quick digression on a related topic if I may...

has it been definitively established that in bypass mode the unit's DACs are bypassed entirely? I have an external non-OS DAC I want to use with this and would like to be sure the signal remains in the analog domain once it gets to the Outlaw (and not processed by the DACs or upsampled, etc).

Thanks!

Yep. In "bypass" mode when using an analog input, the 990's DACs are completely out of the loop. (I make that qualification of "when using an analog input" because "bypass" is an option when using digital inputs, in which case the 990 still uses the digital input and you of course still use the 990's DACs.)

Okay, my system is back online and so I tried the suggestions laid out by Gonk. Based on a few A/B comparisons, the CD player using the Cambridge's DAC (via analog out plugged into the 970s 7.1 front L&R inputs) sounds noticeably better than the digital out on the Cambridge and the signal processed by the 970's DAC.

The 7.1 bass management setting is set to HPF/LPF. When you select 7.1 on the remote, the 970 displays "Bypass." This initally confused me, as I always associated "bypass" with "bypass mode," in which the digital bass management is out of the loop, the sub is disengaged and the front speakers run full range. (I think in this particular 7.1 set up, the "bypass" display must refer only to the fact that digital bass management is being bypassed, as the sub was defintely operating during playback).

The HPF/LPF setting defaults to an 80Hz x-over, which I prefer anyway, so I am happy with the results for far (I just wish there were an addtional input like this I could run my phono preamp into!)

Still to be tested is an A/B comparison between this current set up and the CD analog output in pure "bypass mode" (i.e. without sub).

I am hoping the 7.1 set up with the signal in the analog domain will result in less degradation of the soundstage compared to the convoluted analog/digital/analog path I was using before. But I will report back the results.

I concur about the "Bypass" message - the 970's simply saying that the analog input is bypassing any digital processing, but it is not doing anything silly like downmixing to stereo.

. . . which indeed is a nice trick, very eye opening.
I'm glad to read this thread. I will see how this affects the overall performance when playing familiar CD's. I prefer to have "bypass" as the mode but until now was dissapointed I was getting no signal from the sub out.
Thank you again.
Beakman

Beakman:

After living with this set up for a few days, I can tell you I am quite happy with it. I still have not tried an A/B comparison between the 7.1 input and "pure" bypass mode in the CD analog input. But at this point, the sub is so well integrated and things sound so nice, I don't envision going back.

Next, I'd like to see how the 7.1 input sounds with my phono stage.

Videodrome,
I can say there is a definite improvement with my system too! The outboard imaging is the most notable. Now that I have a "System Sound Baseline", I can better work with (listening) room environment. First will be a large mirror on a side wall above the sofa, to make up for its black-hole sound sucking characteristics.

I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I wanted to report a pleasant surprise regarding the use of the HPF/LPF x-over setting in analog bypass mode.

Since my last post on this thread, I have been swapping my phono stage and CD player output cables between the 7.1 inputs.

Over the weekend, I hooked the phono stage back into the "AUX" input, switchhed to "BYPASS" and, though I was expecting a full range signal to my mains only, I was ecstatic to hear the sub going. So then I tried the same thing by re-hooking my CD player back into "CD," and bingo, the sub was engaged.

Evidently, if the toggle is switched to HPF/LPF, ALL analog sources played in "BYPASS" mode will activate the sub.

No more switching cables.

I am a very happy camper.

Now that is a slick discovery, Videodrome - and one that I don't remember hearing about previously.

hey gonk, not only do i love stereo i only am using an old adcom stereo power amp to run my 970, no fancy (and expensive) 7 channel amps for me! i dont understand how the emphasis on audio has changed from listening to music (which sounds much better in stereo) to listening to raindrops dripping behind your head when watching movies. however i am curious - just got my 970 for xmas, havent even hooked it up yet, but since i'm running stereo (i will use bypass) and just two speakers have you fooled around with VR (virtual reality) dolby when watching movies?