it's there. My father has a neighbor that he's been friends with for 20+ years which is a master electrician so I'm hoping to get in touch with him to see if I can't get him to come by the house and take a look at what I have going on. On another note, I did however deal with the buzz/hum long enough to fire up Casino Royale on Blu-Ray and run threw some chapters for about 15 minutes or more to see if the Elite would even be something I may be interested inn and I must say, I definately need to get the buzz/hum fixed so I can do some more critical listening, from what I heard, the Elite/7700 combo sounded pretty impressive.

I had a Pioneer Elite receiver in my setup (using as a pre-pro) prior to the Outlaw 990 purchase. It wasn't the 84 (it was a 27), but replacing it with the Outlaw significantly improved the sound in my system. The noise floor is lower with the Outlaw.

I imagine when I finally get around to upgrading my speakers, the improvement will be even more noticable between the two in direct comparison. My existing NHTs aren't nearly as revealing as their replacements will be (Thiel CS2.4s, if all goes well... which means, most likely, an amplifier upgrade soon thereafter ).

Well, got in touch with my father's neighbor which is the electrician and he said he's going to try and get by the house Sunday morning to have a look at things. He said he could very well be able to correct the issue by checking the wiring on the receptacle itself, not quit sure what he meant by it but if thats the case, hopefully it will be an easy fix. I'll keep ya posted on the outcome.

Well, looks like I'm going to be keeping my beloved 990. The electrician came by today to take a look at things and gave me a temporary solution so I could atleast give the Elite a chance. After getting things hooked up and dialed in, I must say, maybe the 990's sound has grown on me but I much prefer the sound of the 990. Don't get me wrong, the Elite did sound very good but the 990 just seemed to have more effect to the surrounds as well as more punch to the fronts. I gave it a shot but it looks like the 990 won overall. If anyone's interested in the Elite let me know.

Well, the Elite has been "sold". Now it's time for me to just sit back, relax, and enjoy my 990 some more until the new Outlaw pre/pros come out, it's probaly what I should have done in the first place, lesson learned.